U2 Popmart Tour 1997 USA Advance Itinerary

After the massive ZOO TV no one expected to see a bigger U2 show but we all were wrong. U2 took a huge supermarket on the road under the Popmart name.

Once again they travelled all around the world on 4th legs from USA to South Africa, starting in 1997 and closing the tour on March 1998.

Four legs would mean a minimum of four itinerary books but this time U2 management also released some Advance Itinerary books. I have found 2 different Advance itineraries so, as far as I know there are 6 books from this tour, maybe more.....

So I would have to begin the Popmart entries with the Advance itinerary that was issued for the first american leg of Popmart.
It comes with a black front cover that includes Popmart logo and Advance Itinerary text printed in orange. US First Leg and the dates from April 25th to July 7th can be read under that  text.

Also to be noticed that this book comes with wire bound instead of the usual spiral bound.

From the original concerts list included in this book, three concerts were never confirmed (June 4th at Giants Stadium, 9th in Philadelphia and a final concert in Boston on July 4th). Those three shows won't even appear on the 1st leg itinerary.

In addition, U2 played at Tibetan Freedom Concert on June 7th which was probably not confirmed when printing the book.

Also some stadiums that appear on the list were later changed. It happens for exemple in cities as Texas, Clemson, Ohio or Oakland.

At the end of the book a few blank pages for taking notes are left.

RATING: B 
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The Collector

PS: Thanks to Brontxe for his help

U2 Popmart Tour Leg 1 US 1997

The first "real" itinerary issued for the Popmart tour is covering the 30 shows of this North American leg.

This time the cover is very Popmart, with the tour logo and a huge supermarket trolley topped with the word POP in red. Another interesting detail is that for this book the spiral bound was blue instead of black. I have seen a few copies of this itinerary and they all come with this blue bound.

From the original concerts list included in the itinerary some of them were cancelled or never confirmed. As we all know Raleigh was cancelled in order to fix the screen damaged for the strong rain in Washington a couple of days before. A tentative concert in Syracuse on June 6th never went on sale.

Same happened with a second show in Philly on June 9th and a final leg concert in Boston on July 5th.

About number of people involved on this tour leg, U2 and management were 29 plus a crew of 137 people.

Production Rehearsals were expected to go from April 16th to 23rd with a Dress Rehearsal on the 24th.

The band had a confirmed hotel from the 14th so they probably arrived a couple of days before the first rehearsal.

Once again cars were used to travel between NY and Philadelphia.

A US time zones and phone codes map and another for Canada are included in the itinerary. Also an international phone codes list can be found at the end of the book.

Years later, on August 14th 2014, I got Bono and Edge to sign my color copy of this itinerary book at the gates of Studios Riviera in Nice.

RATING: C 
Wanna know what this rating means? Just click HERE

The Collector

U2 Popmart Tour 1997 Europe Advance Itinerary

As they did before starting the first leg of Popmart, another Advance itinerary was issued in order to prepare the second and european part of the tour.

The cover is basically the same we saw for the 1st advance itinerary but this time Europe and the dates (July 18th-August 31st) were on the cover instead of US and its dates. Obvious.....

This book comes with wire bound instead of the usual spiral bound. The same happened with the US Advance itinerary we saw.

As I said, this is a book printed in order to give some information in advance and that's why it's only covering part of the dates they finally played in Europe.

It includes all dates from Rotterdam on July 18th to Dublin on August 31st. After that Dublin show, U2 played 11 additional dates.

Belfast show at Botanic Gardens on August 26th was not included on this advance itinerary so I gues it was a "final addition".

Nor info related to production set up neither rehearsals details were included on this book.

There is also a page that includes a map of Europe with detailed information of european time zones and what countries are included in each zone. This is a useful information for the tour staff, specially if we think that many of them are not european.

There is also a "Tour at a glance" section of 4 pages that details were every crew team should be on every single date of the tour. This section is already including the 11 final dates of this leg that are not included on the detailed "date to date" pages.

RATING: C
Wanna know what this rating means? Just click HERE

The Collector

U2 Popmart Tour Leg 2 Europe & Near East 1997

After closing the first north american leg of Popmart, the tour was due to arrive in Europe for the summer.

Once again, POP design is used also for the itinerary and the cover is showing a picture of the band that was later used for the MOFO promo cd-single. On the picture, big "Popmart Itinerary" text, a little Popmart logo and a strip that includes a few pictures of the band (also used on the tourbook).

A strange thing happens with this and some other Popmart itineraries. I have found books with the colour front cover and other copies with a black and white printed on a green/yellow/blue cardboard front cover.
It happens with the 2nd, 3rd and 4th leg itineraries so I think both versions are 100% legit.

As this is a real itinerary book (not an advance book) we find quite more information about the tour plans.

Everybody was in Rotterdam on July 15th waiting for the band to arrive the next afternoon for some TV and press meetings. On the 17th there were a couple of rehearsals (Late afternoon and evening).

Once again Belfast show is not on the book so this confirms it was a final addition. Also between Edinburgh and Paris, on September 4th, U2 were in NY for the MTV Awards.

