U2 1997 'PopMart' US TOUR CONCERT PROGRAM ~ MIRROR BALL COVER GREAT CONTENTS U-2

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U2 'PopMart' 1997 US TOUR PROGRAM ~ MIRROR BALL COVER ~ GREAT CONTENTS
This week on Ebay we are offering up this very cool and very well made U-2 'PopMart' Tour Program.
The 'PopMart' Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2 in support of the group's 1997 album Pop. The theme of the Tour was meant to poke fun at the extremes of Pop Culture and consumerism.
This is a very nice U2 'PopMart' 1997 Tour Program.
Beautifully designed and printed. About 34 Pages, softcover and measures 9 1/2 by 12 inches. It includes concert dates and tour information.
It also contains many colorful pictures and illustrations. There are pictures of the Band members as well as many images of Pop culture.
There are several fold-out pages, including a large fold-out centerfold of the band, and a 'pop-up' image of The Edge.
The cover is die-cut and made of a silver metallic, reflective material, like a mirror ball. It's hard to get the effect in a photograph, but it looks terrific.
I've had this Tourbook since I purchased it at their show at Giant Stadium in New Jersey. One owner.
CONDITION: It has some 'wrinkles' along the seam and on the cover, around the die-cut holes. Seems to be common to this tourbook. There are a few 'scuffs' to the mirror-ball finish. A small one on the front cover and a few more on the back, from years of bouncing around my collection. They appear as white 'spots' on the cover. I tried to show the wrinkles and scuffs in my photos.
Overall, it's in decent acceptable condition, but not perfect. I'm sure you'll be happy with it.
I'm selling this "as is" with "No returns"
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THE U2 'PopMart' TOUR
The PopMart Tour was a very elaborate production, right from its earliest conception. The shows were mostly performed in large stadiums around the World, and the Stage was specially designed and was an elaborate production, costing Millions of dollars and a huge team to design and support it.
The Stage featured a 165-foot-wide LED screen, a 100-foot-high golden arch, and a large mirror-ball lemon. The band performed in various costumes that, along with the stage design, poked fun at the themes of mass consumerism and pop culture.
The PopMart Tour was enormous. It spanned five legs over multiple continents and included just under 100 shows.
The first leg of the Tour, which was here in the States, started off roughly. U2's manager booked the extensive 'PopMart' tour to promote the 'Pop' album before the band finished recording it.
Instead of rehearsing for the tour, the band was busy putting the finishing touches on the album. The first few shows of the American leg were rough and disorganized, making fans and critics feel that the Show, and the album it supported, were not very good. That was totally wrong.
As the tour progressed, the band changed the setlists, and the shows became tighter, well rehearsed and started to receive great reviews as well as larger audiences. The technical difficulties of the massive stage were also managed well.
The 'PopMart' tour went on to be very successful and the shows were considered to be excellent, innovative, and changed the way large concerts were produced for years to come.
The tour started in the Spring of 1997 and continued into 1998.
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U2 stage designer Willie Williams and stage architect Mark Fisher began developing the Tour as early as 1996.
Bono believed that the symbol of a supermarket, with its large number of choices, blatant advertising gimmicks and temptations, could be used as a metaphor for U2's songs, many of which deal with the ongoing struggle between desire and faith.
As the band was making fun of consumerism, blatant commercialism, and false advertising, the Band had a difficult time finding a Sponsor for the tour and had to put up a lot of their own money and charge higher ticket prices for the tour.
The team came up with the name 'PopMart' for the tour. Then they set out to design an appropriate Stage setting to support the 'Pop Supermarket' theme.
Bono had said in the past, that he thought it would be hilarious to perform a show in America under a giant set of "Golden Arches" suggesting the mass consumerism of McDonalds in America.
Stage designer Willie Williams constructed a giant 100-foot tall Yellow parabolic Arch for the center of the stage. He put the band's PA system at the top of the arch.
They also wanted to set up a giant video screen in order to show images of consumerism, pictures and short film clips.
Stage architect Mark Fisher started to research video screens. On their previous tour, U2 had used a backdrop of hundreds of TV screens to display pictures and videos. Fisher wanted to expand on that concept.
He researched LED screens that were a new technology at the time. He was determined to create the largest video screen in existence at that time.
The screen eventually designed for the show, by SACO Technologies in Montreal, was ten times larger than all 36 Zoo TV screens put together, with a size 160 feet wide and 50 feet tall. It contained 150,000 pixels, each of which contained eight separate LEDs of various colors.
Bono also wanted to use a mirror ball on stage, like the did on prior tours. The design team came up with a giant mirror ball, shaped like a lemon, that was mobile and big enough to hold and transport the band from the main stage to a smaller auxiliary B-Stage. Fisher designed a 40-foot motorized lemon mirror ball that was used during the show to take the band out to the smaller B-Stage, while the PA system played U2's songs "lemon' and "Discothèque."
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Going along with the tour's satirical theme of consumerism, U2 announced the start of the 'PopMart' tour by holding a news conference at a Kmart store in New York City.
All of the concerts began with U2's remix of M's "Pop Muzik" played through the PA system and then the audience was bombarded with images and colors from the video screen, all designed to show the band's embrace of tackiness, consumerism and culture.
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Shipping cost within the lower 48 states is .25 for this item.
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THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far. Have a very Merry Christmas and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season enjoying what you do celebrate. -- JOHN