page_title: Zooropa (song)
section_title: Live performances
hierarchical_section_title: Zooropa (song) / Live performances
caption_attribution_description: U2 performing "Zooropa" in Oakland, California on the U2 360° Tour
context_page_description: "Zooropa" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1993 album Zooropa. The song was the result of combining two pieces of music, the first of which was conceived in the studio, and the second of which was discovered by guitarist The Edge while listening to soundchecks the band had done while on tour. The lyrics were written by vocalist Bono, describing two characters in a brightly lit city in a futuristic version of European society. Lyrics in the song were based on advertising slogans, and also featured the phrase "dream out loud", which has appeared in other U2 media. The song touched on several themes, including moral confusion and the future of European society.
  Promotional recordings of the song were released in the United States and Mexico, and the song appeared on two record charts shortly after its release in 1993. The song was briefly performed at three shows on U2's Zoo TV Tour in 1993. The band had difficulties performing it in 1993, and it was not played again until the U2 360° Tour in 2011.
  The recording of the song received mostly positive reception from critics, who praised it as the album's opening track.
context_section_description: During the Zoo TV Tour, clips of "Zooropa" were played during the beginning of the show. The clips included the lyric "What do you want?" repeated twice, which was displayed on video screens in various languages, and interspersed with a voice saying "It's very simple". This part of the opening segment was intended to create confusion among the audience regarding the show's message, and eventually lead to information overload.  U2 performed "Zooropa" live at three consecutive concerts during the fourth leg of the Zoo TV Tour in 1993. Bono originally discussed how the song would be played live during the album's recording sessions, saying that The Edge's guitar riffs may be extended in concert. The song debuted live at a concert in Glasgow in August 1993, and was performed in the middle of the set list following "Numb". The live version was much shorter than the album version, skipping the piano intro, as well as the first three verses, starting with the line "I have no compass, and I have no map". U2 had difficulty performing the song live, which Bono acknowledged to the audience following its debut. According to the book U2 Live: A Concert Documentary, the song's first performance sounded "shaky" and needed more rehearsal, although its subsequent Zoo TV performances "sound[ed] better". Adam Clayton suggested performing the song as the show opener during the rehearsals for the tour's fifth and final Zoomerang leg, but it was not performed again on the tour.
  After Zoo TV, "Zooropa" was not performed live for 18 years until it was played towards the end of the U2 360° Tour in 2011.  Clayton said that adding the song to the tour's set list was "very experimental" and that it was a "bit cheeky" to introduce to the tour as the band had little experience performing it.  The song debuted on the tour on 10 April 2011 in São Paulo, and was rehearsed at soundchecks several days prior.  The return of the song was so popular that the word "Zooropa" became a trending topic on Twitter during the evening of its tour debut.  "Zooropa" was performed at the remaining 26 concerts on the tour, in addition to a private show in Denver.  As of 2011, "Zooropa" has been performed live at 31 shows. During performances, the stage's 360° retractable video screen would expand its full length, and U2 would perform behind the screen as it took over the stage.  The Edmonton Journal commented that by hiding themselves from the fans during the performance, the combination of advertising slogans and flickering lights "help portray this Blade Runner-type world that U2 wants us to escape."  A live recording of "Zooropa" from the U2 360° Tour was featured on the U2.com member-exclusive album, U22, taken from the performance in Baltimore on 22 June 2011.
  The song was not performed during the first leg of the Innocence + Experience Tour, but at the first show of the European leg in September 2015, a stripped-down version was performed during the second half of the concert. This interpretation of the song lacks the piano intro and first verses, serving as a segue from "Bullet the Blue Sky" into "Where the Streets Have No Name".
caption: After an 18-year hiatus, U2 played "Zooropa" on the 360° Tour, where it was performed behind the stage's expanded video screen.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot S90", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.6.6", "Image DateTime": "2011:06:09 22:23:33", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.6.7", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "296", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3462", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5498", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:06:07 22:19:34", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:06:07 22:19:34", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "69/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "10701/1000", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2816", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2112", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "704000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "704000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}