Pop Mart Tour - Promotion

Promotion

Going along with the tour's satirical theme of consumerism, U2 announced their tour on 12 February 1997 by holding a news conference at a Kmart discount store in New York City. Hundreds of reporters from record companies, radio stations, television networks, newspapers, and magazines were in attendance at the conference, whose location was not revealed until the night before. Upon their arrival at the store, U2 got up on the stage assembled in the store's lingerie department, and performed "Holy Joe", a B-side from the "Discothèque" single, which had been released nine days prior. The entire event was broadcast live through various sources on television, radio, and the Internet. Following the performance, the band answered questions for a half hour. It was announced that the beginning of the PopMart Tour was to feature stadium shows in 62 cities throughout North America and Europe, beginning in Whitney, Nevada on 25 April, and ending in Seattle, Washington on 12 December. They would tour an additional 20 countries in 1998 throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. Tickets went on sale for the announced dates several days after the tour's announcement, and were priced at an average of $50 worldwide. Due to the lack of sponsors for the tour, ticket prices were almost 50% higher for this tour than Zoo TV. In markets where the average income was low, tickets were sold for a lower price, which was enough for the band to break even, but not lose any money in the process.

Prior to the start of the tour, various markets distributed singles to promote ticket sales. A double 12-inch single of U2 remixes was distributed in Canada, and a CD single of various songs taken from U2's studio albums was released by a radio station in Mexico. In Europe, U2's remix of "Pop Muzik" used to open the PopMart shows, was released as a single on both 12-inch and CD formats. While the first single from Pop, "Discothèque", was released in January 1997, "Staring at the Sun" became the second single from the album, and was released in April 1997 to coincide with the beginning of the tour.

On 26 April 1997, American television network ABC aired a one-hour prime time special about Pop and the PopMart Tour, titled U2: A Year in Pop. Narrated by actor Dennis Hopper, the documentary featured footage from the Pop recording sessions, as well as live footage from the opening PopMart show in Whitney, which took place the night before. The program received poor reception, ranking at 101 out of 107 programs aired that week, according to Nielsen ratings, and became the lowest rated non-political documentary in the history of the ABC network. Despite the low ratings, McGuinness appreciated the opportunity for the band to appear on network television in the first place, stating that the small audience for the television special was still a large audience for the band, as it was much larger than any audience that could be obtained by MTV.

During the middle of the tour's first leg, MSN launched U2's first official website, U2popmart.MSN.com. The website was updated constantly throughout the tour, featuring images and audio clips from various concerts, as well as live webcasts during select performances.