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Zoo TV Tour
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The Zoo TV Tour (also written as ZooTV, ZOO TV or ZOOTV) was an elaborately-staged worldwide concert tour by Irish rock band U2. Launched in support of the album Achtung Baby, the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 1992 through 1993. The Zoo TV Tour used multimedia and the video age for much of its inspiration, as it was designed to instill a feeling of "sensory overload" in its audience.
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The Zoo TV Tour (also written as ZooTV, ZOO TV or ZOOTV) was an elaborately-staged worldwide concert tour by Irish rock band U2. Launched in support of the album Achtung Baby, the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 1992 through 1993. The Zoo TV Tour used multimedia and the video age for much of its inspiration, as it was designed to instill a feeling of "sensory overload" in its audience. The stage's 36 video screens flashed random collections of images and slogans from pop culture, while performances were complemented by a myriad of bewildering visual effects.
Lead singer Bono described Achtung Baby as "the sound of four men chopping down the Joshua Tree". The Zoo TV Tour marked a shift from the band's previously earnest stage performances from the 1980s to ones that were intentionally ironic and self-mocking; Bono used the tour to showcase numerous stage personas and characters he created. Differing from all previous and subsequent U2 tours, the Zoo TV shows opened with six to eight consecutive new songs before playing any older material.
Different phases of the tour were also known as Zoo TV – The Outside Broadcast, Zooropa, and Zoomerang.
The tour began in Lakeland, Florida on February 29, 1992 and ended in Tokyo, Japan on December 10, 1993. It comprised five legs, 157 shows, was seen by about 5.4 million people, and was the highest-grossing tour in North America of 1992. The band's 1993 album Zooropa was recorded during a break in the tour, and its songs were featured in later legs of the tour. The tour was depicted in the Grammy Award-winning concert film Zoo TV: Live from Sydney. In 2002, Q magazine called it "still the most spectacular rock tour staged by any band."
Stage design
The stage was designed by frequent U2 collaborator Willie Williams who worked with the stage designers Mark Fisher and Jonathan Park (designers of the Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels" stage set). The design featured vidi walls, 36 video monitors, numerous television cameras, two separate mix positions, 26 on stage microphones, 176 speakers, and 11 elaborately painted Trabants, several of which were suspended over the stage with spotlights inserted into headlights.
A total of 52 trucks were required to transport the 1,200 tons of equipment, 3 miles of cabling, 200 labourers, 12 forklifts and one 40-ton crane, required to construct the stage.
Overview of show
The tour, partly inspired by CNN's seemingly endless coverage of the Gulf War was, on one level, a straight-faced satire on the media overload that came to define the 1990s. The tour's television screens displayed a mixture of seemingly random images and slogans, featuring found sounds and live sampling from actual mass media outlets (borrowing things for which the band Negativland had been known for doing for some time before), created by artists such as Kevin Godley, Brian Eno, Mark Pellington, Carol Dodds, Philip Owens, David Wojnarowicz, and multimedia performance artists Emergency Broadcast Network in an effort to reflect the desensitizing effect of the modern mass media.
The 1993 Zooropa and Zoomerang shows opened with a seven minute piece created by Emergency Broadcast Network, which wove looped images from Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will with various war and news imagery sources. Following this, the stadium was darkened and moments later Bono appeared onstage, silhouetted against a giant screen of blue and white video noise. The show began with a fixed sequence of songs. In an interview on the Zoo Radio program, The Edge described the visual material that went with the first three of them:
The imagery used during "Zoo Station"'s performance was created by blending video noise with stop motion animation sequences of the band members "filmed" on a photocopier. Some of "The Fly's" meltdown messages included "Taste is the enemy of art", "Religion is a club", "Ignorance is bliss", "Rebellion is packaged", "Believe" with letters fading out to leave "lie", and "Everything you know is wrong", and real media footage borrowed from mass media.
"Mysterious Ways" featured a belly dancer on-stage. "One" was accompanied by the title word shown in many languages, as well as Mark Pellington-directed video clips of buffalos leading to a still image of David Wojnarowicz's "Falling Buffalo" photograph. People found in the song, as they did with the tour, many levels of meaning; released as a single as the tour began, "One" quickly became one of U2's most popular songs. During "Until the End of the World", Bono unleashed a series of egotistical rock star poses with the chaotic visual approach, this time created from a rapid-fire jumble of numbers, many of which reflected topics close to the video artist's and band's heart, including production crew members' birthdays, the date of Martin Luther King Jr.'s murder, the date of release of U2's first 12-inch single in Ireland, the date of 'Bloody Sunday'. More video montage led into "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World", during which Bono would continue his long practice of dancing with a young female fan pulled from the crowd, only now spraying themselves with champagne and captured each other with a consumer camcorder video feed shown live to the audience.
U2 had used backing tracks in live performance before (such as the synthesized backdrops to "Bad" and "Where the Streets Have No Name") but, with the need to synch live performance to the high-tech visuals of Zoo TV, almost the entire show was synched and sequenced, with most numbers featuring pre-recorded percussion, keyboard, or guitar elements underlying the U2 members' live instrumentals and vocals. This practice has continued on their subsequent tours.
