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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 from 1997 through 1998. Much like the band's previous Zoo TV Tour, PopMart was elaborately staged and featured a lavish stage design, complete with a wide LED screen, a -high golden arch, and a large mirror-ball lemon. Much like the Zoo TV tour, the PopMart tour saw the band embrace an image and performances that were intentionally ironic and self-mocking, deviating from the band's previously earnest stage performances from 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 comprised five legs and 93 shows, attracting about 3.9 million fans. The tour took U2 to South America, South Africa and Israel for the first time. The tour was booked ahead of time while the band were still completing ''Pop'', which had a planned release date of holiday season 1996. However, the album's sessions went long and it wasn't until March 1997 that the album was released, significantly 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''. ==Conception and planning== 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. While still in the recording studio, U2 began scheduling tour dates in early 1996, along with band manager Paul McGuinness. U2's stadium performances from the Zoo TV Tour received much positive reception, therefore McGuinness decided that the entire tour should take place in large stadia, as opposed to beginning the tour in smaller arenas, despite the fact that the band did not feel another stadium tour was necessary. After risking bankruptcy by self-financing the Zoo TV Tour, U2 decided to seek outside sources to finance the cost of taking the PopMart Tour around the world. Initially, the band announced they were looking for sponsors to support the tour, but they later decided to instead use a single promoter for financial assistance. Bids were made with five separate parties, and eventually a deal was made with Toronto-based concert promoter Michael Cohl for $100 million. Cohl expected a total five to six million attendees at over 100 concerts, beginning in April 1997. He also expected the tour to gross $260 million, almost $20 million more than the Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge Tour, which was the highest-grossing tour in history at the time, and also organized by Cohl. As the recording sessions on the new album progressed, U2 decided they would not be ready to finish their album for the mid-year production deadline, and pushed back the release date by several months.〔 To get the album ready for its March 1997 release, the album's recording sessions had to be finished by the end of December. Within one month of the production deadline, the album was still untitled and had much work left before it could be completed.〔 Because the dates for the tour had already been booked, the album's release could not be delayed any further. Eventually, the album was titled ''Pop'', and Williams dubbed the title "PopMart" for the tour.〔 The album's recording sessions were finished in time for the March 1997 release date, but the band felt they still needed another month to fully complete the album. Bono later stated that letting McGuinness book the tour before the album was finished was the worst decision that U2 ever made because it forced them to finish up the album sooner than they had wanted. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「PopMart Tour」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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