Misplaced Pages

#806193

139-509: Michael Franti (born April 21, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, poet, activist, documentarian, and rapper. Known for his participation in many musical projects, most with a political and social emphasis, including the Beatnigs and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy . He is the creator and lead vocalist of Michael Franti & Spearhead , a band which blends hip hop with

278-416: A Paula Abdul tour. Dodds operated the tour's "custom-designed interactive video system", and oversaw a crew ranging from 12 people on the arena legs to 18 for the "Outside Broadcast" leg. At the front of house position, the video crew conducted a live mix of the broadcast cameras filming the concert and live television transmissions intercepted by a satellite dish. In the production facility underneath

417-479: A belly dancer , and live satellite transmissions from war-torn Sarajevo . On stage, Bono portrayed several characters he conceived, including the leather-clad egomaniac " The Fly ", the greedy televangelist "Mirror Ball Man", and the devilish "MacPhisto". Unlike on other U2 tours, each of the Zoo TV shows opened with six to eight consecutive new songs before older material was played. Comprising five legs and 157 shows,

556-460: A 120-foot-tall (37 m), 40-short-ton (36 t) crane. The million-dollar stage was built in 40 hours and disassembled in six. The outdoor stage used for the 1993 legs of the tour was smaller due to budget concerns, and it discarded the Trabants hung from cranes, instead featuring three cars hanging behind the drum kit. All of the projection screens were replaced with video cubes, as

695-591: A 40-passenger chartered jet known as the Zoo Plane. Two separate steel sets were used during the tour; while one was in use for a concert, another was in transit to the next venue. The tour required 52 trucks to transport 2.4 million pounds (1.1 kt) of equipment—12 trucks for each of the two steel sets and 28 for the production equipment. The concerts were powered by four generators and 3 miles (4.8 km) of cabling. Stage construction required more than 200 local labourers, 12 forklifts, and

834-405: A CD re-release while made available on iTunes and other digital retailers. According to KQED , Beatnigs' and Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy's influence can be heard in artists such as JPEGMAFIA and Death Grips . This article on a United States hip hop music group or collective is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article on a United States experimental music band

973-453: A November 1992 radio special that showcased live performances, audio oddities, and half-serious interviews with members of U2 and the opening acts. Two other DJs replaced him later on the tour: Paul Oakenfold , who became one of the world's most prominent club DJs by the decade's end; and Colin Hudd. For the 1993 concerts, U2 invited Irish theatre group Macnas to join the tour and perform between

1112-399: A departure from the industrial sounds of the Beatnigs and Disposable Heroes, and the minimalism of early Spearhead, Franti's affirming lyrics are now set to swelling rock chords, while keeping a world-wise groove nodding towards reggae, dancehall , bossa nova , Afrobeat , and funk. Anthems like the title track "Everyone Deserves Music", "Yes I Will" and " Bomb The World " are constructed with

1251-642: A documentary about extreme skiers mentoring 15-year-old Kye Peterson in his quest to ski the route in Chamonix, France that killed his father, Trevor Peterson, nine years earlier. The album All Rebel Rockers was released on September 9, 2008, and was largely recorded in Jamaica at the Anchor studio in St Andrew. The band worked with ubiquitous rhythm team Sly and Robbie and featured multi-talented vocalist Cherine Anderson on

1390-485: A drawing of a woman giving birth while holding string tied to her husband's testicles. Williams and Chilean artist Rene Castro also provided artwork for the cars. We really wanted to do something that had never been seen before, using TV, text, and imagery. It was a very big and expensive project to put together. We allowed ourselves to be carried away by new technology. — Larry Mullen Jr. The Zoo TV stages were designed by Willie Williams, U2's stage designer since

1529-520: A four-hour period, while Boston's telephone system was temporarily shut down. On 19 February, the band departed Dublin for the US to prepare for the tour. While rehearsing in Lakeland for opening night, Eno consulted U2 on the visual aspects of the show. Unlike many of the group's previous tours, which began ahead of or coincident with the release of a new album, Zoo TV started four months after Achtung Baby

SECTION 10

#1732876610807

1668-431: A full basketball scholarship, where during the 1985–1986 season, he averaged 2.4 pts per game. During his time at school there he met a priest who taught him how to write stories, and soon he was writing poetry. He purchased a bass guitar at a pawn shop and started creating music inspired by hip hop, punk, and reggae which was being played on the campus radio station, KUSF . Franti began his music career in 1986 as part of

1807-464: A hydraulic system. The audio system for the larger stage used 176 speaker enclosures containing 312 18-inch (46 cm) woofers , 592 10-inch (25 cm) mid-range drivers , and 604 high-frequency drivers. The system used about one million watts of power and weighed 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg). U2 were Clair Brothers' first client to use the company's nascent "flying" PA system, which designers were able to position behind

1946-469: A journey through music and stories of some of the most inspiring individuals on the planet. Amazing people that I've met on my travels around the globe, who have chosen to overcome cynicism with optimism, hope, tenacity, music, and love – and remind us all what it means to STAY HUMAN." The Beatnigs Michael Franti and Rono Tse met each other clubbing in San Francisco. In 1986, Franti and Tse formed

2085-465: A little vacation home. So, we built five rooms with a yoga studio on top and it was like, 'If you build it, they will come.' Sure enough, we started getting teachers bringing in groups of students here. Over the years we kept putting the money back into building more rooms and we are up to 32 rooms now." Soulshine has hosted many retreats led by people such as Trevor Hall and FullyRaw Kristina , serving organically grown food from their own farms. In 2020,

2224-431: A live performance." This flexibility allowed for improvisations and deviations from the planned programme. Eno recommended that U2 film their own video tapes so that they could be edited and looped on the video displays more easily, instead of relying entirely on pre-sequenced video. Eno explained: "their show depends on some kind of response to what's happening at the moment in that place. So if it turns out they want to do

2363-452: A mixture of articulate manifesto rap which broke down beyond the black and white rhetoric, especially in the song "Language of Violence", one of the first raps to speak about homophobia. In 1994, Franti dissolved the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and formed a new band called Spearhead with a few studio musicians, including mainstay Carl Young. Their first release, Home , in September 1994,

2502-468: A nod to the 1980s rock of The Clash and U2, as well as to classic soul from Stax and Motown . The song "We Don't Stop" (featuring Gift of Gab from Blackalicious and Spearhead's rapper/ beatbox technician Radioactive) bridges the two sounds in a "Magnificent Seven" style mash-up. And on "Love Why Did You Go Away" and "What I Be", Franti reveals an alluring, sensual singing voice. "Pray For Grace" and "Bomb The World (Armageddon Version)" pair Franti with