Zoo TV was one of the first large-scale concerts to feature the B stage, a smaller stage in the middle of the floor, intended "to be the antidote to Zoo TV". Here, the four members played quieter numbers such as acoustic arrangements of "Angel of Harlem" and "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)". After that it was back to the main stage for some U2 classics played straight, but when the encores began, Bono's alter-egos returned.
The concerts usually ended with Achtung Babys gentler "Love Is Blindness", although later in the tour, it was followed by a cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love".
According to VH1's Legends: "Zoo TV saw U2 mocking the excesses of rock and roll by ironically embracing greed and decadence. However, some missed the point of the tour and thought that U2 had 'lost it', and that Bono had become an egomaniac."
Other aspects
Between U2 and the support acts, eccentric Irish disk jockey BP Fallon acted as emcee, playing records and giving a running commentary while wearing a top hat and cape and seated inside a Trabant on the B-stage. He also hosted Zoo Radio, a distributed radio special that showcased selected performances from Zoo TV, audio oddities, and half-serious interviews with U2 members as well as with sometime opening acts Big Audio Dynamite II, Public Enemy and The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Fallon, at the band's suggestion, would eventually publish a book BP Fallon - U2 Faraway So Close about the tour. Paul Oakenfold, who would go on to become one of the world's most prominent club DJs by the end of the 1990s, replaced him on the 1993 legs.
The tour also had a Confessional Booth where concert-goers could record a personal confession on camera. These confessions were often incorporated into the show, being displayed on the main television screens in the intervals between main show and encore.
On June 11, 1992, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA appeared for the first time in years to perform "Dancing Queen" with the band, which U2 had frequently performed on the tour up to that point. Other guest performers on the tour included Axl Rose, Jo Shankar and Daniel Lanois.
Most later shows included a nightly duet between Bono and a pre-recorded video of Lou Reed singing his song "Satellite of Love" (with a real appearance from Reed on August 12, 1992 at Giants Stadium), and an almost nightly phone call to the office of American president George H. W. Bush. Though Bono never got through to the President, Bush did acknowledge the calls during a press conference.
The novelist Salman Rushdie joined the band on stage in London's Wembley Stadium on August 11, 1993 despite the author's well-publicized fear of violence from Islamic extremists, due to the controversy over his novel The Satanic Verses. When confronted by Bono's MacPhisto character, the author observed that "real devils don't wear horns."
A number of European shows featured nightly live link-ups with people living in war-torn Sarajevo. Arranged by aidworker Bill Carter, (who later with Bono's help made the documentary film Miss Sarajevo), it was intended to bring world attention to the suffering of the people living in the war zone. Carter, while in besieged Sarajevo, watched an interview on MTV where Bono mentioned the theme of the Zooropa leg to be an unified Europe; feeling that such an aim was empty while it ignored the plight of the Bosnians and so decided to seek Bono's help in breaking Sarajevo's isolation. The link-ups allowed people who had escaped the conflict to speak with family members and loved ones within the war zone, or to accuse the West of inaction and apathy. The link ups though, drew criticism as being inappropriate for a rock show. In 2002, Larry Mullen said: "I can't remember anything more excruciating than those Sarajevo link-ups. It was like throwing a bucket of cold water over everybody. You could see your audience going, 'What the fuck are these guys doing?' But I'm proud to have been a part of a group who were trying to do something."
Bono's stage personas
Bono was seen wearing many costumes during the tour. He wore a military vest for two songs during the main set and a suit jacket for portions of the main set as well. However, the main three of them were for his stage personas: The Fly, the Mirror Ball Man, and Mr. MacPhisto.
The Fly
The Fly featured in the music video for the song of the same name, as well as the video of "Even Better Than the Real Thing" and "Lemon". He was intended to represent the stereotypical rock star. He wore wrap-around shades with a full leather outfit, and carried himself with exaggerated, sexual mannerisms. The character was created in Berlin while U2 were recording Achtung Baby. Of its discovery, Bono said, "Fintan Fitzgerald, who was running our wardrobe, had found this very Seventies superfly set of blaxploitation sunglasses. I would put them on whenever we hit a problem and make everyone laugh, running off at the mouth and describing the visions I’d see." The shades came to symbolize the "new U2", as distinct from the pious, rootsy U2 of the The Joshua Tree-era. Bono described him as, "a barfly, a self-appointed expert on the politics of love, a bullshit philosopher who occasionally hits the nail on the head but more often it's his own finger-nail he leaves black and blue."
In Zoo TV performances, The Fly would begin by appearing silhouetted against a video screen, dancing wildly as if drunk as "Zoo Station" opened the show. During the song, he played around with the "typical rock star" act. He would then play guitar during "The Fly." Often, he would make a short introductory speech about Zoo TV after "The Fly," then played local TV channels on-screen. Then the band would begin "Even Better Than the Real Thing," in which he played with a handicam, filming The Edge's solo, then himself.
