All That You Can't Leave Behind

Reuniting the band with the production duo of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno—who also produced The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby—is often seen as a return to basics after the group's experimental nineties records. In many ways, however, this is an oversimplification, as the album breaks new ground by retaining the sonic nuances of their nineties work and reconciling it with the melodic, hook-filled rock of their eighties work. The first song (and lead single), "Beautiful Day", for instance, is an optimistic anthem that opens with a drum machine and a rhythm sequencer.

The album includes "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of", a song written by Bono for his friend Michael Hutchence, who killed himself in 1997. Brian Eno was enthusiastic about the song and wagered with Bono that it would become the group's biggest single. While this did not come to pass, it is nonetheless a fan favorite, with its gospel-tinged melodies and saccharine guitar leads.

The album met wide acclaim from critics and the public, debuting at #1 in 28 countries (but only reaching #3 in the United States). The first single released was "Beautiful Day", which reached #1 in the UK single charts (which track the popularity of individual songs) and in most European countries, Canada and Australia. All That You Can't Leave Behind was the third highest selling U2 album, with total sales of over 10 million. Both "Beautiful Day" and "Walk On" scored the prestigious Grammy Award for Record of the Year in consecutive years; the former in 2001 and the latter in 2002. The accompanying Elevation Tour was also deemed very successful.

All That You Can't Leave Behind was voted #139 on Rolling Stone's top 500 greatest albums of all-time.

The rock band U2's Elevation Tour took place in 2001 in support of their album All That You Can't Leave Behind.

The tour's opening night was on March 24, 2001 at the National Car Rental Center outside of Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the United States. The first leg took place in North America that spring, the second leg in Europe that summer, and the third leg back in North America that autumn, ending on December 2, 2001 near where it started, at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida.

The Elevation Tour's stage design was done by Peter 'Willie' Williams, designer of a number of U2's tours. Unlike its predecessor Zoo TV and Popmart tours, Elevation was a simpler, stripped-down affair, hitting indoor arenas instead of outdoor stadiums. The key feature was the stage, which included a large heart-shaped ramp. Some general admission ticket-holders were placed inside the heart, around which band members could walk, getting closer to the audience on both sides. Visual images were presented on scrims mounted high among the lighting rigs, sometimes in dynamic swirling fashion such as for "Kite".

Shows typically began with the powerful opening duo of "Elevation" and "Beautiful Day", but the setlist overall did not present any major thematic patterns.

The third leg of the tour began in the U.S. only a month after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and in the midst of the 2001 anthrax attacks. While some fans shied away from coming to an ordinarily celebratory occasion or to a large, enclosed public gathering, many other fans did not let these events stop them. The tenor of the times dramatically affected the temperment of the shows, with Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" appearing frequently in the setlist and the band's "Walk On" taking on added emotional weight. The live favourite "Bad" appeared as a regular again after it was only played a few times in the PopMart Tour.

1. "Beautiful Day" (4:06)

2. "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" (4:33)

3. "Elevation" (3:48)

4. "Walk On" (4:57)

5. "Kite" (4:25)

6. "In A Little While" (3:40)

7. "Wild Honey" (3:47)

8. "Peace On Earth" (4:49)

9. "When I Look at the World" (4:14)

10. "New York" (5:31)

11. "Grace" (5:45)

In Japan, Australia and the UK, "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" (3:44) is a bonus track at the end. Various limited edition copies in the US included a bonus disc with either "Always" (3:46), "Summer Rain" (4:06), or "Big Girls Are Best" (3:37).