Reception
Although the extravagance of the tour was visually and technically impressive, the early dates of PopMart were, on occasion, marred by subpar performances. The band had booked the tour before the album was finished, and with the planned November 1996 release pushed back until March 1997 to finish the album, valuable tour rehearsal time was lost. This lack of preparation manifested itself in the shows, particularly during the poorly received opening night in Whitney where the band lost their timing on the song "Staring at the Sun," stopped playing partway through, and then started over. Nonetheless, the quality of the band's performances improved greatly by the second leg in Europe, evidenced by the "Please" single that features three songs from the first European show in Rotterdam. The tour was much better received by European and, in particular, South American audiences; the first time U2 had toured South America, Bono remarked that the rapturous fan response helped U2 regain their confidence and appreciation for playing together.
Despite its cleverness and some positive critical response, many fans felt alienated by the shows; new material from the Pop album didn't go down as well as U2 might have hoped and too many people just didn't seem to get the joke and took the elaborate effects on face value. U2 dressed as the Village People in the "Discothèque" video, and their willingness to mock their serious image continued during PopMart. (At the Los Angeles Coliseum show on 21 June, tribute was paid to the original "Prefab Four" with a guest appearance by Davy Jones of The Monkees to perform his signature song, "Daydream Believer".) But U2's irony-drenched "big shtick" failed to satisfy many critics and fans seemingly confused by the band's new image and elaborate sets. One NME critic later recalled a "ludicrous hullabaloo" that was a departure from "Planet Reality."
Disrupting the performances of many shows, technical problems also arose throughout the tour. As the band was to walk out of the giant mechanical lemon during the encore at the concert in Oslo, Norway, the lemon malfunctioned, temporarily trapping the band inside, and forcing them to escape through the back. This incident was later listed as one of "Rock 'n' Roll's 15 Most Embarrassing Stage Antics" by AOL's Spinner.com. The lemon later malfunctioned at the show in Sydney, Australia where the lemon was not used at all, and also malfunctioned in Osaka, Japan, where the band was again trapped inside, but was unable to escape through the back. In addition to the issues with the mechanical lemon, the large LED video screen became damaged in Raleigh, North Carolina, which ended up causing the entire concert to be cancelled altogether.
Like the band's previous Zoo TV Tour, PopMart was another huge success in terms of revenue. For example, on 20 September 1997, the band performed in front of over 150,000 people in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and set the new world record at the time for having the most attendees at a concert for a single performer. Although the tour was the second-highest grossing of 1997 (behind The Rolling Stones' Bridges to Babylon Tour) with revenues of just under $80 million, PopMart cost more than $100 million to produce.
More than a decade after PopMart, despite the criticism and mishaps, Bono said that he considered the tour to be their best. "Pop(Mart) is our finest hour. It's better than Zoo TV aesthetically, and as an art project it is a clearer thought." He later added "When that show worked, it was mindblowing."
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