Paul McCartney’s opinion on U2

One of the most important songwriters in the world since the 1960s, Paul McCartney has had the chance to see countless bands influenced by the music he created with George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr.

Unlike many artists from his generation, he has always been interested in and supportive of new groups, going to see them perform live and even inviting many of their members to play with him on special occasions. Over the decades, he has given his opinion on many bands, including U2 and their vocalist Bono.

What is Paul McCartney’s opinion on U2

Paul McCartney is a fan of U2 and even had said in the 1980s that Bono was his current favorite singer. “I (used to) listen to Rock and Roll, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Elvis, Little Richard, all the great. (Nowadays I listen to the same ones), I like many kinds of music, I like U2, UB40, Simple Minds… U2, I think probably (he) is my favorite singer at the moment, Bono, ” he said in a TV interview in the 1980s. However, he didn’t like their latest album, “Songs of Surrender” (2023) as he told Vanity Fair in 2026, when talking about Jann Wanner, co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine.

“But it’s kind of clear (the magazine would be biased sometimes). I mean, I saw U2’s latest album—glowing review [in Rolling Stone]. And I thought, I don’t think it’s that good. They’re very good mates (Bono and Jann). And Bono is a lovely, lovely boy. Jann could be friends with John, very good friends with Bono. But I think it’s a little bit visible, a little bit obvious. I saw that and thought, They’re going to get a great review. It’s going to be great, whether (the album is) great or not,” Paul McCartney said.

Paul McCartney played with U2

He had the chance to perform with them in 2005 at Live 8, performing “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” McCartney continues to be a fan and a friend of the band, having seen them perform live multiple times, in 2017 he praised their show to Rolling Stone, saying: “I saw the last U2 show (Innocence + Experience); I liked that”. More recently, in 2023, he was spotted at their show at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

When Bono recorded the audiobook of his biography “Surrender” in 2022, he even did an impression of Paul McCartney, mimicking the Beatle while recounting conversations they had. There is a video showing Bono recording those parts, where he recalls when Paul picked him up at John Lennon Airport in Liverpool and took him on a private “Beatles tour,” showing him the neighborhoods where he, John, George, and Ringo lived, as well as the places where they first met and played.

“I’m sitting in the front seat of a red Range Rover. The driver, who has just picked me up from John Lennon Airport in Liverpool, is Paul McCartney. He’s taking me and Jimmy Lovine on a magical mystery tour through his hometown. (He was) showing us the neighborhoods where the Fab Four grew up. He’s pointing here, there, and everywhere. And apologizing. ‘You sure you’re interested in this?’ ‘Oh yes,’ I reply. ‘I couldn’t be more interested,’” Bono said in his biography.

The lesson Bono said he learned from Paul McCartney

During that “tour” with Paul in Liverpool back in 2008, when he was going to present an MTV award to the Beatle, he learned a lesson as the musician talked about how he and John met. “(My) go-to group was The Beatles and I had this moment where Paul McCartney picked me up at John Lennon airport, he was driving the car. He brought me and kind of showed me the different neighborhoods of The Beatles and it was an amazing experience.”

“(…) Then he stopped at the traffic lights and he said: ‘That’s where I had my first real conversation with John’. I said: ‘Hold on a second, I’m a bit of a Beatles student. Didn’t you have that when you were in the Quarrymen?’ He says: ‘No, no, no, it was a different level. He bought a bar of chocolate and after the war chocolate was really hard to come by, it was a real luxury. He bought a bar of chocolate and he didn’t give a square, he broke it in half.”

“Then I said: ‘Oh, so you’re into sharing too?’ He said: ‘I don’t know why I’m telling you that’. Then he drove on. I just thought: ‘Oh, I know why you’re telling me that’. The greatest collaboration, not just in music, maybe the greatest collaboration in the history of culture started with ‘half’. They shared, they gave it,” Bono told Joe Rogan in 2025 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

George Harrison didn’t like U2

Paul’s late bandmate George Harrison had the chance to see the first two decades of U2 but didn’t like their music. As reported by MTV in 1997, he said in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro that Oasis was “not very interesting” and also mentioned U2. The Beatle questioned the interviewers, saying: “Will anyone remember U2 in 30 years? I doubt it. The Spice Girls? I doubt it. The advantage they have is that you look at them and cut off the sound” (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

That same year, in a conversation with Independent, he called them “egocentric”.  “Look at a group like U2. Bono and his band are so egocentric. The more you jump around, the bigger your hat is, the more people listen to your music,” George Harrison said.