Rock The Bells DVD - Mass Appeal review

http://massappealmag.com/2007/07/16/...g-get/#more-90

Planning a Wu-Tang concert is like a game of chess; all the experience and careful planning in the world couldn’t prepare you for the seismic amount of shit that could go awry. Rock the Bells follows the legendary nine-man army and other performers, as well as the production staff through a hectic and exciting daylong festival that reunited the Clan on stage at the NOS Fairgrounds in San Bernardino, CA, for the first time in seven years.

Wu family reunions seem like they are few and far between. Not because the Wu can’t cook, but because they always manage to complicate things by say, nearly instigating a riot because of a no-show or venturing to LA to pick up some ODB necessities. During his legal tribulations, the system really did Big Baby Jesus greezy, and the documentary shows how much of an impact that had on the last few years of his life. His manager, Jarred Weisfeld points out the discrepancies between sentencing Dirty to three years in prison versus Robert Downey Jr.’s 30 days, followed by rehab. Maybe Dirt should have starred in some shitty TV shows to get his rep up.

Watching legends such as RZA or Ghost speak is always captivating, and lucky for us, Rock the Bells is full of interviews and footage of the Wu being the Wu. The camera crew of 20-plus also captures some golden moments with Redman, who shows that dare iz a darkside in him that only comes out when the crew “don’t send no herb.” They should know better than that. Supernatural and his son Haj, Eyedea and Abilities, Sage Francis, Chali 2na, DJ Rhettmatic and DJ Numark are among the other acts that get some shine in the film.