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99-398: The tour grossed US$ 260 million in 110 sold-out concerts in 2005, making it the top-grossing tour of the year. In North America alone, the tour grossed $ 138.9 million from 1.4 million tickets sold. The Vertigo Tour won the 2005 Billboard Roadwork Touring Awards for Top Tour, Top Draw, and Top Single Event, and U2's management company Principle Management won for Top Manager. By

198-400: 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 number of choices and temptations, could be used as a metaphor for U2's songs, which often deal with

297-563: A Mystery to Me " and "Staring at the Sun" each ended a single show, as well. A total of 55 different songs were played throughout the tour and 17 of the 55 songs were played at all PopMart shows. Out of the 12 songs on Pop , each song was played in full at least once, with the exception of " The Playboy Mansion ", which was only featured as a snippet several times at the end of "Where the Streets Have No Name". " Do You Feel Loved "

396-712: A handful of shows, but otherwise it was followed by one more song. " Unchained Melody ", " Wake Up Dead Man ", and " MLK " were variously performed to close the show. On a handful of occasions, the show ended with another song, such as " Rain ", " Hallelujah ", " Mothers of the Disappeared " (during which the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo were brought on stage in Buenos Aires), " 40 ", or " Can't Help Falling in Love ". " She's

495-509: A live U2 performance in nearly a decade and proved to be a hugely successful leg, with massive audiences attending these shows. On 9 March 2006, it was announced the final 10 shows in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and Hawaii were postponed due to guitarist The Edge 's 7 year old daughter Sian's diagnosis of leukaemia. (The initial start of the tour had been postponed for the same reason, prior to any tickets being sold.) On 20 July 2006, it

594-499: A similar song against a cheap karaoke CD, complete with lyrics shown on the giant screen. The end of each main set featured " Please ", which segued into " Where the Streets Have No Name ". At the end of the main set, before the first encore, the giant lemon moved to the middle of the stage. There a sheet fell off exposing a huge disco ball that lit up the stadium in spinning lights while the Perfecto Mix of " Lemon " played over

693-788: A single day, November 9, 2016, this time at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California . The twelfth annual Billboard Touring Awards took place on a single day, November 19, 2015, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City . The eleventh annual Billboard Touring Awards took place on over two days in November 19–20, 2014, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City . The tenth annual Billboard Touring Awards took place on over two days in November 13 and 14, 2013, at

792-503: A small hatch at the back. This incident was later listed as one of "Rock 'n' Roll's 15 Most Embarrassing Stage Antics" by AOL 's Spinner.com. The lemon malfunctioned again at a show in Sydney, and was not used at all, and also malfunctioned in Osaka , Japan, where the band were again trapped inside but unable to escape through the back. In addition to the issues with the mechanical lemon,

891-499: A small part in a musical number. U2's guest appearance was later featured on The Phoenix ' s list of " The Simpsons 20 Best Guest Voices of All Time." In December 1997, the two PopMart Tour concerts in Mexico City were filmed for various future video and audio releases. In November 1998, PolyGram and Island Records released the video PopMart: Live from Mexico City on VHS and Video CD . The video combined footage from

990-537: A vehicle in which the band would travel over the audience and onto the B-stage during the show, while making reference to the Parliament-Funkadelic spaceship. Williams took Bono's idea seriously, and suggested that the mirrorball should be lemon-shaped, a reference to U2's song " Lemon " from their album Zooropa . Fisher designed a 40-foot (12 m) motorized lemon mirrorball, which was placed on

1089-447: A version of the concert stage transformed into a supermarket, which later appeared in the Pop album artwork. While the set's overall design consisted of simply an arch in front of a sloped video screen, Williams wanted to incorporate a mirrorball into the set, which had previously been featured on both The Joshua Tree and Zoo TV Tours. Bono proposed that the mirrorball should be used as

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1188-510: Is unclear if the conference and awards have, or will, continue past that year. Many of the awards are based on Billboard ' s Boxscore chart tracking concert, comedy and other live entertainment attendance and gate receipts, and on real box office performance. As a result, the awards often equate to commercial success. The "top tour" superlative award is also given on the basis of fan polls. The "Legend of Live" and Humanitarian awards are given to individuals for their ongoing contributions to