2641-402: A political prisoner. Michael Franti continues to gain influence in both popular music and social movements largely through extensive touring and word of mouth fan support. Lyrics from his song "Bomb The World", written in the dark aftermath of September 11 such as "You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can't bomb it into peace" have found their way onto protest signs and t-shirts all over

2780-484: A portable studio on the road. He continued to record on the road and then test his ideas in front of live audiences to see if they liked it before going back and revamping it the next day. He has since been quoted as saying 90% of the album ended up being recorded on his laptop. In 2012, he joined the 11th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers. In 2013, Franti released All People . The single, "I'm Alive (Life Sounds Like)",

2919-444: A rapidly changing mix of live and pre-recorded video on monitors. The idea was intended to mock the desensitising effect of mass media. Eno, who was credited in the tour programme for the "Video Staging Concept", explained his vision for the tour: "the idea to make a stage set with a lot of different video sources was mine, to make a chaos of uncoordinated material happening together   ... The idea of getting away from video being

SECTION 20

#1732876610807

3058-455: A result, the band earned a reputation for being earnest and serious, an image that became a target for derision after their much-maligned 1988 motion picture and companion album Rattle and Hum , which documented their exploration of American roots music . The project was criticised as being "pretentious", and "misguided and bombastic", and U2 were accused of being grandiose and self-righteous. Their 1989–1990 Lovetown Tour did not visit

3197-476: A single Trabant for the lighting system was completed, with the innards gutted and retrofitted with lighting equipment, and a paint job on the exterior. Williams spent most of the second half of 1991 designing the stage. Owens was insistent that her ideas be given priority, as she thought that men had been making all of U2's creative decisions and were using male-centred designs. With the support of bassist Adam Clayton , she recruited visual artists from Europe and

3336-405: A song for five minutes longer, they can actually loop through the material again so that you're not suddenly stuck with black screens halfway through the fifth verse." The band shot new video for the displays over the course of the tour. The set featured a B-stage , a smaller, secondary performance area that connected to the main stage via a catwalk . Zoo TV was U2's first tour to use a B-stage;

3475-493: A stage show where everything fits neatly into place and it's all nicely organized and people know exactly where the center of attention is at all moments.' That isn't what the music is about now, and it certainly isn't what this concept of a new Europe is about, so how can we make a stage show that has some of the feeling of defensiveness and chaos and information overload   ...? — Brian Eno , on asking U2 about their plans for concerts One of U2's inspirations for Zoo TV

3614-548: A variety of other styles including funk , reggae , jazz , folk , and rock . He is also an outspoken supporter for a wide spectrum of peace and social justice issues; he is especially an advocate for peace in the Middle East . Michael Franti was born in Oakland, California . His mother, Mary Lofy, had Irish , German , and Belgian ancestry; his father, Thomas Hopkins, was of African American and Native American descent. He

3753-517: A way of helping people to see the band more easily   ... this is video as a way of obscuring them, losing them sometimes in just a network of material." While on a break from recording, the band invited production designer Willie Williams to join them in Tenerife in February 1991. Williams had recently worked on David Bowie 's Sound+Vision Tour , which used film projection and video content, and he

3892-498: A worldwide audience through touring and appearances in alternative media like Mother Jones magazine and Democracy Now! . Franti continues to tour in addition to producing the annual Power to the Peaceful festival each year since 1998. The festival originated as a way of supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal , who has been convicted of murdering a policeman but is considered by some on the Left to be

4031-438: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Zoo TV Tour The Zoo TV Tour (also written as ZooTV , ZOO TV or ZOOTV ) was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2 . Staged primarily to support their 1991 album Achtung Baby along with their subsequent 1993 album Zooropa , the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 1992 to 1993. Intended to mirror the group's new musical direction on Achtung Baby ,

4170-425: Is everybody, whether you're a banker, shop owner or something like that, everyone does some form of art...they all really work together and they're all super-creative and just very kind people. I fell in love with the culture. It's a beautiful tropical Island here, so that's great." He explained the organic nature of this venture, "I thought it would be a good place to buy a little piece of land and, hopefully, build

4309-703: Is the Greatest Luxury (on Island Records ), won plaudits for its social commentary, and they were chosen by U2 to open for their Zoo TV Tour . The album's lyrics dealt with a range of issues, including the US involvement in the Gulf war , the oil industry, homophobic violence, immigration, Franti's own cultural background and adoption, and more personal politics. The single "Television, The Drug of The Nation" (previously recorded by Franti's former project, The Beatnigs ) gained airplay on college and alternative radio stations for its critique of mainstream television, which as

Michael Franti - Misplaced Pages Continue

4448-530: Is the enemy of art", "Religion is a club", "Ignorance is bliss", "Watch more TV", "Believe" with letters fading out to leave "lie", and "Everything you know is wrong". During the first week of the tour, media outlets incorrectly reported that the words shown included "Bomb Japan Now", forcing the band to issue a statement denying the claim. Before performances of " Even Better Than the Real Thing ", Bono channel surfed through live television programming, and during

4587-560: Is the mother of Ade. Inspired by one of his children, Franti became a vegan . In 2000, Michael decided not to wear any shoes, initially for three days. Since then, he has chosen to go barefoot except for occasionally wearing flip-flops as required to board an airplane or to be served in a restaurant. He prefers bare feet. In 2014, Michael's second eldest, Ade, was diagnosed with a kidney disease called Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). The disease has left Ade with just 50% function in his kidneys. Michael said, "My son being diagnosed

4726-576: The Federal Aviation Administration to be placed on top of them. The stage's appearance was compared to the techno-future cityscapes from Blade Runner and the works of cyberpunk writer William Gibson . The video projection system consisted of four Vidiwalls, four 15-by-20-foot (4.6 m × 6.1 m) rear projection screens using eighteen GE Talaria 5055 HB light valve projectors , and thirty-six 27-inch (690 mm) Barco monitors. The production control system, which

4865-511: The Occupy Wall Street movement during one of Michael Franti and Spearhead's tours. Franti's wish-granting nonprofit organization, Do It for the Love, is a project he founded in 2013 with his wife Sara Agah Franti, with a mission to bring individuals with life-threatening illnesses and trauma, children with severe challenges, and wounded veterans to live concerts in the goal to inspire joy through

