Extended interview: U2’s Bono and wife Ali Hewson

which one of you first saw what you two might become I think either of us really sought I mean there was a huge amount of confidence when you're a teenager I suppose front is another word for that yeah front man yeah front more front than substance and faith I would say whatever we hadn't got and that was a lot the thing that we did was extraordinary and there was an expression our mate Karma dog says you know we're going to see bands he'd say oh they've got everything but it interesting we only had it we didn't have anything else but we had the chemistry the spark and and I I I felt it um I must say early on I mean I was so extraordinary is and he's going to the gigs now of our sun at exactly the same level yeah 40 years after you did the same play the same places same place same clubs empty clubs but we played them like they were stadiums you know you two were played it like it was Madison Square Gardens you know that was our thing another thing that you wrote Bono rather than falling in love we were climbing up toward it we still are yeah our relationship began with of course the obvious you know romance and flirtation but it quickly moved into friendship and I think that's a real part of of who we are she is a a not just a mystery to me by the way she just missed me to her sons her daughters were all in the queue trying to get time with her um because she's very wise and why do you say what do you think he means when he says you're a mystery I don't know she's a mystery wrapped in a paradox yes it's on it's yeah I've spent 40 years running it to Nowhere really and I've got a long way to go but you allowed me to do a sort of free dive into the depths of our relationship but you didn't want me to stay too long and the book is not a confessional it's more it's deeper than that I think it's it's more it's more anatomical you know it's real detail there are moments of of real intimacy but I thought it was important to never do you the disservice of being of sentimental like Ali would hate if I wrote a Sentimental song about it she'd be like yeah but you did write a song the bed of nails no no darling that was that wasn't you um I just thought it was the sweetest thing even Matt had a bit of sour um but it's kind of the music that you're attracted to as well I loved you know Roy Orbison those dark mysterious love songs that are tormented and tortured and yeah that's the kind of music we liked and Annie just didn't like being in any way put on a pedestal and the most important line that you said to me years ago which was don't look up at me or down at me look across at me I'm there but exploring that is so interesting you just want to be treated as an equal yeah well I think that's really important in every relationship is that we all respect each other and you know also not be possessive it's really important to give each other space and sometimes yeah I do feel that maybe you know there's a little bit of we both put each other a bit on a pedestal and sometimes under a pedestal but it's just that keeping the balance and you know always holding on to the truth of each other and one of his jokes is and it's kind of it's kind of the essence of living in Ireland he says I have two words for you keep it real and it's Professor Baron Cohen line actually that's where you know two words keep it real that's true it's simple two words keep it real I have to ask you about Mikhail Gorbachev what an amazing man he was my hero you know and um one day we had a lot of action in the house a lot of people coming and going and I had John who was just a little baby and the doorbell went and I went up and I opened the door and Bonn had forgotten to tell me I had no idea Mikhail Gorbachev was even in the country but he was standing at the door with the largest teddy bear as a gift for John with no words of English and I just thought I think we were 26 years married I thought if I was married for anything it's this moment opening the door to Mikhail Gorbachev um just completely unexpected only runs this project called the Chernobyl Children's International project and it this is an amazing moment because Mikhail Gorbachev is sitting at our kitchen table and we're asking him you know all the questions you'd want to ask a man with his finger on the nuclear option would you ever use it could you ever use it no to believe in God no but I believe in the universe beautiful poetic figure and and then this kid walks in called Anna is your God child who is adopted from Isabella are you from Belarus who came from belarusia and she just walks in on calipers and she's a big cork accent God Don't Damn don't let this and the former president of the Soviet Union just looks over he doesn't know she's as a kid and he picks up and all of us just froze as you realized what was happening in front of us and Ali then explained to President Gorbachev that about Ukraine and and the Chernobyl reactor breaking down and that the parents of Anna had problems and then in our kitchen he said it's over for us in the Soviet Union if we can't control something as powerful as nuclear power with Chernobyl he said this was the moment I understood that the Soviet Union was no longer a going concern he told us in a kitchen there was some whiskey involved by the way yeah and a translator a wonderful woman thankfully who made it you know and maybe the whiskey help but you know when you you do this all the time talking to foreign leaders but it was as if we were we talked about everything but you were women of all the people in the world that you have met which is just about everybody that he's the most transformational yeah I would say that the two extraordinary moments that define to my life so far was seeing a man walk on the moon and then seeing this extraordinary man give Russia back to the Russians and though you know Vladimir Putin would like to sort of drop down the digital blinds and pretend that didn't happen somebody who believed in Freedom and was moved by his conscience to change the world in an extraordinary way yeah and we really need to acknowledge that there are very few uh of that stature around yeah thank you thank you thanks for being here [Music] what would you say were the turning points for the band because you talked about that through the book and some of the ups and downs and which are natural obviously the fact that you guys have been together for so long is just incredible but what would you describe as some of the turning points for the band religion is a very divisive thing religion not just divides people against people who don't believe but it provides people who do with others who have slightly different opinions I mean it's it's absurd largely but in our band when we were at man Temple it was a non-denominational school so Ireland was dividing along sectarian lines a Civil War was a potentiality around any minute and here is this non-denominational school and then we end up all of us from our different Fates having this kind of feeling that this we wanted to be part of faith and it was kind of a more of a radical Christianity that we ended up in and it was so strong that at one point Edge was going I'm not sure I can go ahead with music I mean if the world is such a broken place and we all have a job in trying to fix it I don't know if I can fix it by being in you too so he left the band an edge who's not a bombastic man you know you know guitar genius and a very thoughtful person the Zen Presbyterian we call them he was still feeling odd about it and he was just you know I don't know if I still want to be in the man what purpose can music what's the purpose the world is a you know in flames and what are we doing here we're just pouring you know petrol on the Flames or what are we going to do Edge started work on a song called Sunday Bloody Sunday and that's what unlocked it for him and that kind of unlocked it for us because we realized that our songs can speak into a situation and perhaps be useful they don't have to be utility but they can be so in some ways Faith or this particular religious group that you are part of at the time nearly tore the band apart but at the same time in the searching within your band about what faith meant to you led you to your band's ultimate purpose yeah that's right in in giving up the band we kind of got it back it's all very abramic yeah but uh we and we didn't lose our faith either it's not like we oh we've grown up out of that that was a bit mad it was a bit mad but actually you know the scriptures the sacred texts are still very important to me and very important to the band I mean you talk about faith a lot but are you religious I don't know I am I don't know I'm I'm finding myself as I get older slipping into St Patrick's Cathedral if I'm in New York for a moment I don't particularly care what religion it is I'll go anywhere I'm like a stray dog in religion I'd be going to turn of a Catholic Church I turn up anywhere I'd be in a synagogue so if if somebody said right now here somebody said you know would you give your life to Jesus somebody to shout out with me I Take God with me wherever I'm going and so God has seen me in a bit of a state I'm sure I'm irreligious as well as religious if that makes sense yep and Joe's going to interview the pope and I did actually ask him a few questions for you to x-radio serious and um my last question is the pope cover that's a great question isn't it because I'm not sure let me guess what he said it's just it's just it's just it's just he's very radical this dude I really like him the band will put out another album oh yeah we're about to do everybody to make a very special album because even though we've experimented with different forms songwriting dance music in the in the end we're a rock and roll band and there's not many rock and roll bands around we are a yeah we're going to make a full tilt rock and roll album and yes and when might we hear it well it will have to live up to my hype there and before you do um we've got a we've got a we've got some great songs in us and some great shows to play and that's that's the thing where you two always come alive as in front of our audience

Channel: CBS Evening News

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Length: 13min 49sec (829 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 16 2022