1287-611: The Billboard Roadworks '05 Touring Awards. The first annual Billboard Touring Awards were held November 8–9, 2004, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, as the culmination of the first Billboard Backstage Pass Conference. The winners were announced in advance of the awards ceremony. The awards were not well known or publicized much during this time. PopMart Tour The PopMart Tour

1386-590: The Montage Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, California . The fifteenth annual edition of the (newly named) awards took place on November 13, 2018, at the Montage Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, California , in proceedings hosted by comedian Roy Wood Jr. The fourteenth annual edition of the awards took place on November 15, 2017, at the Montage Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, California , in proceedings hosted by Hasan Minhaj . The thirteenth annual Billboard Touring Awards took place on

1485-463: The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City . The ninth annual Billboard Touring Awards again took place on over two days in November 2012 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City , despite the aftereffects of Superstorm Sandy . The eighth annual Billboard Touring Awards took place on over two days in November 2011 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City . The seventh annual Billboard Touring Awards took place on November 3 and 4, 2010, at

1584-593: The Sheraton Hotel in New York City, NY . The sixth annual Billboard Touring Awards took place November 4 and 5, 2009, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. The winners were: The fifth annual Billboard Touring Awards took place November 20, 2008 in New York City. The 2007 awards were held on November 15, 2007. Awards were based on box office performance from January 1, 2007, through September 30, 2007. The 2006 awards were held on November 9, 2006, in New York City. The 2005 awards were termed

1683-566: The Village People in the "Discothèque" video, and this willingness to mock their serious image continued during PopMart. (At the Los Angeles Coliseum show on 21 June, tribute was paid to the original "Prefab Four" with a guest appearance by Davy Jones of The Monkees to perform his signature song, " Daydream Believer ".) But U2's irony-drenched "big shtick " failed to satisfy many critics and fans seemingly confused by

1782-642: The Zoo TV Tour , U2 aired controversial satellite link-ups to Sarajevo . The link-ups were arranged by aid worker Bill Carter , who interviewed ordinary people about their experiences of the ongoing War in Bosnia and Herzegovina . As a result of the satellite broadcasts, U2 promised to play in Sarajevo. The Sarajevo show had to wait until the PopMart Tour, when U2 became the first major band to perform in

1881-417: The pixels further apart, thus creating a lower resolution image. A prototype was built with LED pixels placed 75 mm (3 in) apart on a cargo net . It worked successfully and served as a basis for the proposal of the design. The idea for producing another video-based tour gained much interest when Fisher and Williams were determined to create the largest video screen in existence at that time. When

1980-489: The Fans Choice being added in 2008, both being determined by fan vote. There are typically three nominees in each category. Repeat winners in the awards have been common, with country artist Kenny Chesney winning Top Package Tour six consecutive years through 2009 and Bonnaroo Music Festival winning four times as well starting in 2004. The sixteenth annual edition of the awards took place on November 5, 2019, at

2079-767: The LED curtains to be rolled up. High above the center stage hung the MiSphere strings, each containing 64 spheres and totaling nine meters long. Dynamic, "moving" lights were also embedded in the stage and the B-stage ramp, as well. Four screens suspended above the stage showed close-ups of each member of the band, another element reused from the Elevation Tour. For the European, Latin American and Australian stadium shows,

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2178-555: 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. After producing the band's previous tour, Zoo TV , which featured a complex setup involving 36 different video screens, Williams did not want to produce another video-based show unless it

2277-609: The Milan concert appeared as a special edition bonus DVD in U2's November 2006 compilation album U218 Singles . The 20 February 2006 show in São Paulo, Brazil was broadcast live by Rede Globo . Additionally, 700 hours of footage from seven Latin American concerts were filmed in 3D HD for the film U2 3D , released in 2008 in Real D Cinemas . On 18 and 19 November, additional U2 3D filming

2376-556: The PA. The band then would walk out of the giant lemon onto the B stage to perform " Discothèque ". The rest of the first encore typically consisted of " If You Wear That Velvet Dress " and " With or Without You ". After another brief break, the band would return to perform " Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me ", their single from 1995 for the Batman Forever soundtrack, followed by " Mysterious Ways ". " One " always followed, ending

