UTour

U2 unveiled the itinerary for the Elevation Tour behind their latest release, All That You Can't Leave Behind, on Tuesday. The U.S. leg of Elevation, their first lengthy visit to North America since wrapping the Pop Mart tour three years ago, is scheduled to kick off on March 24th at the National Car Rental Center in Miami, Florida.

The tour is scheduled to hit thirty-three North American cities with multiple dates to be announced for some of the stops. Tickets for the shows in Miami, Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, Boston and Philadelphia will go on sale on January 13th. General admission floor seats for the shows will be $45, with some special seats going for $85 and a limited number of golden-circle seats running $130.

"We haven't played arenas since 1992," said U2 manager Paul McGuinness in a statement. "With no seats on the floor, these shows are going to be very exciting. The fans and the band are going to be really close."

As for the band's plans for stage dynamic for the tour, last month they seemed uncertain. "It would be amazing to have a show that had a really simply straightforward rock & roll band and then to take that somewhere else and into some sort of extraordinary moment visually," the Edge told Rolling Stone, of his desire to combine Pop Mart bombast with the basic music.

"I just think: simplify," drummer Larry Mullen Jr. said. "Let's just get on the stage and play and be a band. [The Pop Mart tour] was a disaster. We spent so much time worrying we were going to go bankrupt. You would have thought after twenty years of doing this that you'd learn. It cost a fortune to put that show on. Absolute madness, absolute madness."

A European schedule of tour dates will be announced in the near future. PJ Harvey will be the opening act throughout the tour.

North American dates for U2's Elevation Tour:

3/24: Miami, FL, National Car Rental Center
3/29: Charlotte, NC, Charlotte Coliseum
3/30: Atlanta, GA, Philips Arena
4/2: Houston, TX, Comaq Center
4/3: Dallas, TX, Reunion Arena
4/6: Denver, CO, Pepsi Arena
4/9: Calgary, ALB, Pengrowth Saddledome
4/12: Tacoma, WA, Tacoma Dome
4/13: Vancouver, BC, General Motors Place
4/15: Portland, OR, Rose Garden
4/17: San Diego, CA, Sports Arena
4/19: San Jose, CA, San Jose Arena
4/23: Anaheim, CA, Arrowhead Pond
4/28: Phoenix, AZ, America West Arena
5/1: Minneapolis, MN, Target Center
5/3: Cleveland, OH, Gund Arena
5/4: Lexington, KY, Rupp Arena
5/6: Pittsburgh, PA, Mellon Arena
5/7: Columbus, OH, Nationwide Arena
5/9: Milwaukee, WI, Bradley Center
5/10: Indianapolis, IN, Conseco Fieldhouse
5/12: Chicago, IL, United Center
5/24: Toronto, ONT, Air Canada Center
5/27: Montreal, QUE, Molson Center
5/30: Detroit, MI, Palace of Auburn Hills
6/2: Albany, NY, Pepsi Arena
6/3: Buffalo, NY, HSBC Arena
6/5: Boston, MA, Fleet Center
6/9: Hartford, CT, Hartford Civic Center
6/11: Philadelphia, PA, First Union Center
6/14: Washington, DC, MCI Center
6/17: New York, NY, Madison Square Garden
6/21: East Rutherford, NJ, Continental Airlines Arena

ANDREW DANSBY
(January 10, 2001)