Achtung Carrie! #11 – A Look Back at Elevation, Part Three*

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HelloAngel

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By Carrie Alison, Chief Editor
2005.10



I've been lucky enough to see U2 in concert six times in my life--two shows during PopMart in 1997 and four shows during 2001's phenomenal Elevation Tour. Each show is distinctive and memorable in myriad ways for me that I will share with you now.

After I had had the chance to see PopMart twice, I would have never dreamed I'd be lucky enough to see the Elevation Tour four times, even landing in the heart twice. Below is the conclusion of my look back on Elevation and some thoughts on looking ahead to the Vertigo tour.

Elevation, Tampa, Florida – Dec. 1, 2001

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Going into it, I knew it would be my last U2 concert for a long time. I was attending the show with Brooke, my best friend from high school, and her new boyfriend, an affable British guy called Andy. She had just gone through a painful divorce and a U2 concert was just the remedy she was in need of. Even deeper still, it was in fact a discussion on a bus ride trip to a church youth retreat where she and I had first made fast friends in 11th grade over a discussion of U2's "Boy" and how much we both loved "I Will Follow."

It was somehow fitting that she had attended the launch of the Elevation Tour with me and that we were now together at its near closing. The weight of the past year sat on our shoulders and the air of September 11th was still on everyone's minds. It was amazing to have this long view of the tour itself--it had started out so gloriously just nine months previous, and was ending on a bit of a downer, but also with more emotional significance than U2 or its fans could have ever imagined.

As the show progressed, I noticed Brooke and Andy engaging in very intense conversations that were punctuated with long, deep stares into each other's eyes, warm embraces and the occasional kiss. I was so happy for her and relieved that she was finally with a man that would be kind to her. I decided to just take in the show as if I was attending alone to give them the chance to experience it together (it was his first U2 concert) and for me to completely wrap myself in every note.

Once "I Will Follow" came on however, Brooke and I clasped hands tightly and sang and danced to every word, raising our hands up to the rafters, hearts wide open. The feeling of such meaningful friendship, especially with another U2 fan, someone who gets it, truly gets it, cannot be quantified. It can't even really be explained. Sisterhood, brotherhood--the words feel cheap when attempting to articulate how we felt when Bono intoned, "Your eyyyeeesss make a circle. I see you when I go in there."

As I said, this was Andy's first U2 show. The emotional resonance for him to see "Bad" live after all these years was dramatic for him. Soul-stirring. As the chorus of the legendary showstopper approached, I could see his eyes well up with tears. His handsome face grew red and no matter how hard he tried to stay strong and fight it, he soon sat down and collapsed in a momentary sobfest.

It was Andy's emotional release that invited Brooke to hold him close as "Where the Streets Have No Name" began. Now both with tears in their eyes, I could them holding hands and tenderly kissing out of the corner of my eyes. I could feel their powerful connection as if it was a person standing behind me breathing on my neck. Towards the end of the song, Brooke came up behind me and softly whispered in her ear that Andy had just told her he loved her for the first time. Having seen her though the dramas of high school and college, and the heartbreak of divorce and single motherhood, I held my old friend tightly as we sang along to "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." The sweet irony was that within the 90 plus minutes that U2 had been playing, she and Andy had done just that.

As "Walk On" played, the scrolling names of those killed on September 11th before us, I made some life decisions. The first was to move to Tampa to be with Brooke and help her with her young daughter as she and Andy found their footing together, and the second was to finally embrace life to its fullest point, no matter what tomorrow might bring.

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Brooke and Andy were married four months later at the Venetian in Las Vegas. And their first big celebration as husband and wife? Posing with "Wax Bono" at Madame Tussaud's wax museum. I moved with my boyfriend to Tampa two months after that. Four years on, Brooke and Andy are still happily married, blissfully in love and now have a young son to show for it.

But even after two tours and six fantastic concerts, one experience has eluded me after all these years--I've never actually met U2. Not even close.

I'm not embarrassed to say that I decided to pursue my writing career as a way to give back to U2. All of the work I have done for Interference.com is a direct result of the promise I made to my 14-year-old self to stop at nothing to give back in what small way I could to this group that has meant so much to me. I love working hard for the fans. I would also love nothing more than to meet U2 one day to tell them of the work I've done for them because of the fire they lit in me all those years ago. Will it happen? Could it happen on the Vertigo Tour? I don't know. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
 
I live in Tampa!!

I was at that same concert in 2001, as I live in Tampa as well. I saw them in Ft lauderdale and Chicago on that same tour. Anyways, cool story. I had misty eyes in Chicago when they played Out of Control and in the middle of the song talked about how they were between 14 and 17 years old when they first played it, and how amazing it was to still be together. I was thinking how lucky I was to have my favorite band have stayed together for so long. I'm sure that there are some people out there who's favorite band only had a one hit wonder, and broke up due to any number of things.
 
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