2475-479: The PopMart Tour, each show had a similar setlist, with 21–24 songs performed by the band at each show. The concerts began with U2's remix of M 's " Pop Muzik " played through the PA system. During the song, the band members would walk through the crowd with bodyguards, similar to the beginning of a boxing match. The band would then walk onto the end of the B-stage , heading towards the main stage, where they would begin

2574-445: The PopMart Tour, the company had no experience with video technology. Each of the pixels were mounted onto 4,500 separate aluminium tubes, which were then broken down into 187 foldable panels, spread across 22 columns, which would easily fit into two trucks. The set's public address (PA) system was initially designed by Fisher who proposed a monophonic system with speakers mounted on top of two large antler -like structures in front of

2673-504: 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

2772-625: The Sun " during the middle of the set, and many shows featured " New Year's Day " and " All I Want Is You ". " I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For ", " Pride (In the Name of Love) ", and " Bullet the Blue Sky " (often preceded by " Miami ") were also played at every show. Those songs were often followed by an "Edge Karaoke " slot, in which the Edge would sing the Monkees ' " Daydream Believer " or

2871-592: The United States. PopMart grossed US$ 173.6 million from 3.98 million tickets sold. 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

2970-491: The Vertigo Tour had sold 4,619,021 tickets from 131 shows, and became the second-highest-grossing concert tour with $ 389 million earned. It was bested only by The Rolling Stones ' A Bigger Bang Tour , which took place at roughly the same time but was longer overall. The band's website, U2.com, was involved in a ticket presale controversy that upset fans. Users who paid $ 40 for a subscription to U2.com were promised

3069-420: The Vertigo Tour was a commercial success, ranking as the top-earning tour of 2005 with US$ 260 million grossed. In North America alone, the tour grossed $ 138.9 million from 1.4 million tickets sold. The Vertigo Tour won the 2005 Billboard Roadwork Touring Awards for Top Tour, Top Draw, and Top Single Event, and U2's management company Principle Management won for Top Manager. By the time it finished,

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3168-482: The Zoo TV Tour, the band delivered an image and performance that were ironic and self-mocking on PopMart, deviating from their earnest performances of the 1980s; the band performed in costumes that, along with the stage design, poked fun at the themes of consumerism and pop culture . The PopMart Tour spanned five legs and 93 shows, and took U2 to South America, South Africa and Israel for the first time. The tour

3267-508: The announced dates several days after the tour's announcement, and were priced at an average of $ 50 worldwide. Due to the lack of sponsors for the tour, ticket prices were almost 50% higher for this tour than Zoo TV. In markets where the average income was low, tickets were sold for a lower price, which was enough for the band to break even and not lose any money in the process. Before the tour, various markets distributed singles to promote ticket sales. A double 12-inch single of U2 remixes

3366-588: The arena to have an excellent view of the curtains above the band and the images they displayed. The roll-drop LED screens were designed by Fisher using 360deg golf-ball pixels developed with Frederic Opsomer of Innovative Designs in Belgium. The spherical LED product joined the BARCO product line as the Mi-Sphere. The Vertigo Tour used 189 strings of these "MiSphere" LED balls suspended from custom truss, which allows

3465-512: The awards arena for recorded music with the charts-based Billboard Music Award , which lasted from 1990 through 2006, returning in 2011. Those awards featured two slots for Concert Venue Award and Touring Venue Award, but were not otherwise live-performance-based. Award names and awards given themselves have varied somewhat each year, with for example the Top Comedy Tour and Concert Marketing and Promotion Awards being added in 2007 and

3564-772: The band answered questions for a half-hour. On why retail was the primary theme of the tour, Bono said, "I can’t quite recall how it got to the idea of taking a supermarket on the road...I remember it making a lot of sense at the time. As I’m sitting here, I’m trying to think what that [reason] is." It was announced that the beginning of the PopMart Tour was to feature stadium shows in 66 cities throughout North America and Europe, beginning in Whitney, Nevada , on 25 April, and ending in Seattle, Washington , on 12 December. They would tour an additional 12 cities in 1998 throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. Tickets went on sale for

3663-644: The band at the Grammy Awards . Billboard Touring Awards The Billboard Live Music Awards (previously known as the Billboard Touring Conference and Awards until 2018) is an annual meeting sponsored by Billboard magazine that honors the top international live entertainment industry artists and professionals. Established in 2004, it has thus been described as "part industry conference, part awards show". The last such annual event appears to have been in 2019; it

