Sticking with their "mammoth video screens + megalomaniacal superstar attitude + mechanized lemons = excellent!" touring M.O., U2 kicked off the Pop Mart Tour, their first outing in five years, this week in 1997. A 150-foot-wide, 50-foot-high LED video screen bringing the classic pop art paintings of Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring to life, a thunderous mono-mix sound that harked back to the roaring concert sonics of the 1960s and a giant cocktail stick with an olive on it were just some of the things fans could expect from the U2 stage show.

While the band's Adam Clayton was trumpeting the Pop Mart Tour as "the greatest show on earth," U2 frontman Bono took a moment to explain why the group — once known for its intense sincerity and political activist talk at concerts — chose to indulge in all the over-the-top fakery.

"I find that bands that are selling you their street-level stuff aren't usually from the street," the singer said. "What we started with [the Zoo TV Tour] was just a reaction against what we felt was a bit bogus for a lot of people, that [the bands] were being marketed by record companies as 'authentic' and we were trying to be a bit honest about our situation. We spent the '80s trying to pretend we weren't in a big band, and we just thought, 'Here we are, let's have some fun with this. Let's be a little playful about this.' "

Opening up for the first nine dates on the U2 tour were Rage Against the Machine. Guitarist Tom Morello talked about his history with the Irish rockers.

"I'm a big fan of U2. I've been a fan for about 10 years," Morello said. "When I first moved out to Los Angeles I had this really horrible job. I was a filing clerk — I alphabetized eight hours a day all by myself and the bosses were very cruel and I was super poor, making sub-minimum wage, and I had one tape, and it was [U2's] The Unforgettable Fire. I was listening to that for hours and hours, day after day, month after month to really help me get through that time. In that music there's so much hope and so much passion, it helped me transcend that mundane, grim, crappy experience and I've been a fan since then."

With Dr. Dre kicking back a bit, the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA was the hot producer du jour at this time back in 1997. He produced the group's breakthrough album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), and he had also manned the boards for solo albums by Genius, Method Man and Ol' Dirty Bastard. RZA spoke about his status in the hip-hop community.

"I don't want people thinking I'm all high and mighty," he said. "I'm more like the person out there in the world, the average person that lives a real life."

In addition to his production duties, RZA was also overseeing a Wu empire consisting of a record label and a chain of clothing stores. There were talks at the time of family-oriented theater complexes that might carry the Wu name. And the possibility of him working with U2 even came up.

"Yeah, Bono and them crazy," RZA said. "One night we went out — ice-cold vodka, that's the thing over there, I guess. We was getting it. They took me to Naomi Campbell's house. I like you, Naomi. I know you don't like me, but hey. Oh, for my wife, you more beautiful than Naomi Campbell, baby."

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