5004-726: The Rock the Vote Party. Franti announced in November 2009 that he would be joining musician John Mayer on the Battle Studies Tour in spring 2010. As part of the band's commitment to environmentalism, Michael Franti and Spearhead avoid the use of water bottles on national tours and run their tour bus on biodiesel . Franti announced the release of The Sound of Sunshine on his official website in July 2010. It features 12 tracks including two versions of

5143-591: The San Francisco Bay Area . The 1988 LP release The Beatnigs was recorded at Dancin' Dog Studio in Emeryville and distributed by Alternative Tentacles . In addition to Michael Franti and Ron Tse, the band included Henry Flood on percussion, Andre Flores on keyboards, and Kevin Carnes on vocals. All of the band members made multiple instrumental contributions, including industrial percussion. His next project,

5282-585: The Steel Wheels Tour stage for the Rolling Stones . The main stage was expanded to be 248 by 80 feet (76 by 24 m), and the catwalk leading to the B-stage was lengthened to approximately 150 feet (46 m), nearly four times as long as the arena version. The spires of the stage, intended to resemble radio masts , reached as high as 110 feet (34 m), requiring aircraft warning lights approved by

5421-456: The War Tour of 1982–1983. In place of U2's austere and minimalist productions of the 1980s, the Zoo TV stage was a complex setup, designed to instill " sensory overload " in its audience. The set's giant video screens showed footage of the band members performing, pre-recorded video, live television transmissions, and flashing text phrases. Electronic, tabloid-style headlines ran on crawlers at

5560-528: The West Bank , the Gaza Strip and Iraq . In an effort to share his experiences from his trip and to explore the human cost of war, Franti produced a movie entitled I Know I'm Not Alone , using the songs from his album Yell Fire! as a soundtrack. "One Step Closer To You" from Yell Fire! features Pink on backing vocals. The whole album is available for listening in his website. Franti and Spearhead have gained

5699-468: The industrial punk / spoken word band the Beatnigs . While attending the University of San Francisco and living above KUSF he developed a fascination with music and decided to start a band. The Beatnigs included dancer and percussionist Rono Tse; the band released a self-titled LP and an EP Television on Alternative Tentacles records. The records received some critical acclaim but little fame beyond

Michael Franti - Misplaced Pages Continue

5838-445: The "Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy" phase. The song consists of Franti reciting spoken word with a soft electric guitar riffing in the background. Although Franti's point of view about the role of music in politics and the style of music he uses to express himself have changed, he still writes about politics and continues to work as an activist towards social change. The album All Rebel Rockers from 2008 (US #39) already with Spearhead

5977-434: The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy , found Franti continuing his collaboration with Tse, and working with jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter , as well as electronic musicians Mark Pistel ( Consolidated ) and Jack Dangers ( Meat Beat Manifesto ). The Disposable Heroes wrote politically charged lyrics that railed against the injustices of the world, set to a fusion of industrial music and hip hop. Their first album, Hypocrisy

6116-530: The Middle East. His 2005 film I Know I'm Not Alone features footage of Iraq, the Palestinian territories , and Israel. Franti decided to embark on this three-week journey with friends to view the human cost of war in the Middle East first-hand. Franti said, "This film came out of my frustration with watching the nightly news and hearing generals, politicians, and pundits explaining the political and economic cost of

6255-453: The Sydney and Melbourne shows went on sale on 23 August. Scheduling for the "Zoomerang" leg afforded the band more off-days between shows than previous legs, but this amplified the exhaustion and restlessness that had set in by the tour's end. Although Zoo TV was listed as co-sponsored by MTV , the group decided against explicit corporate sponsorship. The daily cost of producing the tour

6394-462: The U2 of the 1980s. For the opening song, " Zoo Station ", Bono entered as his primary stage persona, "The Fly", appearing silhouetted against a giant screen of blue and white video noise interwoven with glimpses of photo-copied animations of the band members. " The Fly " was usually performed next, with the video monitors flashing a rapidly changing array of words and aphorisms. Some of these included "Taste

6533-586: The United States and the United Kingdom. Other groups they performed with include D.O.A. , MDC , Fugazi , Living Colour and Einstürzende Neubauten . Franti and Tse would later form The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy . They reworked the Beatnigs song "Television" to become "Television, The Drug of the Nation" for the new group. Carnes would later form Broun Fellinis . The band's stage performance included

6672-449: The United States to arrange images that would be used on the display screens. These people included video artist Mark Pellington , photo/conceptual artist David Wojnarowicz , and satirical group Emergency Broadcast Network , who digitally manipulate sampled image and sound. Pellington conceived the idea to flash text phrases on the visual displays, inspired by his collaborations with artists Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger . The concept

6811-492: The United States. With a sense of musical stagnation, lead vocalist Bono hinted at changes to come for the band during a 30 December 1989 concert near the end of the tour; before a hometown crowd in Dublin, he said on stage that it was "the end of something for U2" and that they had to "go away and ... just dream it all up again". ...   I sort of took the overview position of saying, 'What do you want? You don't want

6950-505: The Weeds theme song " Little Boxes " in Season 3, and "Say Hey" during a flash mob scene in the premiere episode of Season 5. Boston Red Sox centerfielder Shane Victorino uses the song "Light up Ya Lighter" as his batter walk-up music. "Say Hey (I Love You)" was used on the third episode of NBC 's series Mercy , as well as in the opening scene of the 2010 film Valentine's Day . The same song

7089-463: The Will and Olympia , mixed with sounds from Lenin's Favourite Songs , Beethoven's Ninth Symphony , and voices asking "What do you want?" in different European languages. A visual of the flag of Europe was displayed, which then crumbled after one of the stars fell off. The concerts began with a fixed sequence of six to eight consecutive Achtung Baby songs, a further sign that they were no longer

SECTION 50

#1732876610807

7228-603: The Zoo TV Tour as one of rock's most memorable tours—in 2002, Q ' s Tom Doyle called it "the most spectacular rock tour staged by any band". U2's 1987 album The Joshua Tree and the supporting Joshua Tree Tour brought them to a new level of commercial and critical success, particularly in the United States. Like their previous tours, the Joshua Tree Tour was a minimalistic, austere production, and they used this outlet for addressing political and social concerns. As

7367-412: The Zoo TV Tour departed from the band's previously austere stage setups by providing an elaborately staged multimedia spectacle, satirising television and media oversaturation by attempting to instill " sensory overload " in its audience. To escape their reputation for being earnest and over-serious, U2 embraced a more lighthearted and self-deprecating image on tour. Zoo TV and Achtung Baby were central to