3762-522: The band performed in front of over 150,000 people in Reggio Emilia , Italy, and set a new world record for having the most attendees at a concert for a single performer. More than a decade after PopMart, despite the criticism and mishaps, Bono said that he considered the tour to be their best. "Pop(Mart) is our finest hour. It's better than Zoo TV aesthetically, and as an art project it is a clearer thought." He later added "When that show worked, it

3861-454: The band's first ever live performance of " Miss Sarajevo ." Luciano Pavarotti , who was guest vocalist on the original recording was not in Sarajevo. However, his vocal was retained. An old style phonograph , complete with amplifying horn, was brought on stage for the song and its stylus was moved into position by Brian Eno to coincide with the tenor's vocal contribution. Unfortunately, the performance of this song did not go as well as planned as

3960-614: The band's four-night engagement in Chicago, Illinois in May 2005 were filmed for the live DVD Vertigo 2005: Live From Chicago . During the European stadium leg of the Vertigo Tour in the summer of 2005, four more concerts were filmed: two in Dublin and two in Milan . Songs from the Milan shows were featured in a band profile on 60 Minutes and on U2.COMmunication . Ten songs performed at

4059-461: The band's new image and elaborate sets. One NME critic later recalled a "ludicrous hullabaloo" that was a departure from "Planet Reality." Disrupting a few shows, technical problems also arose throughout the tour. As the band were about to walk out of the giant mechanical lemon for the encore of a show in Oslo , the lemon malfunctioned, trapping the band inside and forcing them to escape through

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4158-489: The band's timing was off and Bono was having difficulty with his voice. It was in this context that Bono chose to apologize to the audience for the band not being able to "fucking play it." After the Sarajevo show in 1997, "Miss Sarajevo" was not played again until the second leg of the Vertigo Tour in 2005. This concert was also the first time the band had performed " Sunday Bloody Sunday " in more than four years. It

4257-476: The bead curtains were replaced by an LED screen behind the band. The screen was assembled from BARCO O-Lite modules. The assembly of the screen was similar to the rigging used for the LED screen in the PopMart Tour . The ellipse was also replaced with two catwalks leading to two B-stages in the style of the 'Vertigo target'. The following gear was used for the show's lighting: A PlayStation controller

4356-483: The city after the war had ended. The highly emotional concert was among the highlights of the PopMart Tour. 45,000 people attended and effort was made to make sure all the ethnic groups were present. Also in attendance were several hundred members of the international "Stabilisation Force" ( SFOR ) who were tasked at that time with upholding the Dayton Agreement . During the encore, Brian Eno got on stage for

4455-468: The conference, whose location was not revealed until the night before. Upon their arrival at the store, U2 got up on the stage assembled in the store's lingerie department and performed "Holy Joe," a B-side from the " Discothèque " single, which had been released nine days prior. The entire event was broadcast live through various sources on television, radio, and the Internet. Following the performance,

4554-541: The course of the tour, many other closing songs would be used as well. At the start of the much-delayed fifth leg in Australia, the usual first Zoo TV-style encore was used initially, but several shows into the leg "Zoo Station" was dropped in favour of "Mysterious Ways" with "The Fly" opening the encore, making the first encore "The Fly", "Mysterious Ways" and "With or Without You". The second encore, however, showcased three songs that had not been played until this point on

4653-414: 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

4752-420: The entire tour should take place in large stadiums, 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

4851-477: The entire tour. " The Saints Are Coming " was played, following U2 and Green Day 's using it to reopen the Louisiana Superdome . Up next was a full electric performance of " Angel of Harlem ". Making its Vertigo Tour debut and closing a show for the first time ever was " Kite ", which had not been played since the end of the Elevation Tour five years prior. "Kite" was accompanied by a didgeridoo and

4950-415: The extravagance of the tour was visually and technically impressive, the early dates of PopMart were, on occasion, marred by subpar performances. The band had booked the tour before the album was finished, and with the planned November 1996 release pushed back until March 1997 to finish the album, valuable tour rehearsal time was lost. This lack of preparation manifested itself in the shows, particularly during

