ZOO TV TOUR

The 'Zoo TV Tour' (also called 'ZooTV', 'ZOO TV' or 'ZOOTV') was an elaborately-staged, multimedia concert tour by Irish rock band U2 that took place in arenas and stadiums over 1992 and 1993. It was a show that operated on many levels; designed to instill a feeling of "sensory overload" in its audience, it used the video age for much of its inspiration.^[1] In 2002, ''Q'' magazine called it "still the most spectacular rock tour staged by any band."^[2]
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,^[3] and was the highest-grossing tour in North America of 1992.^[4]
If U2's 1991 album ''Achtung Baby'' was, as lead singer Bono said, "the sound of four men chopping down ''The Joshua Tree''", then the Zoo TV Tour marked a shift from the band's previously achingly earnest stage performances that had typified their previous tours in the 1980s. 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. The songs were complemented by a myriad of bewildering visual effects.

The stage

The Zoo TV Outside Broadcast stage

The stage was designed by frequent U2 collaborator Willie Williams, and 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, which all required 1 million watts of power to operate: enough to run 2,000 homes.
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.^[5]

The show

The tour, partly inspired by CNN's seemingly endless coverage of the Gulf War^[6]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 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:

Trabants from the Zoo TV Tour now adorn the lobby of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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'.
"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,^[7] "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 release 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.

The band plays from the B stage during the middle portion of the show.

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".^[8] Here, the four members would play 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 Baby's 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."^[9]

Other aspects

Side view of the Zoo TV set at the former Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia after a concert in September 1992

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.^[10] 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 Public Enemy and The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. Eventually Fallon's off-stage antics got him thrown off the tour by Larry Mullen¹⁰ and 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''^[11]), it was intended to bring world attention to the suffering of the people living in the war zone. Carter saw an interview on MTV where Bono mentioned the theme of the Zooropa leg to be an unified Europe; he felt compelled to inform Bono of the plight of the Bosnians in Sarajevo at the time. 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

(L-R) The Fly and Mr. Macphisto

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." 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 desribed 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 would play local TV channels on-screen. Then the band would begin "Even Better Than the Real Thing," in which he would play with a handicam, filming The Edge's solo, then himself.

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 Outdoor Broadcast leg.
One speech of his^[12] is a clear parody of televangelism:

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''.

''Zooropa'', the album

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, mostly frequently "Numb" and "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)",^[13] with "Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car" worked into the MacPhisto persona during Zoomerang.

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,^[14] and was subsequently released as the concert video ''. 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 as soon as the camera focuses in 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 VMA 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.

Tour legs

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

★ 'Dates': August 7, 1992 – November 25, 1992

★ 'Location': North America and Mexico

★ 'Venues': Stadiums

★ 'Shows': 47

★ 'Supporting acts': The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and Primus; later Public Enemy and Big Audio Dynamite II; later Public Enemy and The Sugarcubes

Leg 4 - Zooropa

★ 'Dates': May 7, 1993 – August 28, 1993

★ 'Location': Europe

★ 'Venues': Stadiums

★ 'Shows': 44

★ 'Supporting acts': many, sometimes changed with every venue

Leg 5 - Zoomerang

★ 'Dates': November 12, 1993 – December 10, 1993

★ 'Location': Australia, New Zealand and Japan

★ 'Venues': Stadiums

★ 'Shows': 10

★ 'Supporting acts': Big Audio Dynamite II; also Kim Salmon and the Surrealists in Australia, Three D's in New Zealand

References

Sources

★ McCormick, Neil (ed), (2006). U2 by U2. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-719668-7

Citations

U2 by U2

Notes

1. Hot Press, "Closer to the Edge (pt. 1)", 4 December 4 2002. Edge says: "... we got the idea of taking images, taking TV as an idea, and putting screens on stage. That started us down that road ..."
2. Q Magazine, "10 Years of Turmoil Inside U2", 10 October 2002.
3. U2 Performers
4. http://www.u2faqs.com/live/#1
5. http://www.u2propaganda.com/pastissues/issues-17-69-things.htm
6. ''Zoo TV Tv Special'', Dec 1992
7. http://www.atu2.com/news/tdih/search.src?TYEAR=1992&Key=
8. ''Zoo Radio'' program, 1992
9. VH1 ''Legends'' episode on U2, first aired 11 December 1998.
10. Bill Flanagan, ''U2 At the End of the World'', 1996, pp. 121-123, p. 348.
11. http://www.licc.org.uk/culture/reading/fools-rush-in-bill-carter
12. On the Zoo TV TV Special version of Desire (released as a bonus track on the Zoo TV: Live from Sydney DVD)
13. http://www.u2-vertigo-tour.com/ZOO_TV_Tour.html
14. http://www.atu2.com/news/tdih/search.src?TYEAR=1993&Key=&TYPE=&Start=426

External links

★ u2tours.com – concert dates, setlists

★ U2 official website

★ U2 Tour site on Zoo TV Tour

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