Zoo TV Tour

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The concept for Zoo TV emerged from disparate inspirations, including 'morning zoo' radio shows, coverage of the Gulf War, and the desensitizing effect of mass media. While recording Achtung Baby in Berlin at Hansa Studios, the band watched Sky News until they tired of the conflict, tuning into local programming to see 'bad German soap operas' and automobile advertisements. This juxtaposition inspired co-producer Brian Eno to conceive an 'audio-visual show' displaying a rapidly changing mix of live and pre-recorded video to mock media desensitization. Production designer Willie Williams joined them in Tenerife in February 1991, brainstorming a lighting system made of recycled Trabants after learning of the band's affection for the East German car. The team rejected ideas like 'Motorway Madness' with real product billboards and a giant inflatable baby doll to avoid accusations of selling out or excessive cost. By August 1991, a prototype Trabant was completed, gutted, and retrofitted with lighting equipment.

In Their Own Story

On stage, Bono portrayed several characters he conceived, including the leather-clad egomaniac 'The Fly', the greedy televangelist 'Mirror Ball Man', and the devilish 'MacPhisto'. The shows incorporated channel surfing, prank calls, video confessionals, a belly dancer, and live satellite transmissions from war-torn Sarajevo. Contrasting with other U2 tours, each show opened with six to eight consecutive new songs before older material was played. The tour began in Lakeland, Florida, on 29 February 1992, alternating between North America and Europe for the first four legs before visiting Oceania and Japan. After two arena legs, production expanded for stadiums during the final three legs: 'Outside Broadcast', 'Zooropa', and 'Zoomerang/New Zooland'. Visual artist Mark Pellington conceived the idea to flash text phrases on displays, inspired by artists Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger. Catherine Owens recruited visual artists from Europe and the US to arrange images for the screens, ensuring her ideas were prioritized in a creative process she felt had been male-dominated.

Reader's Guide

The tour was the highest-grossing North American tour of 1992, grossing US$151 million (equivalent to about $337 million today) from 5.3 million tickets sold. Critics generally received it well despite a range of reactions, and it is regarded as one of rock's most memorable and influential tours. The band's 1993 album Zooropa was recorded during a break in the tour, expanding on its mass media themes. The experience was captured in the Grammy Award-winning 1994 concert film Zoo TV: Live from Sydney. For attendees, the environment offered a chaotic mix of dozens of large video screens showing sampled clips, live television, and flashing text phrases alongside a lighting system partially made of Trabant automobiles. The production aimed to obscure the band within a network of material rather than helping people see them easily, fulfilling Eno's vision of creating chaos with uncoordinated material happening together.

Did You Know?

• Production designer Willie Williams brainstormed the idea to construct a lighting system out of recycled Trabant automobiles after learning about the band's affection for them.
• The tour opened every show with six to eight consecutive new songs before playing any older material, a departure from their previous concert formats.
• Live satellite transmissions from war-torn Sarajevo were a notable but limited event during the European leg in 1993, not a regular feature of every show.
• A proposed idea called 'Motorway Madness' involved placing billboards advertising real products across the stage but was scrapped due to fears of being accused of selling out.