A final surprise can also be found on the book. The strong rumour about a show in Giza Pyramids in Egypt was more than a rumour. The concert was not confirmed but was included as a final show for this leg, expected for October 3rd. It would have been amazing to see the Popmart stravaganzza right in front those amazing ancient pyramids....kind of Las Vegas situation.

International phone codes are once again included on the book.

Also two final pages show a list of the USA 3rd leg shows confirmed to that point. The leg should start in Toronto on October 26th and a quick jump to Europe for the MTV Europe Music Awards was expected. Check 3rd leg of Popmart entry for more information.

Some copies of this itinerary book came with a couple of information sheets attached to the cover. Theses pages basicaly contain useful phone numbers for the crew detailed per city. I'm showing a couple of pictures of those pages below.

A few years later, on June 21st 2014, I got Bono to sign my copy of this itinerary book in Cannes.

A deeper report on this book can be read by following this link (in spanish though):

http://www.u2eastlink.com/collector/02.php

RATING: B (Colour Version)
RATING: C (B/W Version)
Wanna know what this rating means? Just click HERE

The Collector

U2 Popmart Tour Leg 3 USA 1997

After the 2nd leg ended in Tel Aviv on September 30th, U2 and crew had a few more than 20 days off before they had to meet again to resume the Popmart tour.

As usual U2 was back to North America after the summer tour in Europe and a new itinerary was printed.

As I explained when talking about the european itinerary, two different versions of this new itinerary can be found. Basically the same cover that sometimes is printed on full colour and sometimes on B/W.

A huge U2 Popmart USA logo and the Popmart Arch are on the cover together with 3 mini logos also used on the tour merchandising (POP - Lemon - Trolley). On the back cover, little pictures of the band on stage, taken during one of the concerts of the previous legs.

After arriving in Toronto on October 24th , a dress rehearsal is planned for October 25th, one day before the opening show at the Skydome.

MTV Awards are once again in the middle of a Popmart Leg so U2 had to jump back to Europe to be at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Rotterdam to rehearse on November 5th, show on the 6th and then back to the US to continue with the tour in St. Louis on the 8th.





I'm sure you all remember the band opening his show on MTV the same way they were doing on tour, walking to the stage surrounded by the crowd and playing an amazing live version of MOFO.

On December 12th, once the tour was over, the band flyes back home where they land on the 13th.

Once again two pages with an advance version of the 1998 dates are included on this itinerary book.












On the second page we can see there were plans to play a show in Singapore....that would have been the second country in the Far East to see U2 live but it never happened so, when updating this entry in November'12, Japan is still the only country in that part of the world that has held a U2 show.

Before the end of this leg, the Crew got some A4 sheets including detailed information regarding the Mexican dates of this leg and the dates planned for 1998.

Funny to read things like "No tickets available for either Mexico show - don't even ask..."

"Rumors are rife about loosing equipment" and advising the crew to take to SouthAmerica only what they really need.

According to those A4 sheets, there was a possibility for second shows in Sydney and Tokyo ....and Capetown was not on schedule yet. Singapore show is already out of this new list of upcoming shows.





Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Japan and South Africa are waiting for U2 !!!

Adam Clayton signed my copy of this book at the back of the 3Arena in Dublin on November 27th 2015 before the 3rd i+e tour night in their hometown.

















RATING: B (Colour Version)
RATING: C (B/W Version)
Wanna know what this rating means? Just click HERE

The Collector

U2 Popmart Tour Leg 4 R.O.W. 1998

Already in 1998, Popmart was back on the road facing its 4th and final serie of concerts. A total of 15 shows that will visit Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Japan and South Africa from January 27th to March 21st.

Another very Popmart U2 picture was selected for the front cover of the new itinerary book, this time called U2 Popmart Itinerary ROW (Rest of the world). Mini popmart logos were added again to the cover.

Another interesting detail to notice is that after this final Popmart book, all U2 itinerary books will be using wire bound instead of spiral or ring bound. So, any books you might found for Elevation, Vertigo and 360º tours should come with wire bound. If they do not, they are probably fakes.  

Two different versions of this book can also be found. The black and white version you see above and  the colorful version I'm showing next.

The only difference between both books is the back cover. B/W version is using the same design they used for the 2nd Northamerican itinerary but the Colour version uses the European itinerary back cover. Curious, isn't it? 

According to the itinerary only 2 shows were planned for Buenos Aires so the 3rd one on February 7th was probably due to the high tickets demand. On the opposite a 2nd show in Santiago was planned for the 10th but they finally played only on the 11th.

Also a 2nd show at Tokio Dome was marked as TBA (To be announced) for the 6th of March but was never confirmed. While in Japan U2 and their management took the Bullet Train to travel inside the country.

Finally, the Capetown concert was not on the itinerary but it really happened on March 16th.

According to the book, even though the band was in Brazil 3 days before the first show, no rehearsals were in the agenda.

No details for the trip from Japan to South Africa were confirmed when the book was printed but once the tour was over they all were departing home from Johannesburg on March 22nd.

I got Bono and The Edge to sign my color copy of this itinerary book at the gates of the Riviera Studio in Nice on August 14th 2014.































RATING: A (Colour Version)
RATING: B (B/W Version)
Wanna know what this rating means? Just click HERE

The Collector