7506-598: The album Stay Human , were used in two different episodes during the series' first season. Franti's song "Everybody Ona Move" was featured in the pilot episode of Privileged on the CW in 2008 and also in a 2009 PlayStation 3 commercial. "Yell Fire" was used to promote the FX channel series Rescue Me and was also used in the closing credits of the pilot episode of Virtuality on Fox . Showtime's Weeds featured Franti's song "Ganja Babe" in its first season, his interpretation of

7645-535: The band faced difficulties with booking concerts in Sydney, Australia, where they wanted to stage a worldwide television broadcast to end the tour. In early August 1993, after the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust rejected the band's application to perform at the Sydney Football Stadium in November, Bono publicly questioned the city's viability as a candidate to host the 2000 Summer Olympics ;

7784-421: The band had pursued the idea on previous tours because Bono wanted proximity to the audience, but they had been unsuccessful due to building and fire code restrictions. Equipment for the sound system was provided by Clair Brothers Audio , which had been working with U2 since 1982. The company's S4 Series II speaker cabinet was the standard model used for Zoo TV; it was based on a prototype designed for

7923-575: The band with Kevin Carnes, Andre Flores and Henry Flood. Troy Dixon joined later as a touring member. In 1988, The Beatnigs released a self-titled studio album and a 12" EP of their most famous song, "Television". Both on the record label Alternative Tentacles . That same year they played their New York City debut at the New Music Seminar , and recorded for the BBC 's Peel Sessions . The band toured with Billy Bragg and Michelle Shocked in both

8062-612: The band with the notion of taking a pirate television station on tour. They were also interested in using video as a way of making themselves less accessible to their audiences. The band developed these ideas while recording Achtung Baby in Berlin at Hansa Studios . While in Germany, they watched television coverage of the Gulf War on Sky News , which was the only English programming available at their hotel. When they were tired of hearing about

8201-416: The band's return to major cities, to gauge demand for ticket sales, and to re-introduce the notion of a "hot ticket" to concertgoers. Ticket sale arrangements varied from city to city, but in each case, a ticket limit per purchase was enforced. The band minimized the amount of shows for which tickets were sold at physical box offices, preferring to sell over the telephone instead. In cities where scalping

8340-475: The book Third Wave Agenda, Being Feminist and Doing Feminism . The analysis involved the role of masculinity in the misogynist point of view which dominates popular music e.g. in rap music . The authors assert that Franti's lyrics in treating women fairly in relationships is an exception. According to the Encyclopedia of Popular Music , Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy is an innovative contemporary hip hop crew;

8479-515: The car was "deeply, deeply bizarre". In May, he brainstormed the idea to construct a lighting system of recycled Trabants. Williams, who "always favored a very homemade approach to lighting, over an off-the-shelf one", had previously fashioned fixtures from objects such as trash cans and furniture. He saw the Trabant as the perfect object to light U2's tour, envisioning it as a "suitably surreal and symbolic scenic element". On 1 June 1991, Williams visited

SECTION 60

#1732876610807

8618-462: The conflict, they tuned into local programming to see "bad German soap operas" and automobile advertisements. The band believed that cable television had blurred the lines between news, entertainment, and home shopping over the previous decade, and they wanted to represent this on their next tour. The juxtaposition of such disparate programming inspired U2 and Achtung Baby co-producer Brian Eno to conceive an "audio-visual show" that would display

8757-500: The ends of the stage. The band's embracing of such technology was meant as a radical departure in form, and as a commentary on the pervasive nature of technology. This led many critics to describe the show as ironic. To enable such a complex video production, the equivalent of a television studio control room was built for the tour. Williams enlisted Carol Dodds to be video director based on their experience together on Bowie's Sound+Vision Tour and her familiarity with Vidiwalls from

8896-471: The engineering department of Light & Sound Design (LSD) in Birmingham, England, to ask for help with building a prototype. On 14 June, the first tour production meeting was held; in attendance were Williams, the band, their manager Paul McGuinness , artist Catherine Owens, and production managers Steve Iredale and Jake Kennedy. Williams presented his ideas, which included the Trabant lighting system and

9035-507: The engineers could select one or many displays to which to output each content source, whether it be a single video cube or an entire screen. The computers' media controls allowed video content from the disc and tape players, either individual frames or entire segments, to be sequenced, looped, and built into pre-programmed cues . On stage, guitarist the Edge used MIDI pedals to trigger music sequencers , generating SMPTE timecode for coordinating

9174-476: The front truss . The projection screen was used in lieu of an additional video cube wall that proved too costly; Williams called it the "first of many such compromises" during the tour. Dodds' video crew comprised 12 people: four camera operators, four staffers running computers in the front of house position, and four members underneath the stage controlling the video screens. Seven LaserDisc players were used. About 40 feet (12 m) of tracks were laid on top of

9313-568: The frustration the Palestinian youth have. Ultimately, my belief is that it is poverty more than religion that creates tensions and frustrations. If you are struggling to feed your family, living on less than US$ 2 (Dh7.34) a day, as most Gaza residents are, and can see that past the checkpoint in Israel people live like in Los Angeles, then that really is going to cause mounting tensions." In 2001, Franti

9452-470: The group's 1990s reinvention. The tour's concept was inspired by disparate television programming, coverage of the Gulf War , the desensitising effect of mass media, and " morning zoo " radio shows. The stages featured dozens of large video screens that showed visual effects, video clips, and flashing text phrases, along with a lighting system partially made of Trabant automobiles. The shows incorporated channel surfing , prank calls , video confessionals ,

9591-408: The healing power of music. His foundation has bridged connections between fans of all ages with their musical heroes, with the participation of notable artists such as Billie Eilish , JoJo Siwa , Pentatonix , and Franti himself. Franti owns a yoga resort hotel in the southern part of Ubud, Bali, called Soulshine. It is considered "Michael Franti's oasis of yoga, soul, and rock n' roll." His resort

9730-452: The heavy expenses of the Pacific shows, U2 asked for large guarantees from local promoters up front, rather than sharing the financial burden as they had in the past. This sometimes caused promoters to raise ticket prices above usual levels, which in turn sometimes resulted in less than full houses. Profit margin was a slim four to five per cent at most sold-out shows. During the time between

9869-487: The idea for this journey, I had no idea how to get to Iraq and almost no idea how to make a film. After discovering that all you need to get into Iraq is a plane ticket, I prayed that movie making would be that simple..." he said. After his trip to the Middle East, Franti argued that it was poverty more than religion that created tensions in the Gaza region. "The poverty was so severe," said Franti. "This really helped me to understand

