| "Elevation" | ||||||||||||||
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| Single by U2 | ||||||||||||||
| from the album All That You Can't Leave Behind | ||||||||||||||
| B-side | "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" | |||||||||||||
| Released | 12 June 2001 | |||||||||||||
| Format | CD, DVD | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | HQ in Dublin, Ireland | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||||||||||||
| Length | 3:46 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Island / Interscope | |||||||||||||
| Producer | Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno | |||||||||||||
| U2 singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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"Elevation" is the third track and third single release from U2's 2000 album, All That You Can't Leave Behind. Featuring a thunderous beat, a variety of sound effects on the central guitar riff, and an easy rhyming lyric for the audience to shout along with, it was highly effective in its concert-opening role on the Elevation Tour (named after the song) and became a hit in the United States and the United Kingdom. It was also their second No. 1 single in the Netherlands. In 2002, "Elevation" won "Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal".
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During live shows during the Vertigo Tour, it was played without drums and bass for the first verse and chorus before the rest of the band joins in. It has been played at almost every U2 concert since it was debuted.
The version of the song released as a single was entitled the "Tomb Raider Mix" (remixed by Chris Vrenna[1]), differing significantly from the album version, in that it features guitars with a more 'hard rock' sound than the electronic-inspired feel of the album version. The drums in the single version are also harder. The name comes from its role in the soundtrack to the movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. This arrangement is how U2 have performed the song since its release.
"Elevation" won the "Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal" in 2002.
In 2006, acceding to a request from the NFL, the New England Patriots adopted "Elevation" as the song played when they score a touchdown at home in Gillette Stadium (before 2006 they played "Rock and Roll (Part 2)" by Gary Glitter). The song has also been used from 2006-2008 when the Vancouver Canucks score goals at home; it was also used regularly during the 2007 NBA Playoffs. The song is also played right before kickoff at Colorado Rapids games, since the Rapids play in the stadium at the highest elevation in the league.
Elevation Partners, a $1.9 billion private equity company of which Bono is a co-founder and managing director,[2] is named after the song.
The music video for "Elevation" was directed by Joseph Kahn and is one of the most expensive music videos ever filmed. It is set around Lara Croft along with Bono and a rescue of The Edge from his "evil twin brother" (The Edge has been inserted into footage from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider). The video begins with Bono receiving a phonecall from his evil counterpart known as "evil Bono", who says: "This is 'evil Bono'. We have The Edge. We want the key. You are surrounded and not even Lara Croft can help you now." After escaping several of the "evil U2's" murder attempts, the band reunites and performs a "rock-off" against their evil counterparts, which ends with the "good U2" emerging victorious. The video ends with the "good U2" walking with Lara from the scene to a place with levitating cars, ending with a Boeing 747-400 flying overhead before fading to black (the plane is also seen at the very beginning of the video). It was shot at the backlot area of Universal Studios Hollywood better known as Studio Tour.
The video was released as a digital DVD ("Version 7" below), the band's first, on 16 July 2001.[3] It was later featured on the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider DVD, as a special feature. The making of the video was shown on MTV's "Making the Video".
CD version released only in the UK.
First regular CD edition, released in Europe, Canada and the UK.
Europe only.
Second regular CD single released in Europe, Australia and Canada. The version released in Australia also had "Last Night on Earth" (Live from Mexico City).
Labeled the "Tour Edition," this edition was numbered and sold on tour stops throughout Europe. "I Remember You" is a Ramones cover.
Released in Australia only.
DVD single edition.
Double 12" vinyl released in the UK.
| Chart (2002) | Peak |
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| Irish Singles Chart[4] | 1 |
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