U2: Elevation

U2: Elevation Tour
Madison Square Garden
New York, New York
17 June 2001

U2's return to New York was an overwhelming success. Not only did the shows sell out in no time, they created the largest line for cancellation tickets I've ever seen. The line, 5-6 people deep, extended from the steps down from the box office to the sidewalk and around the corner! HUGE!

It was only fitting that, during tonight's show, a fan had a king's crown that Bono wore for a bit. This was, in my opinion, the best performance so far. Bono was passionate and in good voice - and good shape, as he ran circles around the heart during Where the Streets Have No Name and The Fly.

This is the show where the seating chart was messed up. Phantom Section 12 turned out to be temporary seating pulled on to the rear of the floor, behind the GA people. I knew something was bound to go wrong - and, as it turns out, an ENTIRE ROW was missing! Those people got to down to the floor. Also, the group in front of me had a ticket for seat 8. Their row went out only to Seat 7. I took one for the team and sacrificed my seat for floor space! It was unfortunate the MSG people had their heads so far up their buns that they didn't move some of us displaced folks until Elevation had already kicked in!

Nonetheless, being on the floor, in Madison Square Garden... simply awesome!

Here, Bono thanked those of us who helped make Jubilee 2000 a success and encouraged us to "continue to be noisy folk." Will do!

The show also coincided with Paul McGuinness' birthday. Bono commented on how Prince wore the word "Slave" on his face for a while - because he lost the rights to his own songs. Bono noted that U2 have all the rights to their own songs - and they have Paul to thank for that.

Bono recalled arriving in JFK for the first time and seeing the city lit up at night. He also remembered playing at clubs in Manhattan - for 11 people. They played like their lives depended on it in those days. "It feels the same way tonight!" Bono said.

If only they had played Angel of Harlem! That would've been the perfect segue!

Bono commented that they like New York so much, they had to pack a part of it when they toured on PopMart - they had the New York-based Fun Lovin' Criminals open for them.

Bono introduced In a Little While as being a song about a hangover. But he sobered up as related to the audience that Kurt Loder informed him it was the song Joey Ramone was listening to when he died. Joey, Bono commented, turned the song into a great song and Bono was clearly moved by the information.

Bono encouraged the crowd to dance during Mysterious Ways, saying it was a song written for when you dance to rock.

Stay was performed with a nice introduction about how it was written when the band went "artsy" on the Americans. "When you're out there, you can find some interesting shit," Bono said.

There was a foursome for Desire at the tip of the heart, the first time I had seen that done. Fantastic stuff!

While dedicating Desire to punk rock bands, Bono waxed philosophical a bit and noted how sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between blind faith and blind ambition. Oddly enough, "blind ambition" was how I described my photo pass efforts in Montreal - and renamed the faux Mattimus T-shirt from The Ode to Joy Tour to the Blind Ambition Tour.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Stuck in a Moment is stunning live. It's intense, soulful, and packs a lot of power live. Especially when you think of Michael Hutchence, Bono's past friend.

During Bullet the Blue Sky, Bono guaranteed that 676,000 people will be killed in the next 20 years by guns on the streets of America. America is waging war on itself. It was an intense performance, the most intense I've ever seen it. He went on to alter the lyrics... "Layin' 'em down at the Wal-Mart! 100! 200!" Clearly a message about Wal-Mart's selling guns... and then "My name is Mark Chapman!" repeated over and over and over... a very dramatic and haunting reference to John Lennon's murderer. This all followed the video of Charlton Heston commenting that basically there's no such thing as a bad gun, just bad people.

At the end, you could tell U2 were pleased with the audience, especially in the smiles of The Edge and Bono.

Torrential rains started the day off. After U2 performed, however, it was a beautiful evening. No humidity and a nice breeze...

#8-)3

TC