5049-424: The first leg, "City of Blinding Lights" would alternate with " Love and Peace or Else ", and sometimes " Beautiful Day " appeared in the opening trio. In contrast, the stadium concerts of the second leg opened with "Vertigo", " I Will Follow ", and " The Electric Co. ", though "I Will Follow's" position was occasionally occupied by other songs. By the fourth leg, "City of Blinding Lights", "Vertigo" and "Elevation" were

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5148-425: The first time since the war to enable people to see the concert, though they were stopped again afterward. Bono later called the Sarajevo show "one of the toughest and one of the sweetest nights of my life." Mullen called it "an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life, and if I had to spend 20 years in the band just to play that show, and have done that, I think it would have been worthwhile." Although

5247-593: The floor connected to the stage, with some fans inside it and some outside it (similar to the heart-shaped ramp used on the previous Elevation Tour ). The inside area of the ellipse came to be known as the "bomb shelter", in reference to the supporting album. In the North American shows, a set of seven retractable, see-through LED -based lighted bead curtains hung behind and to the side of the stage, showing abstract patterns, maps, moving figures, and occasionally text. The curtain design permitted concertgoers around

5346-405: The idea for the screen was proposed to U2, they decided to take the risk of creating a show based on an undeveloped technological experiment, and invested US$ 7 million to develop the screen. Fisher proposed the idea of creating an LED screen on a flexible fabric sheet that could be draped over the stadium seats behind the stage. It was later decided that it would be easier to build the screen if it

5445-513: The large LED video screen became damaged in Washington, D.C. by a rain storm during a concert. The video screen required time for repairs which ended up causing an entire concert in Raleigh, North Carolina to be cancelled. Like the band's previous Zoo TV Tour, PopMart was another huge success in terms of revenue, grossing US$ 173,610,864 from 3,982,657 tickets sold. On 20 September 1997,

5544-555: The live entertainment touring industry. The conference and awards are held in November of each year, traditionally at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan in New York City but, since 2016, at hotels in the Los Angeles area. The conference usually takes place over two days and is attended by figures from the music and concert industry. Each year features a keynote speaker from the performance industry, who in

5643-467: The night before. The program received poor reception, ranking at 101 out of 107 programs aired that week, according to Nielsen ratings , and became the lowest rated non-political documentary in the history of the ABC network. Despite the low ratings, McGuinness appreciated the opportunity for the band to appear on network television in the first place, stating that the small audience for the television special

5742-437: The operatic vocals on the original, "Miss Sarajevo" featured Bono competently singing the operatic vocals. Also, " Discothèque ", from 1997's Pop album, made its final two appearances. The Vertigo Tour has also featured Larry Mullen, Jr. on vocals on "Elevation", "Miracle Drug" and "Love and Peace or Else". All but two songs ("A Man and a Woman" and " One Step Closer ") from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb were performed on

5841-415: The opportunity to purchase tickets in a presale that preceded any general public ticket sales. However, many fans were unable to purchase tickets, as technical glitches plagued the presale. Additionally, many scalpers had taken advantage of the system by subscribing to U2.com and purchasing as many tickets as possible, with the intentions of selling them for profit. Larry Mullen, Jr. apologized on behalf of

5940-551: The past have included the likes of Gene Simmons of Kiss and 3 Doors Down . While recorded music has an established awards structure headed by the Grammy Awards and also featuring the American Music Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards , live performance music has not had the same. The Billboard Touring Awards are an attempt to fill that gap. Billboard previously attempted to enter

6039-456: The poorly received opening night in Las Vegas. There was intense pressure for the band, especially with several journalists and celebrities in attendance. The band lost their timing on the song "Staring at the Sun", stopped playing partway through, and then started over. During "Discotheque", the crew filled the stage with too much dry-ice; the Edge could not see his guitar pedal in the midst of

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6138-461: 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

6237-534: The recordings from Mexico City, live versions of "Please", "Where the Streets Have No Name", and "Staring at the Sun" from Rotterdam , as well as "With or Without You" from Edmonton , were released internationally on the Please: PopHeart Live EP , and later on the "Please" single in the United States. A live video of "Please" filmed in Helsinki , known as the "Live Mural Cut", was featured on