10008-453: The impression of him singing Queen 's song " We Will Rock You ". A different introduction, created by Ned O'Hanlon and Maurice Linnane of Dreamchaser video productions, was used on the 1993 legs. This introduction reflected U2's growing concern with the volatile political situation in post-communist Europe and the resurgence of radical nationalism at the time. It featured footage from Leni Riefenstahl 's Nazi propaganda films Triumph of

10147-434: The monitor engineer used a joystick to pan each band member's mix around the monitor speakers to "follow" their movements on stage. The band members also wore in-ear monitors , which was necessitated by their performing on the B-stage, where they experienced an audio delay from the primary PA speakers behind them and where fewer monitor wedges could be positioned. Lighting equipment was provided by LSD. Supplementing

10286-437: The new video system was "vastly superior" and that the changes made Zoo TV "the largest touring video facility ever created". The sound system utilised 144 Clair Brothers' S4 Series II cabinets positioned in "two curved wings". These speaker stacks were 38 feet behind the drum riser and 45 feet behind the primary vocal position. The layout allowed for sightlines of 250 degrees within stadiums. To help focus

10425-455: The ones used in the studio during the recording of Achtung Baby . The stage monitor system was mixed underneath the stage with six consoles: two  Harrison SM5s (with a 16- channel extender), a Yamaha DMP7, a Soundcraft 200B, and two  Ramsa WS-840s for drummer Larry Mullen Jr. The consoles provided capabilities for around 200 audio channels. To avoid audio feedback during B-stage performances, O'Herlihy said, "We 'ring'

10564-456: The opening two songs of concerts. The lighting system was controlled with an Avolites QM180 console . The North American arena shows, many of which featured in-the-round seating , used 72 Clair Brothers S4 Series II speakers, in positions of stage left and right , rear fill stage left and right, and left and right sidefill. For the European arena shows, the number of S4 Series II speakers

10703-427: The outdoor lighting system, as the stage did not have a roof. He settled on using the venues' house spotlights and strategically placing lights in the structure behind the band. About a third of the lighting equipment was lifted by a 100-foot (30 m) tower, requiring 25 short tons (23 t) of ballast . Lighting was also provided by 11 Trabants; two were suspended from cranes while the others were supported by

10842-403: The placement of video monitors all over the stage; both notions were well received. Eno's original idea was to have the video screens on wheels and constantly in motion, although this was impractical. Williams and the group proposed many ideas that did not make it to the final stage design. One such proposal, dubbed "Motorway Madness", would have placed billboards advertising real products across

10981-586: The production costs and relatively small arena crowds, the European arena leg lost money. McGuinness had planned larger outdoor concerts in Berlin, Turin, Poland, and Vienna to help the tour break even, but only the Vienna concert occurred. Plans for stadium shows were first mentioned by Iredale in March ;1992, but not confirmed until the 23 April announcement of the "Outside Broadcast" leg in North America. It

11120-446: The projectors were not bright enough for the European summer nights when daylight lasted later. The resulting video system used three Digiwalls of 41-inch (1,000 mm) projection cubes, four Vidiwalls (each 4 cubes high by 3 cubes wide), and thirty-six 27-inch (690 mm) Barco monitors. Comprising 178 cubes, the three Digiwalls varied in orientation: 14 cubes high by 6 cubes wide, 9 high by 5 wide, and 7 high by 7 wide. Williams said

11259-463: The radiator grid. Chain hoists were attached to brackets welded onto the wheel hubs, allowing the vehicles to be raised and tilted on their own axles. The first two legs of the tour in 1992 were indoors and used the smallest of the stages. The video system included four 8-foot (2.4 m) Philips Vidiwalls of video cubes, thirty-two 36-inch (910 mm) monitors, and a 16-by-20-foot (4.9 m × 6.1 m) projection screen center-hung from

11398-501: The reggae/funk giants Sly and Robbie (Grace Jones, Rolling Stones, Black Uhuru, No Doubt). Also in 2003, Franti released a mostly acoustic album, Songs from the Front Porch containing rearranged versions of older songs from Chocolate Supa Highway , Stay Human and Everyone Deserves Music as well as a couple of new tracks. On July 25, 2006, Michael Franti & Spearhead released Yell Fire! , inspired by Franti's trip to Israel,

11537-490: The rest of the world, it wears us out. Half the record is a healthy dose of venting anger about that, and the other half is about how do we hold on to our spirituality, our community and our connectedness to each other." In 2001, Franti was featured on Lamb 's album What Sound , providing backing vocals on the track "I Cry". Also in 2001, Michael Franti & Spearhead released the song "Oh My God", arguably one of Michael Franti & Spearhead's most precise resistance songs. It

11676-604: The rights to the name "Spearhead", subsequent albums were all released as "Michael Franti & Spearhead." His song "Sometimes" was included on the soundtrack to the 1999 film Mystery Men , as well as the soundtrack to the 2006 film Last Holiday . Also, under the "Spearhead" name, their cover version of The Police's 1979 No. 32 hit, "Roxanne", was featured on the soundtrack to the 1997 film Good Burger . Michael Franti & Spearhead released Stay Human in 2000 under their own label Boo Boo Wax in alignment with indie music label Six Degrees Records . The album's central theme

11815-572: The set which entered the Billboard 200 pop chart in September at number 38. The single 'Say Hey (I Love You)' also reached Number 18 on the US Hot 100, providing Franti with his first US Top 20 single. Michael Franti was featured on Aux.tv 's show Volume where he spoke about U.S. politics and his efforts to make the world a better place. Franti played three different events to commemorate President Barack Obama 's inauguration: The Green Ball, The Peace Ball and

11954-492: The sound, the engineers installed a semicircle of Clair Brothers' P4 cabinets, comprising four arrays of six cabinets each, around the perimeter of the stage. Additional P4 speakers were placed on their sides on the edge of the B-stage. Underneath Bono's position at the front of the main stage were 16 Servo Drive sub-bass units. The concert at Roundhay Park in Leeds was supplemented by time-delayed speaker towers from SSE Hire due to

12093-528: The stage and build a lighting system out of Trabants. McGuinness led a trip to East Germany to buy Trabants from a recently closed factory in Chemnitz , and in January 1992, Catherine Owens began to paint the cars. As she described, "The basic idea was that the imagery on the cars should have nothing to do with the car itself." One such design was the "fertility car", which sported blown-up newspaper personal ads and

12232-410: The stage, dubbed "Underworld", engineers intercut the video from the live mix with pre-recorded imagery from LaserDisc players, video tape players, and a Philips CD-i player and routed it to the display screens. In all, content was compiled from 24 different video sources. Personal computers were used to sequence specific pre-recorded video segments and distribute them to the proper outputs;

