PopMart Tour
| World tour by U2 | |
 |
|
| Location | North America, Europe, South America, Oceania, Asia, Africa |
|---|---|
| Associated album | Pop |
| Start date | 25 April 1997 |
| End date | 21 March 1998 |
| Legs | 5 |
| No. of shows | 93 |
| Box office | US$171,677,024 |
| U2 concert chronology | |
| PopMart Tour set | |
|---|---|
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| General information | |
| Type | Concert set |
| Architectural style | Pop architecture |
| Construction started | 28 March 1997 |
| Completed | 25 April 1997 |
| Client | U2 |
| Height | 30 metres (98 ft) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Mark Fisher |
| Architecture firm | Mark Fisher Studio |
| Structural engineer | Atelier One, MC McLaren PC |
| Other designers | Willie Williams |
The PopMart Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 1997 album, Pop, the tour's concerts were performed in stadia and parks in 1997 and 1998. Much like the band's previous Zoo TV Tour, PopMart was elaborately staged. Its lavish stage design had a 165-foot (50 m) wide LED screen, a 100-foot (30 m)-high golden arch, and a large mirror-ball lemon. As with the Zoo TV tour, the band delivered an image and performance that were ironic and self-mocking, deviating from its earnest performances of the 1980s; the band performed in costumes that, along with the PopMart stage design, poked fun at the themes of consumerism and pop culture.
The PopMart Tour's five legs and 93 shows attracted about 3.9 million fans. The tour took U2 to South America, South Africa and Israel for the first time. The tour was booked while the band were still completing Pop, which was planned for release in the 1996 holiday season. However, the recording sessions went long, delaying the release until March 1997 and cutting into rehearsal time for the tour. PopMart, although the second-highest-grossing tour of 1997, was marred by technical difficulties and mixed reviews from critics and fans particularly in the United States. The tour was depicted on the concert film PopMart: Live from Mexico City.
U2 stage designer Willie Williams and stage architect Mark Fisher began developing the PopMart Tour in late 1995. U2 re-entered their Dublin recording studio in October 1995, shortly before releasing an experimental/ambient album with Brian Eno, entitled Original Soundtracks 1, under the pseudonym "Passengers". The band started to work on their ninth studio album, which was set to be finished by mid-1996 and released later that year prior to the Christmas and holiday season. Around the same time, in late 1995, Williams began developing concepts for the band's next tour. Among the proposed themes for the tour was a concept based on the end of the millennium titled "U2000", and a discothèque concept involving a large mobile disco. Lead vocalist Bono became interested in one of Williams' designs that resembled a supermarket, which was inspired by facades of American post-war suburban outlet stores. Bono who believed that the symbol of a supermarket, with its large amount of choices and temptations, could be used as a metaphor for U2's songs, which often deal with the struggle between desire and faith. With the help of Fisher, Williams designed a fantasy "entertainment outlet", and decided to create a tour with a consumerism theme.
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