U2, Popmart

Touring Stage Set employing a 50m x 20m semi-perforated LED screen developed specifically for the U2 Popmart Tour - the largest LED screen ever to be built.

The set employed new developments in lightweight rigid composite skins for cladding scenic elements, which necessitated sophisticated finite element analysis.

The construction was utilized for lightness and speed. It was the first time this kind of material was used making the tour build and dismantle lighter and easier to handle, and ultimately reducing crew & touring costs as well as less truck weight and volume reducing carbon emission when in transit.

The idea of the stage set and tour was based on the excess of consumerism. Mark Fisher, the designer, tried to describe this with recognizable symbols like half of the McDonalds Sign, and a giant cocktail stick with an olive representing drinking excess. The idea was to use a huge LED screen – saturating the viewer with extremely quick changing images and maximizing impact.

Architect: Mark Fisher, Client: U2, Completed: 1998