12371-399: The stage, similar to their placement beside highways. The idea was intended to be ironic, but was ultimately scrapped out of fear that the band would be accused of selling out . Another proposed idea was to build a giant doll of an "achtung baby", complete with an inflatable penis that would spray on the audience, but it was deemed too expensive and was abandoned. By August, a prototype of

12510-444: The staging area. The front of house position featured three mixing stations, each with 40-channel capabilities. The stage monitor system used 60 speakers, which were mixed from two separate positions, each with two consoles providing 160-channel capacities. On stage, 26 microphones were used. The North American stadium leg employed a 145-person production crew and 45-person staging crew that travelled on 12 buses and

12649-409: The support acts and U2's performance, a disc jockey played records for the audience. For the 1992 legs, Irish rock journalist and radio presenter BP Fallon filled the role. Originally hired to write the Zoo TV tour programme, he played music inside a Trabant on the B-stage, while providing commentary and wearing a cape and top hat. His official title was "Guru, Viber and DJ". He hosted Zoo Radio ,

12788-465: The support acts for the "Outside Broadcast" leg, and after their stint, "Television" was retained for the remainder of the tour as the pre-show closing song. After the lights were turned off, one of several video introductions was played on-screen to accompany the group taking the stage. During the "Outside Broadcast" leg, the piece was one by Emergency Broadcast Network that edited together various video clips of US President George H. W. Bush to give

12927-399: The support acts. The troupe wore oversized papier-mâché heads of the members of U2 and playacted a miming parody of them. Writer Bill Flanagan described the performances as "the jesters mocking the kings". Zoo TV wasn't a set piece, it was a state of mind. It was constantly evolving and changing and taking on new ideas as it went   ... We changed it consciously for each new area of

13066-415: The system out using a separate EQ ". On stage, the monitor speakers consisted of Clair Brothers' 12AM single and double wedge units, with ML18 and MM4T units for sidefill. Steve McCale served as the monitor engineer for Bono, the Edge, and Clayton, and controlled the joystick panning, while Dave Skaff was Mullen's monitor engineer. In-ear monitors were provided by Future Sonics . The production equipment

13205-501: The time "Outside Broadcast" began, Achtung Baby had sold four million copies in the US. The "Zooropa" leg was announced in late November 1992, and tickets for the British concerts were put on sale on 28 November. The leg, which began in May ;1993, was U2's first full stadium tour of Europe and marked the first time they had visited certain areas. For the "Zoomerang" leg,

13344-536: The title implies, blames the media for a political numbing of ordinary people, explicit in the lyrics: "T.V., it satellite links, our United States of unconsciousness, apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive". The Disposable Heroes recorded music accompanying novelist William Burroughs ' readings for an album entitled Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales . The distinctive work of the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy has been analyzed in various academic papers, including by author Leslie Haywood and editor Jeniffer Drake in

13483-562: The title track, the new hit single, "Shake It", and staples of his recent live performances including "Hey Hey Hey", "Anytime You Need Me", "The Thing That Helps Me Get Through", and the anthemic arena-rock ballad "I'll Be Waiting". The album was originally set to be released on August 24, but was pushed back to September 21 to give the album "more runway." Franti started the recording process for The Sound of Sunshine in Jamaica but then continued to mix tracks and record in Bali before choosing to bring

13622-423: The tour and featured built-in time-alignment . The sound engineers decided not to supplement the traditional public address system with delayed speakers for time-alignment, as they wanted the audience to focus their attention on the stage and the multimedia aspects of the show. The stage monitor system used on the Zoo TV Tour was one of the largest and most complex systems at the time. Through "quad monitoring",

13761-408: The tour announcement, tickets for some concerts were first put on sale. Though the band had toured North America every year between 1980 and 1987, they had been absent from the region's tour circuit for over four years before Zoo TV. The US concert business was in a slump at the time, and the routing of the first tour's two legs generally afforded only one show per city. This was intended to announce

13900-516: The tour began in Lakeland, Florida , on 29 February 1992 and ended in Tokyo, Japan , on 10 December 1993. The tour alternated between North America and Europe for the first four legs before visiting Oceania and Japan. After two arena legs, the show's production was expanded for stadiums for the final three legs, which were branded "Outside Broadcast", "Zooropa", and "Zoomerang/New Zooland", respectively. Although

14039-527: The tour began in December ;1991 at The Factory in Dublin. The band found it challenging to recreate all the sounds from the new album. They considered using additional musicians, but their sentimental attachment to a four-piece prevailed. The tour was announced on 11 February 1992, less than three weeks before opening night. The opening leg consisted of 32 arena shows in 31 North American cities, from 29 February to 23 April. Four days after

14178-499: The tour provoked a range of reactions from music critics, it was generally well received. It was the highest-grossing North American tour of 1992, and overall sold around 5.3 million tickets and grossed US$ 151 million. The band's 1993 album Zooropa , recorded during a break in the tour, expanded on mass media themes. The tour was depicted in the Grammy Award -winning 1994 concert film Zoo TV: Live from Sydney . Critics regard

14317-423: The traditional lighting rigs were several suspended Trabants that had been retrofitted with light fixtures. The cars were purchased for US$ 500–600 each, and when stripped of their interiors, they weighed 900 pounds (410 kg). Approximately US$ 10,000 of lighting equipment weighing 400 pounds (180 kg) was installed in the vehicles. A 2.5K HMI Fresnel fixture was mounted to the metal bar that previously held

14456-542: The trust's decision was made despite allowing concerts by Madonna and Michael Jackson to be held at Sydney Cricket Ground in November. McGuinness faxed all 29 members of the Sydney Olympics 2000 Bid Committee to inform them of the situation. John Fahey , the Premier of New South Wales , personally intervened to allow the Sydney concerts to take place, and an announcement was made on 15 August confirming them. Tickets for

14595-457: The use of power tools such as a rotary saw and grinder on a metal bar to create industrial noise and pyrotechnics . Their sound included poetry and elements of african drumming. They were described in The Rough Guide to Rock as "a kind of avant-garde industrial jazz poets collective". The single "Television" was reissued by Alternative Tentacles in 2002, and the album was planned for

14734-408: The vehicle's backseat, and was fitted with an LSD ColourMag colour magazine and a dowser; a 5K fixture was originally used but had to be replaced after causing the car to melt after five minutes. Other fixtures installed were: a PAR-64 Ray Light reflector in the headlight bracket; two LSD Mirrorstrobes; eight Molefays behind the front bumper and four behind the rear; and ACL strips behind