MacPhisto
MacPhisto was created to parody the devil. Bono said of his creation, which was named after Mephistopheles of the Faust legend, "We came up with a sort of old English Devil, a pop star long past his prime returning regularly from sessions on The Strip in Vegas and regaling anyone who would listen to him at cocktail hour with stories from the good old, bad old days." MacPhisto wore a gold suit with gold platform shoes, wore pale make-up and lipstick, and wore devil's horns atop his head. The idea of the horns came from Gavin Friday, according to Bono. He spoke with an exaggerated upper-class English accent, not unlike that of a down-on-his-luck character actor. He would make telephone calls nightly, like the Mirror Ball Man, but the targets would change with the location of the concert. Bono enjoyed making these calls, saying, "When you’re dressed as the Devil, your conversation is immediately loaded, so if you tell somebody you really like what they’re doing, you know it’s not a compliment." The band intended for MacPhisto to add humor while making a point. Said The Edge, "That character was a great device for saying the opposite of what you meant. It made the point so easily and with real humor."
MacPhisto's speech at the Sydney 1993 concert exemplified the character:
This character would subsequently figure prominently in the 1995 music video for "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" from the soundtrack of the movie Batman Forever.
The Mirror Ball Man
The Mirror Ball Man appeared during the encores for the first three legs of the tour. The Mirror Ball Man dressed in a suit of shining silver with silver shoes and a silver hat. Bono said of the character, "On the first American leg, we created a character called the Mirror Ball Man, a kind of showman America. He had the confidence and charm to pick up a mirror and look at himself and give the glass a big kiss. He loved cash and in his mind success was God’s blessing. If he’s made money, he can’t have made any mistakes." Mirror Ball Man called the White House nightly in an attempt to talk to then President George H.W. Bush. "The Mirror Ball Man would call the White House, where, much to his bemusement, Operator Two regularly declined to put him through to the President," said Bono. Bono traded in his Mirror Ball Man persona for Mr. MacPhisto after the Outside Broadcast Leg.
One speech of his is a clear parody of televangelism:
Recording and release of Zooropa
U2 recorded their next album, Zooropa, during a break at the end of the third leg of the tour. The album was intended as an additional EP to Achtung Baby, but soon expanded into a full LP and was released in July 1993. Influenced by both tour life and the ideas of media barrage and irony on the Zoo TV tour, Zooropa was an even greater departure from the style of their earlier recordings, incorporating techno style and other electronic effects. A number of songs from Zooropa were incorporated into the subsequent Zooropa and Zoomerang tour legs, most frequently "Numb" and "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)", with "Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car" and "Lemon" worked into the MacPhisto persona during Zoomerang, and "Dirty Day" in the main set during the same.
Broadcasts and recordings
The Zoo Radio special included live selections from 1992 Toronto, Dallas, Tempe, Arizona, and New York shows. Portions of another 1992 show were taped and later broadcast as a one-hour Fox network television special. The 27 November 1993 Zoomerang show in Sydney was broadcast in the United States on tape-delayed pay-per-view and then aired later as a regular broadcast in other countries, and was subsequently released as the Grammy Award-winning concert video Zoo TV: Live from Sydney. It is difficult for any video footage to capture the full effect of Zoo TV, since the multi-input sensory overload nature of the show is lost by a single camera focusing on any one particular aspect.
On 9 September 1992, a portion of U2's performance at the Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit, MI. was broadcast live to the MTV Video Music Awards. The band performed "Even Better Than the Real Thing" while Video Music Award host Dana Carvey, dressed as his Wayne's World Garth persona, accompanied the band on drums in Los Angeles.
Shows including the concerts on June 11 in Stockholm and October 27 in El Paso were broadcast into the homes of fans who had won contests.
Vertigo Tour homage
During U2's 2005 Vertigo Tour, the band often played (usually as the first encore) a mini-Zoo TV set - "Zoo Station", "The Fly", and "Mysterious Ways" - using some of the original Zoo TV video effects. "Zoo Station" included the interference in the background and "The Fly" had the flashing words on the screen, originally similar to the originals from Zoo TV, but which progressed into its own original words and phrases later in the tour. As the tour progressed, "Until the End of the World" also appeared with countdown timers which were very similar to the images used on Zoo TV.
Itinerary
Leg 1
- Dates: February 29, 1992 – April 23, 1992
- Location: North America
- Venues: Indoor arenas
- Shows: 32
- Supporting act: Pixies
Leg 2
- Dates: May 7, 1992 – June 19, 1992
- Location: Europe
- Venues: Indoor arenas
- Shows: 25
- Supporting act: Fatima Mansions
Leg 3 - Outside Broadcast
Leg 4 - Zooropa '93
- Dates: May 7, 1993 – August 28, 1993
- Location: Europe
- Venues: Stadiums
- Shows: 44
- Supporting acts: many, sometimes changed with every venue
Leg 5 - Zoomerang
Further reading
- Fallon, BP. "Far Away, So Close", 1994, Little Brown & Co., ISBN 0316273929
- Flanagan, B.
U2: At The End of the World, 1996, Delta, ISBN 0-385-31157-5 Gittins, I. "U2 -- The Best of Propaganda: 20 Years of the Official U2 Magazine", Thunder's Mouth Press, ISBN 1560254874
Sources
- McCormick, Neil (ed), (2006). U2 by U2. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-719668-7
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