Review of U2: PopMart - Live From Mexico City

Introduction

Against the backdrop of a giant TV screen, U2, one of the biggest bands in the World, performed in front of a huge crowd in Mexico City on December 3rd 1997 as part of their `PopMart` tour.

The concert was recorded and released on VHS and VCD in November 1998 and is now available on DVD with two 5.1 soundtracks and improved visuals.


The two hour set comprised the following tracks, nine from the `Pop` album:

1. Pop Muzik
2. Mofo
3. I Will Follow
4. Gone
5. Even Better Than The Real Thing
6. Last Night On Earth
7. Until The End of The World
8. New Year`s Day
9. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
10. I Still Haven`t Found What I`m Looking For
11. All I Want Is You / Desire
12. Staring At The Sun
13. Sunday Bloody Sunday
14. Bullet The Blue Sky
15. Please
16. Where The Streets Have No Name
17. Lemon (Perfecto Mix)
18. Discothèque
19. If You Wear That Velvet Dress
20. With Or Without You
21. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
22. Mysterious Ways
23. One
24. Wake Up Dead Man

The `Pop` era split the U2 fan base, but there are plenty of classic songs from `Achtung Baby` and `The Joshua Tree` to keep those who weren`t enamoured with `Pop` happy.

Video

The source material was obviously of high quality, as this is worlds away from VHS quality footage: the concert must have been extremely difficult to film, with the black sky, huge audience and brightness from the spotlights and moving backdrop. It looks amazing and the transfer is crystal clear.

Audio

You get the choice of DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1, plus a PCM Stereo soundtrack. The PCM stereo sounds good, but when you switch to either of the 5.1 encodings, the sound becomes far better defined and clearer, with the DTS punchier than the Dolby encoding and you`re never going to listen to the PCM track again.

Features

There are two versions of this DVD, one with another DVD of special features and one without.
This is the one without.

Conclusion

I can`t stand Paul Hewson aka: Bono. There`s something distasteful about a multi-millionaire telling people to `make poverty history`. The Edge? Gimme a break. Having said that, together with Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr., U2 have made some great records and played to packed-out arenas for years. This concert makes you understand why their gigs sell out in minutes. The audacity and scale of the set, with an enormous illuminated mechanical lemon, a hundred foot olive on a cocktail stick and towering TV screens that dwarf them, is breathtaking. It`s possibly a statement on consumerism and popular culture, but does it really need to mean anything when it`s this outlandish?

The set-list is terrific, the audio-visuals amazing and, if it had one, the Foro Sol Autodromo would have had it`s roof blown off! If you have any interest at all in U2, this is definitely worth a watch. If you own this on VHS, throw it away and get a DVD version.