The Elevation show in Tampa on December 1, 2001 was a great time, not necessarily because of the concert itself, but rather because of the great time I had with my friends in the GA line camping out overnight. For this reason, I chose this Elevation show at the Ice Palace as my favorite U2 concert beginning with ‘I.’

My friends Tasha, Jenny, Paola (see my ‘F‘ post) and I flew out of Baltimore early Friday morning the day before the U2 show in Tampa. We booked a beautiful hotel next door to the Ice Palace. As we were checking in, we saw Nick Carter, of the Backstreet Boys, in the lobby. We had a great lunch at a wonderful outside cafe on the water. This was where our pampering ended. We got into the GA line around 1:30 pm – the day before the show. We were numbers 6, 7, 8, and 9 in line. We had pizza for dinner in the GA line. We got silly around midnight – punchdrunk giggly silly. We watched the U2 trucks drive in around 7am. We went back to the hotel in the morning to enjoy the nice buffet breakfast that was included with our room. We did not try to meet the band because we were not allowed to leave the GA line after we got our wristbands. But we heard that Bono and Edge stopped around 6:30 pm, so I least I didn’t miss Larry.

Even though we were at the front of the GA line, it got chaotic with people running and pushing, but somehow we got right up front at the rail between Bono and Adam. Garbage opened and during their set, Shirley Manson looked at us and said something like ‘We have some fans of the Larry Mullen Band here. What else does your shirt say? It’s All About Drums. Yes, it is.’ I’m pretty sure Shirley is a huge fan of Larry. During U2’s set, Larry walked over to Paola (as she was holding up a ‘Can I have your drum stick?’ sign) and gave her his drum stick. Tasha took a great picture of Larry leaning over as he’s handing it to Paola. A really funny moment in the show was when a fan gave Bono this too small ‘I love NY’ tee shirt and somehow Bono squeezed into it over his own shirt. Bono did a little tribute to George Harrison who had died two days before.

Elevation Tampa 12.1.01 Set List: Elevation, Beautiful Day, Until the End of the World, New Year’s Day, I Will Follow, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Stuck In a Moment, Kite / My Sweet Lord, Angel of Harlem, Please (B & E acoustic), Bad / Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, Where the Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Pride, Bullet the Blue Sky, What’s Going On, New York, One, Peace on Earth / Walk On.

This is part of my Blogging from A to Z Challenge about ‘My U2 Concerts A to Z.’ Thanks for stopping by. Please come back tomorrow as I write about my favorite ‘J’ U2 show.