U2 Zoo TV Tour: 157 Shows, the Zooropa Leg and US$151 Million (1992–93)

U2’s Zoo TV Tour played 157 shows to 5.3 million fans between Feb. 29, 1992 and Dec. 10, 1993, grossing US$151 million. It supported Achtung Baby, and later Zooropa, and turned a rock concert into a satirical wall of TV screens.

The opening show at Florida’s Lakeland Civic Center sold out by phone in four minutes. The tour ended at the Tokyo Dome.

The five legs of Zoo TV

1. North America, arenas (1992): the original Zoo TV show, with the band’s first B-stage
2. Europe, arenas (1992)
3. North America, stadiums, “Outside Broadcast” (1992): opened Aug. 12 at Giants Stadium
4. Europe, stadiums, “Zooropa” (1993)
5. Oceania and Japan, “Zoomerang/New Zooland” (1993)

What was the Zooropa tour?

The Zooropa tour was the 1993 European stadium leg of Zoo TV, not a separate tour. It was named after the album Zooropa, which U2 recorded during a break in the tour and which expanded on the show’s media themes.

Zooropa used a smaller stage than the US stadium shows, with three Trabant cars behind the drum kit and video cubes in place of projection screens.

The Zoo TV stage

Show designer Willie Williams built the arena show around four Philips Vidiwalls, thirty-two 36-inch monitors and a 16 x 20 ft projection screen. East German Trabant cars hung from the rig as lighting fixtures.

For the Outside Broadcast stadiums, Williams worked with architects Mark Fisher and Jonathan Park. The main stage was 248 ft by 80 ft, with spires reaching 110 ft and a catwalk of about 150 ft out to the B-stage.

Biggest Zoo TV shows

Date	Venue	Attendance	Gross
Aug. 20, 1992	Foxboro Stadium, Massachusetts	148,736	$4,427,100
Oct. 30, 1992	Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles	108,357	$3,250,710
Aug. 29, 1992	Yankee Stadium, New York	104,100	$3,123,000

Did U2’s Zoo TV tour play Milwaukee?

No. Zoo TV’s 1992 and 1993 date lists don’t include Milwaukee. The closest show was Madison’s Camp Randall Stadium on Sept. 13, 1992, attended by 62,280 people, with Big Audio Dynamite II and Public Enemy opening.

Zoo TV on film

The tour’s Sydney Football Stadium shows in November 1993 became Zoo TV: Live from Sydney, a Grammy-winning concert film.

U2’s next big production is the U2 tour 2027. Follow the U2 setlist tracker from Feb. 23.