14873-409: The venue to listen, the band held a public dress rehearsal concert on 7 August, with half-price tickets benefiting five local charities. Technical problems and pacing issues forced refinement to the show. On 5 August, six days before the official leg-opening concert at Giants Stadium , the group delayed the show by a day, due to the difficulty of assembling the large outdoor production. By

15012-612: The venue's elongated shape, making it the only show on the tour to use delay speakers. For the "Zooropa" monitor speaker system, Radio Station in-ear monitors were provided by Garwood Communications. The monitors were mixed with four Ramsa WS-840 consoles, with Skaff serving as the monitor engineer for Mullen and Clayton, and Vish Wadi for Bono and the Edge. The European leg featured confetti cannons, provided by Shell Shock Firework Co. and JEM, that shot "Zoo Ecu" banknotes ; these were replaced by "Zooropa" condoms in Ireland. Rehearsals for

15151-518: The video cues. Des Broadberry managed the keyboards, sequencers, samples , and MIDI equipment. Despite the production's complexity, the group decided that flexibility in the shows' length and content was a priority. The Edge said, "That was one of the more important decisions we made early on, that we wouldn't sacrifice flexibility, so we designed a system that is both extremely complicated and high-tech but also incredibly simple and hands-on, controlled by human beings   ... in that sense, it's still

15290-413: The walkway to the B-stage for a camera dolly , which could reach a height of 12 feet (3.7 m). For the arena lighting system, six Trabants were suspended above the stage, and a seventh Trabant by the B-stage doubled as a DJ booth and a mirror ball . Williams originally planned to use 12 cars but scaled back after the tour's video production expanded. The remainder of the lighting system

15429-466: The war in the Middle East, without ever mentioning the human cost. I wanted to hear about the war by the people affected by it most: doctors, nurses, poets, artists, soldiers, and my personal favorite, musicians." The film aims to speak to multiple generations and to give a better understanding of the people who still live in war-torn countries. He did not embark on the trip for the film with any special government groups or organizations. "When I first had

15568-401: The world from Los Angeles to Berlin, San Francisco to CNN , at demonstrations for peace large and small. The song "Light Up Ya Lighter" by Michael Franti & Spearhead was included on the soundtrack to Body of War , an award-winning documentary about Tomas Young , a paralyzed Iraq War veteran. Songs from Yell Fire and All Rebel Rockers are on the soundtrack to The Edge of Never ,

15707-465: The world. — The Edge Beginning with the 24 May 1992 show, Fallon played the song "Television, the Drug of the Nation" by hip-hop group the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy just before the lights were turned off and U2 took the stage. The band believed that the song, a commentary on mass media culture, encapsulated some of the tour's principal themes. The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy became one of

15846-489: The yoga resort additionally expanded into a day club. In June 2020, Franti began hosting his "Stay at Home Concert World Tour" within his own yoga resort, taking part of the "virtual concert revolution" as a response to the COVID-19 Health Pandemic. Franti has three children. He is married to emergency room nurse and jewelry designer Sara Agah. He was previously married to Tara Franti-Rye from 1998 until 2004; she

15985-440: Was US$ 125,000, regardless of whether a show was held on a given day. Band members, especially Mullen, were uncertain that the tour would be profitable. One of their chief concerns was how to procure Philips's costly Vidiwalls, which were priced at US$ 4–5 million. No rental company owned the video screens. McGuinness instead lobbied for Philips to provide the equipment at no cost; since U2 were signed to Island Records , which

16124-412: Was a 1989 concert in Dublin that reached a radio audience of 500 million people and was widely bootlegged . Bono said the group were fascinated with the possibilities of radio and how they could be expanded using video to "beam concerts into Peking or Prague for free" or spawn "video bootlegs in cultures where it's hard to get [U2's] music". The wild antics of " morning zoo " radio programmes inspired

16263-641: Was a departure from the politically charged rap of the Disposable Heroes and drew more from funk and soul music . The album was produced by Franti and Joe Nicolo . The song "Positive", also from the album Home , appeared on the Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool compilation album by the Red Hot Organization . In 1998, Spearhead recorded "I Got Plenty 'o Nuthin" with Ernest Ranglin for the Red Hot Organization 's compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody . Their follow-up album, Chocolate Supa Highway

16402-570: Was accompanied by details of two concerts, for which tickets went on sale two days later. While U2 were motivated to play stadiums by pragmatic concerns, they saw it as an artistic challenge as well, imagining what artists Salvador Dalí or Andy Warhol would have done with such spaces. Rehearsals for "Outside Broadcast" began in Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania , on 2 August 1992. To accommodate fans who had been camping outside

16541-793: Was adopted by Carole Wisti and Charles Franti, a Finnish American couple in Oakland, who at the time had three biological children and one adopted African American son. Charles Franti was a professor in the department of epidemiology and preventive medicine of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and died in 2003. Franti's four adoptive siblings are Rebecca, Sara, Dan, and Matthew. Michael also has four half-siblings, Thea, Thomas, Charles, and Arthur Hopkins. Franti went to grade 9 at Highland Junior High School in Edmonton , Alberta. Then he attended Davis Senior High School and University of San Francisco on

16680-551: Was also a vehicle to express Franti's political views through music. According to Franti, the album was inspired by contemporary issues like climate change, the price of gas going up and down, the stock market and the auto industry, and the Obama presidency . His trip to the Middle East and his other world travel have helped shape his global political perspective. Franti works with the charitable cause Ubuntu Education Fund, has promoted vegan diets, has promoted being barefoot , and followed

16819-515: Was also featured in the launch trailer for Rayman Legends and the final trailer for Coco . Franti has collaborated with Slacker Radio , picking the tunes and providing commentaries, to create a radio station playing his favorite artists. Franti premiered his own documentary Stay Human on April 27, 2018, at the Asbury Park Music and Film Festival . Written on his website about the film, Franti states, "my new film Stay Human takes us on

16958-554: Was also used in 2010 in a commercial for Corona Light beer. The song is also featured on the soundtrack of EA Sports game, 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa . He appeared as himself in the 2010 music documentary Sounds Like a Revolution . "I'm Alive (Life Sounds Like)" was featured on the "Arrival" official trailer for The Sims 4 during Gamescom 2013 at the Cologne Trade Fair in Cologne , Germany on August 20, 2013. It