6336-612: The rest of the tour. By the second leg in Europe, the performances had vastly improved as evidenced by the Popheart EP that featured three songs from the first European show in Rotterdam . The band had some difficulty filling stadiums in the southern and Midwestern US, yet there were multiple night sellouts in Chicago, New York and Boston. It was however better received by Europeans and in particular, South American audiences. It

6435-496: The right side of the stage. The final additions to the set included a 12-foot-wide (3.8-m) olive mounted onto a 100-foot (30-m) cocktail stick . Going along with the tour's satirical theme of consumerism, U2 announced their tour on 12 February 1997 by holding a news conference at a Kmart discount store at Astor Place , Manhattan , New York City . Hundreds of reporters from record companies, radio stations, television networks, newspapers, and magazines were in attendance at

6534-519: The same size as the backdrop used during the band's Lovetown Tour in 1989. The screen was created with the help of three separate companies, each of whom manufactured different components. The screen contained 150,000 pixels , each of which contained eight separate LEDs of various colors. The pixels were manufactured by SACO Technologies, a Montreal -based company, which specialized in manufacturing control systems and panels for nuclear and hydrogen power stations. U2 were SACO's first client, and prior to

6633-499: The screens, " Where the Streets Have No Name " followed " Pride (In the Name of Love) ". This led to a plea from Bono to participate in the ONE Campaign , while the opening of " One " played. The encores varied from leg to leg, and night to night. The first encore was frequently a musical and visual look back to U2's Zoo TV Tour , usually featuring " Zoo Station ", " The Fly ", and " Mysterious Ways ". However, for many shows on

6732-407: The set list after absences of more than fifteen years, including material from October , while "The First Time", from 1993's Zooropa album, was played in full live for the first time. " Miss Sarajevo ", a song from U2's side project Original Soundtracks No. 1 , became a concert regular despite previously only being played live twice since its release in 1995. Although Luciano Pavarotti sang

6831-485: The set list, the stadium and indoor sets became roughly similar. " Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own " was played at every show as a tribute to Bono's father. There was then a sequence of politically based songs (usually " Love and Peace or Else ", " Sunday Bloody Sunday ", and " Bullet the Blue Sky "), based around the theme of " Coexist " (written to show a Muslim Crescent , Jewish Star of David , and Christian Cross ). Later, with flags of African nations displayed on

6930-424: The show during a performance of "Pride (In the Name of Love)." The four members of the band and entire PopMart stage were shown in animated form. Bono, the Edge, and Adam Clayton had voice appearances in the episodes, as well as the band's manager, Paul McGuinness , and McGuinness' assistant, Susie Smith. Mullen was not present for the studio recordings and therefore appeared in a non-speaking role. The band even had

7029-710: The show ended with Bono releasing a kite from one of the B-Stages. During the band's second show in Auckland , " One Tree Hill " replaced "Kite" as the show closer. The encore of the final concert of the tour in Honolulu included " The Saints Are Coming " featuring Billie Joe Armstrong , " Window in the Skies ", and Neil Young 's " Rockin' in the Free World " featuring Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready . The tour ended with

7128-595: The show. Each concert opened with a performance of " Mofo ." Following "Mofo" at every show, the band performed " I Will Follow ", " Even Better Than the Real Thing ", " Gone ", " Last Night on Earth ", and " Until the End of the World ". As the group performed, the audience was bombarded with images and colors, all designed towards the show's ironic embrace of tackiness and pop -ular culture. Each show featured " Staring at

7227-518: The smoke and had to kneel down to find it by touch. Nonetheless, the quality of the performances improved greatly as certain new songs were dropped or reworked, old crowd favourites re-introduced and the setlist evolved into a more coherent order during the first two months. At the Giants Stadium dates, "Staring at the Sun" was performed acoustically by Bono and the Edge. Becoming one of the show's highlights, it would be performed this way for

7326-551: The song " All I Want Is You ". The Vertigo Tour was notable not only for its diversity of material—it was the first tour since the Lovetown Tour to feature at least one song from each of their currently released albums—but for the rarity of some songs played. "The Ocean" had not been performed since December 1982. Tracks from their debut album Boy were chosen ahead of tracks from their biggest-selling album, The Joshua Tree . A number of other songs returned to

7425-426: The standard opening trio that was only altered once – early on in the fourth leg. After the opening trio, songs from U2's early days were played at the arena shows, while the stadium shows featured more anthemic rock songs. " New Year's Day ", " Until the End of the World ", " I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For ", and " Miracle Drug " were examples of songs that often appeared in the main set. Beyond this point in

