Elevation Tour

The 2001 Elevation Tour was formally announced on January 9, 2001. Initially only two legs were announced, but on September 10, 2001, U2 announced a third leg of the tour. The tour would visit North America and Europe, and the majority of venues played on the tour would be indoor arenas. Notable exceptions would be a concert in Germany at the Waldbühne outdoor amphitheatre, a concert in Turin at an outdoor stadium, and two concerts held at Slane Castle, outside of Dublin. Much focus was put on the fact that U2 was planning on using general admission in the North American leg of the tour, something which was not common in 2001.

The tour grossed $143.4 million, selling 2.18 million tickets. Two home videos were released to document the tour, including a film capturing the performances in Boston on the first leg, and capturing the Slane Castle performance on the second leg.

A fourth leg was initially discussed for Australia and Japan for late 2001, but these plans were replaced by an extension of the third leg in North America. Later a fourth leg was in the planning stages for 2002, but the band decided instead to take a break to work on the next album. The dates being discussed included a mix of stadium shows in July and August 2002 in Europe.

The tour was named Major Tour of the Year by Pollstar, and also took home Most Creative Stage Production at those awards. Tour designer Willie Williams took home Live Design magazine's 2001 EDDY Award for the tour.

Elevation: Leg One [North America]

The first leg of the Elevation tour was first rumoured in an article in Billboard Magazine suggesting the tour would be announced on January 9. The tour was formally announced that day, live from Dublin, with U2 appearing on TRL on MTV via satellite. Bono, Larry and The Edge were present in studio, while Adam was represented by a lifesized cutout. Adam was still in Jamaica on holidays according to Bono during the announcement.

Tickets would go onsale to U2.Com members less than 24 hours after the announcement on January 10, 2001. General tickets for six shows (Ft. Lauderdale, Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, Boston and Philadelphia) went on general sale on January 13, 2001 with 2 shows added for Chicago and Boston, and a single added show for Toronto and Philadelphia added and placed on sale the same day. The bulk of the shows went on sale on January 20, 2001, with 14 cities being put on sale, with second shows added for Calgary, Washington DC, New York and East Rutherford the same day. On January 21, tickets were sold for San Jose and Anaheim, a second show was added for San Jose, and two additional shows for Anaheim. On January 27, tickets were placed on sale for Houston, Lexington, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and a fourth Chicago show. Tickets for Buffalo, Hartford and Albany went on sale before the end of the month.

The tour saw U2 taking the stage while the arenas were still lit to a remix of "Elevation". The stage was a heart shaped ramp, which allowed fans inside the stage. One notable incident happened on opening night, when Bono fell off the stage, which would later be incorporated into the show as in subsequent nights he jumped into the crowd. Opening acts on the first leg of the tour included Nelly Furtado and the Corrs, and PJ Harvey.

Elevation: Leg Two [Europe]

The second leg of the Elevation tour visited Demark, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, England, Ireland and Scotland. A total of 33 shows were performed. Opening acts included Stereophonics, Kelis, PJ Harvey, Nelly Furtado, JJ72, among others. The shows at Slane and in Turin are treated more like a festival with multiple acts on stage including the Fun Lovin' Criminals (Turin) and Coldplay and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Slane).

This leg of the tour was announced on January 9, 2001 but exact dates were not released until much later. The first show to be announced was a concert at Slane Castle, announced on February 28. The full tour was announced on March 6, 2001, with the exception of two shows in Glasgow which were announced the week of the performances. Tickets for these performances went on sale on March 9 (UK shows) and March 10 (Slane and Arnhem). The other shows went on sale shortly after, with the exception of Glasgow which was not announced until August.

The second leg of Elevation saw Bono's father's health in decline, and Bono would fly back and forth to Dublin throughout the tour. Bob Hewson passed away the day of the third show in London, and his funeral would be while the band was in Ireland for the Slane concerts.

Elevation: Leg Three [North America]

The third leg of the Elevation tour returned to North America. A total of 30 shows were performed with two being held in Canada and the rest being held in the USA. Opening acts for this leg included Garbage, Stereophonics and No Doubt among others.

Initially only two legs were announced, but on September 10, 2001, U2 announced a third leg of the tour, with plans for tickets to go on sale on September 15. At the time, the dates through to Las Vegas on November 18 were announced. The remainder of the dates were announced on November 6, a month into the tour, taking many fans by surprise.

The third leg was announced the day before the attack on September 11, 2001. That event played a part in the third leg of the tour, as the names of those killed in the attack scrolled on stage during the encore on many nights. The band would also play "What's Going On" through much of the leg, a cover of the Marvin Gaye song that Bono had originally gathered a group of artists together to sing for AIDS charity, but would later split the money with 9/11 related organizations as well. At the final show in Miami a group of fans would riff on the numbered shirts that The Edge had worn throughout the tour, creating their own shirts featuring the number of Elevation shows that they had seen.

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