Sunday, January 17, 2021
MARK'S NOTCAST Ep. 47 : U2's "PopMart" - a band in crisis? 17 January 2021
Mark's Notcast Episode 47 : U2's "PopMart" - a band in crisis? Here I talk through U2's bonkers, bold and batty PopMart Tour - from the early days of an under-rehearsed band playing rough shows in half-empty stadiums to the final show in Johannesburg a year later, the way the band structured the narrative of the show to reflect upon themes of death, sincerity, conflict and resolution, the medium of the band as brand selling music as a product, the use of pop and art in the tour, high ticket prices (I paid less to see them in 2015 than I did in 1997!), The Instagram Moment, and how "The Best Of 80-90" was a moment of consolidation and regrouping after the perceived failure of the tour and album.