7524-423: 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

7623-413: The third leg, this was discarded in favor of an acoustic encore. The second encore often showcased recent material, and almost all second-leg shows as well as rare first and third-leg shows ended with a repeat of "Vertigo", in homage to U2's early concert days when they would run out of songs to play. The usual concert finisher in the first leg was " 40 " where Adam and Edge would switch instruments, but over

7722-589: The tickets were all sold within 60 minutes. The band then returned to North America in the autumn for the third leg, playing 50 sold-out shows in indoor arenas, starting on September 12 in Toronto and finishing up on December 19 in Portland, Oregon . A fourth leg began on 12 February 2006 in Monterrey , Mexico, and ran through March visiting Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile; many of these locales had not seen

7821-544: The time it finished, the Vertigo Tour had sold 4,619,021 tickets from 131 shows, and became the second-highest-grossing concert tour with $ 389 million earned. The tour was depicted in three concert films: Vertigo 2005: Live from Chicago , Vertigo: Live from Milan , and U2 3D . After rehearsing for several months in Vancouver, and stage rehearsals at Baja Studios in Rosarito, Mexico. The tour's opening night

7920-469: 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

8019-567: The tour. " Fast Cars ", a bonus track on some countries' editions of the album, was also performed. " Walk On ", the Grammy Award-winning song from All That You Can't Leave Behind , was played only sparingly on the tour, and barring performances in Brisbane and Sydney, was played in stripped-back acoustic form. Also " Bad ", which was a regular on the Elevation Tour playlist, was played less frequently on this tour. Two nights of

8118-459: The two concerts, and featured all 25 songs performed at both shows. The VHS and Video CD releases have since been out of print ; however, a DVD version was released for the first time in September 2007. In 2000, the album Hasta la Vista Baby! was released exclusively to members of U2's fan club, which featured 14 of the 25 songs from Mexico City on one CD. Released around the same time were

8217-471: The various " Beautiful Day " singles, which featured the live versions of "Discothèque", "If You Wear That Velvet Dress", and "Last Night on Earth," the latter of which was also featured on the " Elevation " single. The live video of "Last Night on Earth" appeared on the Australian "Beautiful Day" single, and the live video of "Gone" appeared on The Best of 1990–2000 video releases . In addition to

8316-399: The video screen. While discussing the structure to support the centralized PA system, Williams recalled a statement Bono made on the Zoo TV Tour about having a "secret fantasy to play a show underneath a set of gigantic golden arches". So the design was changed to feature a 100-foot (30-m) parabolic arch supporting the PA in the center of the stage. To further develop the concept, Fisher drew

8415-409: Was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2 . Staged in support of the group's 1997 album Pop , the tour's concerts were performed in stadiums and parks in 1997 and 1998. Much like the band's previous Zoo TV Tour , PopMart was an elaborate production. Its lavish stage design had a 165-foot-wide (50 m) LED screen, a 100-foot-high (30 m) golden arch, and a large mirror-ball lemon. As with

8514-494: Was announced that they were rescheduled for November and December, with some adjustments and additions of dates. The fifth leg started on 7 November in Brisbane, Australia and concluded on 9 December 2006 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii after thirteen shows. The Vertigo Tour's production was designed by architect Mark Fisher and stage and lighting designer Willie Williams . Key elements were an ellipse -shaped ramp on

8613-406: Was booked while the band were still completing Pop , which was planned to be released during the 1996 holiday season. However, the recording sessions went long, delaying the release until March 1997 and cutting into rehearsal time for the tour. Although it was the second-highest-grossing tour of 1997, PopMart was marred by technical difficulties and mixed reviews from critics and fans, particularly in

8712-627: Was distributed in Canada, and a CD single of various songs taken from U2's studio albums was released by a radio station in Mexico. In Europe, U2's remix of " Pop Muzik " used to open the PopMart shows, was released as a single on both 12-inch and CD formats. While the first single from Pop , "Discothèque", was released in January 1997, " Staring at the Sun " became the second single from the album, and

