Born to shop. Popmart was a satire on consumer culture created from a cornucopia of superlatives.
// 1997
// Touring Show
// World Wide
Designed by Willie Williams, U2 and Mark Fisher, materialism was at the core of the Popmart stage design. Everything was in excessive proportion and scale, from the giant cocktail stick, to the olive it impales, to the video screen and the self-propelling lemon mirror ball, the Popmart stage reflects the culture it critiques. The tour began in Las Vegas, covered six continents in 11 months and featured on an episode of The Simpsons.
There were two stages in total; the main stage and a B-Stage, connected via a catwalk that was used by the mirror ball lemon to drive the band to the B-stage. The Yellow Arch formed the centre piece of the set design framed by the video screen, which then was the largest ever seen on tour at that point. With over 700 sqm of bespoke LED, the screen had to fold up and pack away quickly and withstand the extremes of weathers that one encounters from the desert heat of Las Vegas to the tropical environs of Asia.
The yellow arch also supported the PA system, which was also unique to this tour. Painted bright orange it was a monophonic system overhanging with speakers in front of the video screen.
FACTS
// 700sqm bespoke LED
// 100-foot tall golden parabolic arch
// 30-meter cocktail stick
// 11-meter-tall mirror-ball lemon
Credits
Production Manager Jake Kennedy, Show Director Willie Williams, Lighting Design Bruce Ramus, Video Direction Willie Williams, Technical Director Richard Hartman, Video screen Consultant Frederic Opsomer, Engineering Atelier One, MC McLaren PC, Steelwork Stage Co, Scenery Construction Tait Towers Inc, Brilliant Stages, Tomcat USA Inc
