Three of my favorite entertainers – Bono and The Edge of U2 and David Letterman, have teamed up to create a music docu-special which is “part concert movie, part travel adventure plus a whole lot of Bono and The Edge, with Dave’s humor throughout.”
It debuts on Disney + on March 17, 2023. The official trailer and press release are below.
BURBANK, Calif. (Feb. 23, 2023) – Disney+ reveals the official trailer and key art for the highly anticipated docu-special, “Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman,” is set to premiere globally on Disney+ on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, coinciding with U2’s highly anticipated album “Songs Of Surrender” ― a collection of 40 seminal U2 songs from across the band’s catalog, re-recorded and reimagined.
In the docu-special, from Disney Branded Television, Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville captures Dave Letterman on his first visit to Dublin to hang out with Bono and The Edge in their hometown, experience Dublin, and join the two U2 musicians for a concert performance unlike any they’ve done before.
From Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries, Neville’s Tremolo Productions, and Dave Letterman’s Worldwide Pants, “Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman” is part concert movie, part travel adventure plus a whole lot of Bono and The Edge, with Dave’s humor throughout.
As well as the concert performance itself, the docu-special will focus on the extraordinary relationship between Bono and The Edge and how it has developed across 45-plus years of close friendship to become one of the most remarkable songwriting partnerships in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, plus document Dublin through Dave’s eyes as he experiences Bono and The Edge’s home city for the first time.
Letterman, who accepted an invitation from the two U2 bandmates to join them in Dublin for his first-ever visit to Ireland, has a 25-year relationship with U2 but had previously only spent time with the Bono and The Edge in the U.S. As well as being their honored guest at an intimate concert performance at a local landmark, the former Ambassador Cinema building at the top of O’Connell Street on Dublin’s Northside, Dave embarks on his own exploration of the city. He visits the legendary Forty Foot swimming spot on a freezing cold morning and rides the DART commuter train north from Co. Wicklow. Letterman also inspires a brand new U2 song written by The Edge and Bono and narrowly escapes having to perform at a sing-song at the legendary McDaid’s pub off Grafton Street with an equally legendary bunch of artists and musicians, including Bono, The Edge, Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová, Imelda May, Loah, Saint Sister, Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C., and Dermot Kennedy, whose voice Bono describes as a “sonic boom.”
U2’s new album titled “Songs Of Surrender” ― a collection of 40 seminal U2 songs from across the band’s catalog, re-recorded and reimagined for 2023 in sessions spanning the last two years, to be released in full on Friday, March 17. The first track to be made available from this brand new set of recordings is the anthemic “Pride (In The Name Of Love),” listen here. “Songs Of Surrender” is curated and produced by The Edge and sees the band revisit some of the most celebrated songs of their 40-plus year career, including “With Or Without You,” “One,” “Beautiful Day,” “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “Invisible,” for a musical reimagining resulting in a completely new recording of each track, to include the arrangements and, in some cases, new lyrics.
“Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman” is produced by Imagine Documentaries, Tremolo Productions, and Dave Letterman’s Worldwide Pants. For Imagine Documentaries, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Sara Bernstein and Justin Wilkes are executive producers; Séamus Murphy-Mitchell is producer; and Meredith Kaulfers and Mike Sweeney are co-executive producers. For Tremolo, Morgan Neville is director and producer, and Caitrin Rogers is executive producer. For Worldwide Pants, Tom Keaney is executive producer, and Mary Barclay is co-executive producer. For Disney Branded Television, Marc Buhaj is vice president, Unscripted and Nonfiction, and Marjon Javadi is vice president, Documentary Films and Docuseries.