8811-574: Was done at the Melbourne concerts at Telstra Dome , as additional shots of the stage's LED display and the concert audience were needed. Support slots were taken up by Ash, Arcade Fire , Athlete , Dashboard Confessional , Feeder , Franz Ferdinand , Interpol , Kanye West , Keane , The Killers , Kings of Leon (U.S. leg only), Scissor Sisters , Snow Patrol , Starsailor (Cardiff only), Paddy Casey (Dublin only), Razorlight , Pearl Jam (Honolulu only) and The Zutons . Like its predecessor,

8910-461: Was going to be completely different from its predecessor. His initial proposals to U2 featured physical designs, including a center stage surrounded by a racetrack with circling trucks and motorbikes. Fisher researched one of the first LED screens to be imported into the United States. (It was built for the State Fair of Texas in 1995). Fisher proposed to make a much larger LED screen by spacing

9009-407: Was hung in its own frame, so a sloped frame was added to the screen. Several months were spent experimenting with and demonstrating the capabilities of LED video. The screen designed for the show was ten times larger than all 36 Zoo TV screens put together, with a total size that ranged between 150 and 170 feet (46–52 metres) wide and 50–56 feet (15–17 metres) tall, approximately

9108-638: Was mindblowing." The Edge said that he was "very proud of [ Pop ] by the end of the tour. We finally figured it out by the time we made the DVD . It was an amazing show that I'm really proud of." In April 1998, one month after the PopMart Tour had ended, U2 appeared as guest stars on the 200th episode of The Simpsons , " Trash of the Titans ." The episode featured U2 performing a PopMart concert in Springfield Stadium where Homer Simpson disrupted

9207-902: Was on 28 March 2005 at the iPayOne Center in San Diego, California . The first leg through North America consisted of 28 sold-out indoor arena shows and finished on 28 May in Boston, Massachusetts . The second leg was a European stadium tour, commencing on 10 June in Brussels and finishing on 14 August in Lisbon . They played in a number of venues including Amsterdam , London, Dublin , Madrid , Milan , and Oslo . U2 broke Irish box office marks with ticket sales for three Croke Park concerts in Dublin, after more than 240,000 tickets were sold in record time. In The Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Austria,

9306-439: Was only performed during the first six shows, and " If God Will Send His Angels " was performed once by the full band, plus about 20 other times solely by Bono and the Edge. " Bad " and " Desire " were also played at a handful of shows. This set list is representative of the tour's average setlist as conducted by Setlist.fm, which represents all concerts for the duration of the tour. Encore 2nd Encore During

9405-456: Was performed solo by the Edge who frequently introduced the song during the final legs of the tour by stating that the band had "rediscovered" it in Sarajevo. Larry Mullen Jr. also played the leading drumbeat from the song as part of the second half of "Please". Despite the subpar performance, a news story said, "For two magical hours, the rock band U2 achieved what warriors, politicians and diplomats could not: They united Bosnia." Trains ran for

9504-514: Was released in April 1997 to coincide with the beginning of the tour. On 26 April 1997, American television network ABC aired a one-hour prime time special about Pop and the PopMart Tour, titled U2: A Year in Pop . Narrated by actor Dennis Hopper , the documentary featured footage from the Pop recording sessions, as well as live footage from the opening PopMart show in Whitney, which took place

9603-430: Was still a large audience for the band, as it was much larger than any audience that could be obtained by MTV. During the middle of the tour's first leg, MSN launched U2's first official website, U2popmart.MSN.com. The website was updated constantly throughout the tour, featuring images and audio clips from various concerts, as well as live webcasts during select performances. Out of the 93 concerts performed during

9702-460: Was the first time U2 had toured South America and Bono remarked that the rapturous fan response they received there helped U2 regain their confidence and appreciation for playing together. Despite its cleverness and positive critical response, many fans felt alienated by the shows; certain material from the Pop album did not go down as well as U2 might have hoped and many people did not seem to have understood its satirical nature. U2 had dressed as

9801-461: Was used to control High End Systems DL1 units for audience shots presented on the large video screens. The show's set list varied, with notable differences between each leg of the tour. Prior to the band taking the stage, " Wake Up " by Canadian rock band Arcade Fire was played as introduction music. The arena shows of the first and third legs usually began with the same trio of songs: " City of Blinding Lights ", " Vertigo ", and " Elevation ". On

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