U2 unveils dates for ‘PopMart’

Variety by Adam Sandler (1997-02-12)

Island Records artists U2 announced the details of its worldwide “PopMart” tour, which is expected to be the year’s biggest rock extravaganza.

The press conference, held Wednesday in the lingerie department of Kmart in Manhattan, confirmed the tour stops of the widely rumored 62-city, 20-country roadshow.

The elaborate U2 tour of more than 100 shows, most played in stadiums, kicks off April 25 in Las Vegas and ends more than a year later after stops all over the world.

The band will also hit New York’s Giants Stadium on May 31 and the Coliseum in Los Angeles on June 21. Other stops include Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, Columbus and Boston, among others.

Promoter Michael Cohl, whose TNA (The Next Adventure) outfit is guiding the roadshow and has previously produced the Rolling Stones’ “Voodoo Lounge” and “Steel Wheels” tours, expects 5 million to 6 million people to attend the shows. He has projected that the tour could gross $260 million.

With many of the same acts taking to the road, U2’s tour will be a shot in the arm to what is shaping up to be a sleepy concert season.
The “PopMart” outing is the Grammy-winning, Dublin-based band’s first tour in almost four years and coincides with the release of its new album “Pop” next month.

The band will also appear on the MTV Video Music Awards set for Sept. 4 in New York at Radio City Music Hall and will partner with the cabler and its sister channel VH1 to tout the tour.

The music channels will also cover the kickoff live and offer ducats to the perfs through its “Tickets First” promotion where viewers can purchase tix before they go on sale.

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