The PopMart Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of the group's 1997 album Pop, the tour's concerts were performed in stadiums and parks in 1997 and 1998. Much like the band's previous Zoo TV Tour, PopMart was an elaborate production. Its lavish stage design had a LED screen, a golden arch, and a large mirror-ball lemon. As with the Zoo TV Tour, the band delivered an image and performance that were ironic and self-mocking on PopMart, deviating from their earnest performances of the 1980s; the band performed in costumes that, along with the stage design, poked fun at the themes of consumerism and pop culture. The PopMart Tour spanned five legs and 93 shows, and took U2 to South America, South Africa and Israel for the first time. The tour was booked while the band were still completing Pop, which was planned to be released during the 1996 holiday season. However, the recording sessions went long, delaying the release until March 1997 and cutting into rehearsal time for the tour. Although it was the second-highest-grossing tour of 1997, PopMart was marred by technical difficulties and mixed reviews from critics and fans, particularly in the United States. PopMart grossed US$173.6 million from 3.98 million tickets sold. The tour was depicted on the concert film PopMart: Live from Mexico City. Conception and planning U2 stage designer Willie Williams and stage architect Mark Fisher began developing the PopMart Tour in late 1995. U2 re-entered their Dublin recording studio in October 1995, shortly before releasing an experimental/ambient album with Brian Eno, entitled Original Soundtracks 1, under the pseudonym "Passengers". The band started to work on their ninth studio album, which was set to be finished by mid-1996 and released later that year prior to the Christmas and holiday season. Around the same time, in late 1995, Williams began developing concepts for the band's next tour. Among the proposed themes for the tour was a concept based on the end of the millennium titled "U2000", and a discothèque concept involving a large mobile disco. Lead vocalist Bono became interested in one of Williams' designs that resembled a supermarket, which was inspired by facades of American post-war suburban outlet stores. Bono who believed that the symbol of a supermarket, with its large number of choices and temptations, could be used as a metaphor for U2's songs, which often deal