U2 - PopMart Live from Mexico City (Limited Edition) (1997)
August 7th 2008 10:51 am
U2 - PopMart Live from Mexico City (Limited Edition)
U2’s PopMart Live from Mexico City is released on DVD for the first time on September 18th in two formats, a Special Limited Edition 2-DVD Deluxe Packaging version and a single disc, Standard version. Described as a sci-fi disco supermarket, the PopMart Tour opened in its “spiritual home”, Las Vegas on April 25, 1997. All trash and kitsch, PopMart introduced a giant mirrorball lemon, a 100 foot cocktail stick - complete with olive, and the works of Lichtenstein, Warhol and Haring, to a live rock audience: a production experience never quite seen before. Filmed at the Foro Sol Autodromo in Mexico City on December 3, 1997, PopMart Live from Mexico City was directed by David Mallet and first released on video the following year. Both the video and audio have been digitally remastered and the DVD includes a brand new 5.1 surround mix in DTS and Dolby Digital of the concert. The single disc, Standard version will contain only the concert material and the Special Limited Edition 2-DVD version will feature on the 2nd bonus disc, nine previously unreleased live audio and video tracks, four documentaries, a PopMart tour visuals montage, and DVD-ROM extras.
U2 - PopMart Live from Mexico City (Limited Edition)
Manufacturer: Island Records/Interscope/UMe
U2's PopMart Live from Mexico City is released on DVD for the first time on September 18th in two formats, a Special Limited Edition 2-DVD Deluxe Packaging version and a single disc, Standard version. Described as a sci-fi disco supermarket, the PopMart Tour opened in its "spiritual home", Las Vegas on April 25, 1997. All trash and kitsch, PopMart introduced a giant mirrorball lemon, a 100 foot cocktail stick - complete with olive, and the works of Lichtenstein, Warhol and Haring, to a live rock audience: a production experience never quite seen before. Filmed at the Foro Sol Autodromo in Mexico City on December 3, 1997, PopMart Live from Mexico City was directed by David Mallet and first released on video the following year. Both the video and audio have been digitally remastered and the DVD includes a brand new 5.1 surround mix in DTS and Dolby Digital of the concert. The single disc, Standard version will contain only the concert material and the Special Limited Edition 2-DVD version will feature on the 2nd bonus disc, nine previously unreleased live audio and video tracks, four documentaries, a PopMart tour visuals montage, and DVD-ROM extras.
Amazon.com:
This stunning concert documentary sheds fresh light on U2's controversial 1997 Popmart tour, the Irish rockers' gaudy, epic trek in support of their electronica-edged Pop album. Mixed reactions to the pulsing, dance friendly music on Pop and disappointing ticket sales to stateside Popmart shows were interpreted as evidence that the band's new sound and look were merely opportunistic.
Yet one need only view Popmart Live alongside the Rolling Stones' contemporaneous Bridges to Babylon 1998 long-form video to grasp U2's underlying passion and conviction. While Popmart trumps the Stones (ringmasters of the original rock & roll circus and among the principal inventors of stadium rock) in terms of sheer scale, U2's presentation still strikes thematic sparks missing from the Stones' more conservative designs for the Bridges stage.
With its vast, ramped stage and enveloping video backdrop, the Popmart set serves the band's posttechno impulses, yet the music remains rooted in U2's passionate, high-flying rock style, using its skittering dance rhythms and garish pop-art motifs to support the band's underlying themes, not replace them. Filmed in Mexico City before a huge reverent crowd, the concert balances close-ups against the quartet's often mesmerizing staging effects; the camera work sustains a sense of the show's outsized physical setting, while expertly closing the distance between us and the band.
The band also shrewdly integrates older songs into the pumped up, burnished arranging style heard on Pop while stripping down newer material in less varnished, more vulnerable settings. A series of duets with just Bono and the Edge on acoustic guitars underscores that strategy. --Sam Sutherland
Lowest Used Price: USD 14.99
Lowest New Price: USD 18.95
- AC-3
- Color
- Dolby
- DTS Surround Sound
- DVD-Video
- Enhanced
- Live
- NTSC
Director: David Mallet
Audience Rating: Unrated
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2007-09-18
I was there... and this DVD has much more!!!
I was there in December 1997, and I was just 12 feet from the scenario, and I remembered it was the best show I have been, and now with this DVD I confirm it.
The DVD got it all... even things that I didn't see from the arena... the video and its edition is excellent and the audio is great in DTS format.
I have the Elevation Tour DVD too, which is great, but this POP Tour is much much passionate... the video and audio edition, lights, stage, cameras points of view, the band, the big screen behind the scenario and its images and videos, get you into the concert....
If you like U2, you have to get it!!!!
Incredible Double DVD
U2, I don't need to say this dvd is GREAT! And the second dvd of features is very excelent. 5 stars.
Great Show!
When U2 released Pop in '97 I was like: WTF? The only songs redeemable to me were "Staring at the Sun" and "Discotheque". I just didn't buy into the U2 Techno thing at the time. But fast forward to 2008 and after watching this DVD which I rec'd as a gift, I revisited the album and now I can say: Ok I get it. They could almost release it NOW and it would be relevant.
But the show is GREAT. The boys look ridiculous at times but I just have to laugh. They're allowed, this experimental phase. They're U2.
Fun to watch as a period piece.
If you collect U2 concert DVDs, this one is worth seeing especially if you weren't paying attention to them during their POP period. It's a hoot to see them attempt this huge undertaking. And of course, if you like the POP album this DVD is a must because after this tour the band rarely plays any tracks from that album. If you are just a casual fan and are looking to buy only one U2 concert DVD then skip this one and buy the Slane Castle DVD which best captures the live U2 experience.
Awesome Music from U@
If you could ignore the mirrorized lemon and the huge olive (what was the point of that) and really LISTEN... wow, this is U2 pouring their hearts out and really an incredible collection. Unless you are an avid fan, don't bother with the limited edition stuff, you won't watch it more than once...