Elevation (song)
Encyclopedia
"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
".
The version of the song released as a single was entitled the "Tomb Raider Mix" (remixed by Chris Vrenna), 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, is named after the song.
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 "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 the "evil U2", 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).
The video was released as a digital DVD ("Version 7" below), the band's first, on 16 July 2001. 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.
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
's 2000 album, All That You Can't Leave Behind
All That You Can't Leave Behind
All That You Can't Leave Behind is the tenth studio album by rock band U2. It was released on 30 October 2000 by Island Records in the United Kingdom and Interscope Records in the United States...
. 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
Elevation Tour
The Elevation Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind, the tour visited arenas in 2001. After the band's previous two extravagant stadium tours, Zoo TV and PopMart, the Elevation Tour returned the...
(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
Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1980 and 2011.The award was discontinued after the 2011 award season in a major overhaul of Grammy categories...
".
History
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), 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
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a 2001 adventure thriller film adapted from the Tomb Raider video game series. Directed by Simon West and starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, it was released in U.S. theaters on June 15, 2001. The film was a commercial success...
. 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
Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1980 and 2011.The award was discontinued after the 2011 award season in a major overhaul of Grammy categories...
" in 2002.
In 2006, acceding to a request from the NFL, the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
adopted "Elevation" as the song played when they score a touchdown at home in Gillette Stadium
Gillette Stadium
Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, 21 miles southwest of downtown Boston and from downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It serves as the home stadium and administrative offices for the New England Patriots football team and the New England Revolution...
(before 2006 they played "Rock and Roll (Part 2)
Rock and Roll (Gary Glitter song)
"Rock and Roll", also known as "The Hey Song", is a song performed by British glam rocker Gary Glitter that was released in 1972 as a single and on the album Glitter. Co-written by Glitter and Mike Leander, the song is in two parts: Part 1 is a vocal track reflecting on the history of the genre,...
" by Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
). The song has also been used from 2006-2008 when the Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, :British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena, formerly known as General Motors Place,...
score goals at home; it was also used regularly during the 2007 NBA Playoffs
2007 NBA Playoffs
The 2007 NBA Playoffs was the postseason to the National Basketball Association's 2006–2007 season.There were four rounds of postseason action, all of them in a best-of-seven format, with teams seeded on a bracket. The team with the better record wasn't necessarily the basis of seeding teams in...
. The song is also played right before kickoff at Colorado Rapids
Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...
games, since the Rapids play in the stadium at the highest elevation in the league.
Elevation Partners
Elevation Partners
Elevation Partners is an American private equity firm that invests in intellectual property and media and entertainment companies. The firm has $1.9 billion of assets under management....
, a $1.9 billion private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
company of which Bono is a co-founder and managing director, is named after the song.
Music video
The music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Elevation" was directed by Joseph Kahn
Joseph Kahn
Joseph Kahn is an American music video, advertising, and feature film director.-Early life:Kahn was born in Jersey Village, Texas, a suburb of Houston. He is of Korean ancestry. He spent part of his childhood growing up in Livorno, Italy until his family moved to Texas...
and is one of the most expensive music videos ever filmed. It is set around Lara Croft
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world...
along with Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
and a rescue of The Edge
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
from his "evil twin brother" (The Edge has been inserted into footage from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is a 2001 adventure thriller film adapted from the Tomb Raider video game series. Directed by Simon West and starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, it was released in U.S. theaters on June 15, 2001. The film was a commercial success...
). The video begins with Bono receiving a phonecall from "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 the "evil U2", 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
Boeing 747-400
The Boeing 747-400 is a major development and the best-selling model of the Boeing 747 family of jet airliners. While retaining the four-engine wide-body layout of its predecessors, the 747-400 embodies numerous technological and structural changes to produce a more efficient airframe...
flying overhead before fading to black (the plane is also seen at the very beginning of the video).
The video was released as a digital DVD ("Version 7" below), the band's first, on 16 July 2001. 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".
Formats and track listings
- Version 1
- "Elevation" (Tomb Raider Mix) (3:35)
- "Elevation" (Escalation Mix) (7:04)
- "Elevation" (Vandit Club Mix) (8:54)
CD version released only in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
- Version 2
- "Elevation" (Tomb Raider Mix) (3:35)
- "Last Night on Earth" (Live from Mexico CityMexico CityMexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
) (6:20) - "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" (4:11)
First regular CD edition, released in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
- Version 3
- "Elevation" (Tomb Raider Mix) (3:35)
- "Elevation" (The Biffco Mix) (4:18)
Europe only.
- Version 4
- "Elevation" (Tomb Raider Mix) (3:35)
- "Elevation" (Escalation Mix) (7:04)
- "Elevation" (Influx Remix) (4:02)
- "Elevation" (Quincey and Sonance Mix) (6:53)
Second regular CD single
CD single
A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...
released in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The version released in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
also had "Last Night on Earth" (Live from Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
).
- Version 5
- "Elevation" (Tomb Raider Mix) (3:35)
- "I Remember You" (Live from Irving Plaza) (1:28)
- "New York" (Live from Irving Plaza) (5:42)
- "I Will FollowI Will Follow"I Will Follow" is a song by rock band U2. It is the opening track from their debut album, Boy, and it was released as the album's second single, in October 1980. Bono wrote the lyrics to "I Will Follow" in tribute to his mother who died when he was 14 years old."I Will Follow" is the only song...
" (Live from Irving Plaza) (3:51)
Labeled the "Tour Edition," this edition was numbered and sold on tour stops throughout Europe. "I Remember You" is a Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
cover.
- Version 6
- "Elevation" (Tomb Raider Mix) (3:35)
- "I Remember You" (Live from Irving Plaza) (1:28)
- "New York" (Live from Irving Plaza) (5:42)
- "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" (4:11)
- "Elevation" (The Biffco Mix) (4:18)
Released in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
only.
- Version 7
- "Elevation" (Tomb Raider Mix) (3:35)
- "Elevation" (Tomb Raider Mix - Enhanced Video) (3:50)
- "Excerpts from MTVMTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's Making the Video"
DVD single
DVD single
A DVD single is a music single in the form of a DVD. The format was introduced in the late 1990s/early 2000s as a replacement for the VHS single...
edition.
- Version 8
- "Beautiful Day" (Quincey and Sonance Mix) (7:56)
- "Beautiful Day" (The Perfecto Mix) (7:48)
- "Beautiful Day" (David Holmes Remix) (5:34)
- "Elevation" (The Vandit Club Mix) (8:54)
- "Elevation" (Influx Remix) (4:02)
- "Elevation" (Escalation Mix) (7:04)
- "Elevation" (Quincey and Sonance Remix) (6:53)
Double 12" vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
released in the UK.
Charts
| Chart (2002) | Peak |
|---|---|
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
1 |