David Letterman has been a friend of U2’s for decades. But he had never been to Ireland before popping across to Dublin in December to film a travelogue-cum-concert-movie with Bono and the Edge. The trailer for their forthcoming Disney+ special, Bono & the Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, has now been released. And it raises several questions.
First, Letterman and the beard. Why? What? How? The American chatshow host has been pushing his “unhinged shepherd” chic for several years, but it’s still jolting to see him descend on Dublin as if for St Patrick: The Grunge Years. “I love the new look,” the Edge says. He’s being ironic – not an everyday occurrence when you’re the guitarist with U2.
The next question is: what about all the other beards? And the wrinkles? A Sort of Homecoming, which will be released on March 17th, is directed by Morgan Neville, who won an Oscar for 20 Feet from Stardom, his profile of famous backing singers. People looked pleasingly shiny in that movie. But for his journey to Dublin he seems to have decided to make everyone look as withered as possible.
His camera haunts the crags and creases of Dublin’s great and good. Glen Hansard pops up looking 3,000 years old. He’s 52. Even Dermot Kennedy – an ancient 31 – has a peaky tinge, as if Morgan forced him to walk up the N7 from his home in Rathcoole through a downpour.
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Kennedy pops up in a sequence in which Bono and the Edge lead a singalong. Apparently in McDaids bar, off Grafton Street, it’s quite a gathering. Alongside 50 per cent of U2 and the 3,000-year-old Hansard are Imelda May, Loah, Saint Sister, Markéta Irglová, and Grian Chatten of Fontaines DC. Hozier must wonder why he wasn’t on the guest list. With a new EP on the way, perhaps he was defrosting his man bun.
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Letterman also follows in the footsteps of Harry Styles by visiting the Forty Foot, the bathing spot in Sandycove. And he pops around to Cavistons, the nearby food emporium, in Glasthule, where he purchases a cheese wheel bigger than Bono’s ego.
Neville doesn’t go out of his way to prettify Dublin. The city is grey and overcast, and every single soul looks as if they could do with an emergency visit to a day spa. Even the crow’s feet have crow’s feet.
‘We seem to thrive doing something that’s never been done before,’ explains the Edge – a strange way to describe a record on which, by dusting down their hits, U2 are literally doing something they’ve done before
But despite the lack of sparkle A Sort of Homecoming is a glossy marketing film. Letterman’s adventures end at the old Ambassador cinema, at the top of O’Connell Street, where the floor has been cleared so that an invited audience can watch Bono and the Edge ramble through some of their favourite U2 songs.
This ties in with the release, also on St Patrick’s Day, of Songs of Surrender, which features U2’s new interpretations of some of their most famous tracks. Judging by social media, fans are on the fence about U2 revisiting their catalogue. Morgan’s new documentary suggests that the band see it as one of their most audacious projects. “We seem to thrive doing something that’s never been done before,” explains the Edge – a strange way to describe a record where, by dusting down their hits, U2 are literally doing something they’ve done before.
Still, it’s difficult to imagine Bono & the Edge: A Sort of Homecoming with David Letterman being anything other than a smash for Disney. The success of The Banshees of Inisherin and An Cailín Ciúin proves that international audiences love Irish people mooching about in the gloom. If the trailer is any guide, there will be lots of that in the new Letterman film, plus some “new” U2 tunes chucked in as a bonus.
Irish audiences will obviously be on the lookout for the traditional boilerplate blarney when the full feature airs on St Patrick’s Day. But as the music kicks in and the host claps along it’s clear that Letterman, at least, has found what he’s looking for.
