4. U2 - 'Zoo TV' Tour At The Yankee Stadium, New York 1992
This will be an era of U2 that many will wish they had witnessed. The 'Zoo TV' tour is probably the most significant live show any band has ever undertaken. Not only was it, by far, the highest grossing concert draw in 1992, it is still at 27th in the definitive list of money turned over for a band or artist in a single world tour, but it had so many different messages and meanings. The significance is for a few reasons, but the main one was the way in which the Irish group seemed to parody everything they had gone against before. Were the band laughing at their fans for buying into it or were they poking fun at society, celebrity culture and themselves? It was never made clear what their
true intentions were but they did explain where the inspiration came from for the over elaborate live experience. Whilst in Berlin recording the album that preceded this tour, 1991's 'Achtung Baby', the band were forced to watch a lot of garbage daytime German cable TV. They noticed how the world of media was changing and the lines were being blurred between what was news, entertainment, home shopping etc. With the help of their producer and all round genius, Brian Eno, they developed this into the 'Zoo TV' concept for the upcoming world tour. The world was being desensitized and also dumbed down by the worlds media and entertainment and the band felt compelled to join them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OPg2Qc5PWI A team of visual and conceptual artists, fashion and set designers, electrical engineers and more was assembled to create what was an assault on the senses. 7 huge TV screens all showing different things from band members up close, random slogans and quotes, live and recorded TV shows from all over the globe and much more were utilized, as well as 7 Trabant cars (affordable East German cars that were seen as a symbol of communism and the old Germany) were modified to be suspended and part of the mammoth lighting rig. Almost every show Bono would make prank phone calls and on numerous occasions called the Whitehouse in an attempt to talk to George Bush, but never made it through to the then president. The response was mixed, much to the bands delight. They had set out to mock the way the world was going and poke fun the culture in which we live. It was a social statement of the biggest kind. The band's popularity had grown exponentially with every release and with 1987's, 'The Joshua Tree', they were truly, a household name all over the world. Despite this, they had always remained defiantly serious and austere, from their jeans and tee shirt attire to the no frills stage set of band, instruments, amplifiers and a relatively modest light show. Now they were going to play with peoples heads by becoming what the world had always wanted from them, that was to become "Rock Stars 101". Bono was now leather clad and a mix of Elvis and Jim Morrison and acting as conceited off stage as he was onstage, but those that turned on the Bono and the band had painfully missed the point of this whole act.
To be honest with you, any of the stops on this run of shows could have been selected but the Yankee stadium show was seen as a particular special show due to the band's performance and the setting of the wonderful old baseball ground.