Elevation 2001: Show Number Ten, Tacoma Dome, April 12th

12 Apr 2001
Elevation 2001: Show Number Ten, Tacoma Dome, April 12th

'I'm going to start a rock'n roll band, going to Seattle and never going away..' sang Bono in the middle of Desire tonight.

And for a moment there, it seemed like he meant it. The set just got longer - although, if it stays that way, remains to be seen.

Tonight, there were a record-breaking 23 songs performed with The Ground Beneath Her Feet back in and a rare Elevation 2001 airing for Even Better Than the Real Thing.

>From the opening song, in which Bono adds a line - 'Love this town, Seattle'
- it is clear the band are happy to be here. There is more extemporising during Sunday Bloody Sunday in which, as Bono segues into the now familiar Marley classic, he sings 'Get Up, Stand Up for your rights - on the streets of Washington, Belfast, Derry, Stand up for your rights...' as the audience clap along in time.

It's also another family affair tonight with both Bono and Edge's daughters in town for the show. Bono waves to them during In A Little While as the fans sing the chorus, 'We also do weddings,' he explains. 'It's part of our lounge thing.'

'For the Evans's,' he announces at the end, 'That was cool, wasn't it ?'

Even the band introductions extend to the wider family tonight.

'Was that alright?' asks the singer after The Sweetest Thing. The 20,000 strong audience boo, throw beer cans and denounce the interpretation as a travesty. (Just kidding - they loved it.)
'We've only played that one a few times, can you tell? Edge usually plays piano but I get to play it on this one.
'I'd like to introduce you to the band - the man who gave us our first and only job, Larry Mullen Jnr, he's had the same haircut for 20 years.'
Polite applause. Well, volcanic eruptions.
'The first manager of U2 was not Paul McGuinness, the first manager was the poshest member who plays the biggest instrument, Lord Adam Clayton, the jazz man of the band.'
Cue deafening crowd reaction.
'Next up, I want to introduce you to a man with more children than Abraham, all here tonight, in fact a whole tribe of Evans's here, not just Garvin who gave him his lovely tenor voice but our first roadie Mrs The Edge...and, wearing the No. 33 t-shirt, The Edge!'

The Edge is warmly received.

Suffice to say that the audience tonight are in seventh heaven as Bad becomes Streets via a hint of Sexual Healing and Mysterious Ways becomes The Fly and Bullet The Bullet Sky and With Or Without You and Pride and One and Walk On and they're gone.

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