17097-673: Was analyzed in Catherine Chaput's book Entertaining Fear: Rhetoric and the Political Economy of Social Control. Chaput uses the lyrics of "Oh My God" to show how it is counter-productive to understand politics as distinct from economics and culture. The lyrics make connections across science, popular culture and politics. Everyone Deserves Music was released in 2003. Franti composed many of the songs from his guitar and, like fellow 21st-century cultural globalists Manu Chao and Ozomatli , continues to synthesize his eclectic influences. In

17236-528: Was awarded the Domestic Human Rights Award by Global Exchange , an international NGO based in San Francisco, for his work to end war. In 2006, he was invited by Australian Labour MP Jenny Macklin to show the film at Australia's Parliament House in Canberra. Music and politics have always been a part of Franti's art, as seen early in his career with the song "Music and Politics", released during

17375-481: Was delayed until Fall 2018. Stay Human, Vol. II was released on January 25, 2019, and on October 12 the first single was released, "Just to Say I Love you". In 2020, Franti released the album "Work Hard and Be Nice." His single "Good Day for a Good Day" from his 2022 album "Follow Your Heart" was a top 25 AAA hit. He did the music for the Woody Harrelson film Champions . Franti is also an advocate for peace in

17514-449: Was first put into practice in the video for Achtung Baby ' s lead single, " The Fly ". Bono devised and collected numerous phrases during development of the album and the tour. Additional pre-recorded video content was created by Eno, Williams, Kevin Godley , Carol Dodds, and Philip Owens. On 13 November, U2 settled on the "Zoo TV Tour" name and the plans to place video screens across

17653-493: Was keen to "take rock show video to a level as yet undreamed of". The band played Williams some of their new music—inspired by alternative rock , industrial music , and electronic dance music —and they told him about the "Zoo TV" phrase that Bono liked. Williams also learned about the band's affection for the Trabant , an East German automobile that derisively became a symbol for the fall of Communism ; he thought their fondness for

17792-541: Was minimal, comprising 17  spotlights and a "couple of hundred" PAR cans . The ColourMags were controlled by LSD's Simon Carus-Wilson, who had worked with Williams on the Sound+Vision Tour. Two lighting trusses were used to illuminate the audience, consisting of ACL wash fixtures for "little pools of light", eight fixtures to initially brighten the venue, and ultraviolet wash light. The video screens produced enough backlight that few other fixtures were needed for

17931-418: Was operated by Dodds and a crew of 18 people, included ten Pioneer LDV8000 LaserDisc players, two Sony Betacam SP BVW-75 tape decks , two Sony 9800 3 ⁄ 4 -inch SP tape decks, four Ikegami HL-55A CCD cameras, two Sony Video8 Handycams (nicknamed "Bonocams"), and one point-of-view camera. The video equipment cost more than US$ 3.5 million. Williams faced difficulties in designing

18070-467: Was originally named Stay Human Yoga Retreat Center when it first opened in 2011, a joint venture between Franti and Carla Swanson. In a 2020 interview, Franti explained what drew him to Bali, Indonesia specifically sharing, "the first time I came to Bali I fell in love with the Balinese culture. People here are so incredible. That was in 2007. Bali is an island of creative geniuses, and what I mean by that

18209-516: Was owned by Philips subsidiary PolyGram , McGuinness and the band thought there was a natural corporate synergy to Philips providing the equipment for a PolyGram artist's tour. PolyGram CEO Alain Levy was unable to convince Philips to help, and the band had to pay for the Vidiwalls themselves; Levy did convince PolyGram to contribute about US$ 500,000 to the tour as a gesture of goodwill. In order to defray

18348-436: Was rampant, only telephone sales were offered, allowing ticket brokers to cancel duplicate orders. Tickets for the opening show on 29 February in Lakeland, Florida , sold out over the phone in four minutes, with demand exceeding supply by a factor of ten to one. Several cities' telephone systems were overwhelmed when Zoo TV tickets went on sale; Los Angeles telephone company Pacific Bell reported 54 million calls in

18487-479: Was reduced to 56, as rear fill and sidefill audio were not required. Clair Brothers' P4 "Piston" cabinets were also used for nearfield /in-fill audio, with two clusters of six speakers each at stage left and right. Bass was provided by six Servo Drive Bass Tech 7 subwoofers . The sound was mixed by sound engineer Joe O'Herlihy and assistant Robbie Adams with an ATI Paragon console and a Clair Brothers CBA console, aided by an inventory of effects intended to replicate

18626-568: Was released in March 1997, with several changes in band members between releases. This album featured a return to hip hop elements and a pronounced reggae influence and included guest appearances by notables like Stephen Marley and Joan Osborne . After releasing the two albums, the band split with Capitol Records (reportedly prompted by the label's repeated urging to perform with other artists like Will Smith ). The band instead decided to create its own record label, Boo Boo Wax. Since Capitol Records owned

18765-446: Was released on July 30, 2013, and was featured on The Sims 4 and Rayman Legends game trailers. He released the album SoulRocker in 2016. All the songs began on the acoustic guitar. In March 2018, Franti announced a new album, Stay Human, Vol. II , would be released in June 2018 and also stands as the soundtrack to his new documentary. In July Franti, via Instagram, announced the album

18904-522: Was released, giving fans more time to familiarise themselves with the new songs. By opening night, the album had already sold three million copies in the US and seven million worldwide. Details of the second leg of the tour were first released on 30 April with the announcement of four UK arena shows. Ticketing details were kept secret until radio advertisements announced that tickets had gone on sale at box offices. In many cases, tickets were limited to two per person to deter scalping. Due to

19043-466: Was the unjust nature of the death penalty and other major themes included mass media monopolization , the prison-industrial complex and corporate globalization . In an interview, Franti talked about the message of Stay Human : "Half the record is songs about what's happening in the world right now, and the other half is about how we cope with it as people who are concerned about what's going on", he said. "This specter of war, intimidation, this nation vs.

19182-438: Was the worst news I ever got in my whole life... we didn't know if he could graduate from high school or what kind of life he was going to have. We don't know where it's going to go next, but he inspires me everyday." In September 2018, Franti's third child, was born. It is his first child with Agah. Notes Franti's music was featured twice on HBO's urban drama The Wire . "Oh My God" and "Rock The Nation", both from

19321-439: Was transported on 11 trucks supplied by Upstaging Trucking. The stage required 13–14 hours to build and 3–4 hours to disassemble. The crew of 75 people travelled on six buses, while the band flew in a chartered plane . To redesign the stage for the 1992 North American stadium leg—dubbed "Outside Broadcast"—Williams collaborated with stage designers Mark Fisher and Jonathan Park, both of whom had worked on

#806193