U2 - Popmart Live From Mexico City

Swaggering down the aisles

After the leathery enormity of the Zooropa tour, only a full-on, homoerotic glitterball stage performance would suffice as follow-up. Which is exactly what U2 delivered with Popmart. Filmed in 1997 (and previously a VHS, of course), this finds the foursome at their campest. Never ones to dispense entirely with fan favourites, they rifle through 27 tracks with what appears to be genuine aplomb, all the while alluding to the fact that dance music, as was, was the “big thing” of the day. When it works, it’s pretty exciting, as on an incredulously audacious Discotheque, but occasionally it falls flat. Bono has said he would like to retry the Pop album, and the likes of Please and Wake Up Dead Man sound as if just a few more months in the studio could have reaped better results. Sandwiched between Pride, Desire and the like, their rawness is not so much appealing as baffling. Still, it’s more about spectacle than fine details, and for every duff run through there’s something to make you gasp, or more likely laugh. Extras include a hilarious-for-all-the-wrong-reasons look at the 40-foot lemon they took on tour, bonus tracks, documentaries and all the high-def nonsense DVD makers feel obliged to stick on.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Island | 1733532

Reviewed by Jake Kennedy
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