The U2 tour that introduced the band’s multimedia Zoo TV concert concept in 1992 was the Zoo TV Tour.
The tour supported Achtung Baby and began on 29 February 1992 in Lakeland, Florida. Its stage design used video screens, satellite broadcasts, fake television channels, flashing text, and deliberately overwhelming visual information. The concept responded to the rapidly expanding media environment and contrasted sharply with the comparatively direct staging of U2’s earlier tours.
U2 also developed fictional and comic elements for the shows, including the character of MacPhisto, played by Bono. The performances mixed political commentary with parody, making the tour both a rock concert and a media-art production.
Zoo TV is sometimes confused with the later PopMart Tour, which began in 1997 and used a giant lemon-shaped prop. PopMart continued U2’s interest in spectacle but was a separate tour.