they played the whole 36 chambers and some solo songs from the 1st solos...they played a new song i think but i didn't hear the beat and the voices because the sound was terrible (but that is nothing new LOL)
I got to London at about 3 o’clock on the afternoon and after spending about an hour trying to find my hotel, I set out for Shepherds Bush. I had to get tubes on about 3 or 4 different lines to get from my hotel to Shepherds Bush so that took a LONG time especially as it was around rush hour time too! I got to the venue at about 6.45 and was surprised that the queues weren’t very long at all, I waited in the queue till about 7.30ish then we started going in and when I got in I took my place right at the front!
The first warm up act came on stage at approx. 8 o’clock, I think he was called Mickey Negro, he was actually pretty good, had A LOT of energy (especially his hype man, made me laugh shitloads at the way he was jumpin’ and runnin’ around the stage!) and some good lines too (“I’m the hottest thing since sun burn”). I think he was onstage for about 15 – 20 mins then the DJ brought out the second act, AC & Terra, these two were OK too but I didn’t understand the t-shirts they had on saying ‘Wet My Beak’. What was that all about?
Anyway, the Wu were supposed to be on at 9 o’clock but 9 o’clock came and the DJ was still playin’ tracks, I’m sure everyone was ready to lynch the DJ by the time the Wu actually came out. He kept sayin that Wu-Tang would be on stage very shortly, then playing another 10 songs, then saying Wu-Tang would be on stage soon!
But anyway, the Wu came out around 10ish (I think?!) and at first only half the Clan came out – Mathematics came out first, then RZA, GZA, Meth & Inspectah Deck came out. They started the set but Meth was going fuckin mental onstage, he was going crazy cos half the Clan hadn’t came out. He wasn’t even doing his parts on the tracks because he was stomping around the stage shaking his head, he was going backstage then coming back out and he spoke to RZA for a while too! Anyway, the rest of the Clan came out eventually (about 5 songs into the set I think!) and then everyone started rockin!!! They performed pretty much all of 36 Chambers, except for ‘Can It Be All So Simple’ and ‘7th Chamber’ I think. Ghost was pretty low key, I think he only spat about 3 or 4 verses all night, he looked like he was enjoying being there but he didn’t hardly spit! And Masta Killa was on stage very little too, he only showed up now and then to spit a verse.
I gotta say though, if it wasn’t for Meth (and RZA to a lesser extent) the Wu would be fuckin’ shit live, Meth is a total Show man!!! He said to the crowd that the Wu had fucked up tonight (dunno if he meant by being late or that only half the Clan came onstage at first) but he said he was gonna make it up to us by giving 110%!!! Honestly, the energy that this man has is totally unreal, he must have thrown himself into the crowd a good 10 times atleast! At one point during M.E.T.H.O.D. Man, he climbed to the top of a stack of speakers at the side of the stage, he was pretty much on the same level as the people sitting up on the balcony, he spat the rest of his verse from the top of the speakers then just DIVED OFF into the crowd!!! The rest of the Clan on stage were just standing with a half smile / half amazed look on their faces!!! Meth also did a somersault into the crowd too, he went right to the back of the stage, took a run up and just somersaulted into us!!! Later in the show he tried to do the thing where he stands on the hands of everyone in the crowd, it took him about 3 goes to actually get up there but once he did everyone was going crazy, proper massive cheers!!!
Anyway, they didn’t play anything off 8 Diagrams or Iron Flag, they played a couple of tracks off ‘The W’ (One Blood, Do You Really & Gravel Pit) but most of the tracks were from the Golden 93 – 97 era. Oh, and a mega highlight for me anyway, they played Triumph IN FULL!!!! Fuck me!!! It was fuckin awesome hearing Deck spit his verse live. Rae did half of his verse acapella and then when the beat kicked back in for the last part the whole place just went nuts!!! I think they must have been on for about an hour and a half and then they said peace and went off stage.
I went to check out the merchandise, but damn the t-shirts were really shitty looking! They had one with the pic of Ghost from ‘Big Dough Rehab’ with the mask on, and then some shitty lettering underneath sayin ‘Bring Da Ruckus’ and then they just had a plain black one with the Wu logo on it. Why don’t these guys ever sell CD’s or mixtapes at their shows?!?!? I’m sure they could double the sales of 8 Diagrams if they sold it at the shows, they could make some serious money if they sold their CD’s and some Killa Beez stuff! The only time I’ve ever seen CD’s at a Wu show was in Hammersmith in ’04, I got the ‘Math Presents The Next Chamber Mixtape’. They should do that shit all the time, cos the choice of a couple of shitty T-Shirts ain’t enough!
I got out the venue and noticed a lot of people standing around the stage door, so I waited to see if anyone was gonna come out, got talking to this guy who really REALLY wanted to get his beats CD to RZA but the doorman wouldn’t let him past. After waiting for about 20 mins (and having a good laugh at some Russian sounding bird trying everything she could to get backstage) U-God came out and started signing autographs. Now as I was prepared for things like this, I had a shitload of my Wu CD covers with me!! Hehe! So I got U-G to sign my ‘Golden Arms Redemption’ CD cover and also got a pic with him too. I was impressed with U-God tonight, he came out the venue first and about another 3 or 4 clan members came out and got rushed straight into the vans by security, but U-God was still out there signing shit and takin pics, must have been out there for well over half an hour. Streetlife came out too and he was having an interview filmed right near his van, I got there just as the interview was finishing, Street was gettin’ in the van so I shouted him, asked if I could get an autograph, he said I was messing up the outro for his interview but then he saw that I had the ‘Street Education’ cover and he was like “Ahh he’s got my shit, lemme sign this, now this is my outro!” and signed my cover while the camera was filming!!! Most of the other members just got rushed straight into the vans, Math, Meth, Ghost, Rae, GZA, I didn’t see them do much, if any, signing. I thought that was it but then I noticed Deck leaning up against a wall drinkin’, no security or nothin’, just looked like another fan! So I got Deck to sign my ‘Uncontrolled Substance’ cover and later I also got Masta Killa to sign my ‘No Said Date’ cover. I took loads of photos at the show and after so I’ll try and up them when I get a chance to.
All in all, I was very happy with the show, Meth fuckin’ ripped it and although there was little input from some members it was still a really good show! Cappa wasn’t there but Streetlife was. And, can you believe it, I didn’t manage to get rid of the spare ticket that I had!!! What a waste!
The moment where it all clicks in to place for the Wu-Tang Clan comes about halfway through their rambunctious, chaotic and uncommonly exciting 70 minutes on stage. It is not unusual to hear concert-goers singing along to hit songs, but generally the words are short and simple. Hearing 1,500 people bellowing the opening lines of the Clan's 1997 single, Triumph - "I bomb atomically/ Socrates' philosophies and hypotheses/ Can't define how I be droppin' these mockeries/ Lyrically perform armed robbery" - it is clear that something rather special is afoot.
A year ago, the eight-strong New York rap group played a gig in London that reaffirmed their audience's faith. What they do tonight is play pretty much the same show. Trotting through the hits for their fans once every year or two is what most pop groups do - but not the famously fractious Clan, who almost split up following a row over their comeback album before Christmas, and whose gigs are generally reckoned to have gone pretty well if they merit the epithet "shambolic".It may have taken them the thick end of two decades, but at last the group have got this live thing licked. Despite lyrics that speak of pugilism, arcane conspiracy theories and the terrors of life in Staten Island's housing projects, there is an almost naive charm to this performance. You forget you're watching grown men nearing 40: they seem more like a gaggle of gawky teenagers making their first self-conscious appearance in front of their mates at the local youth club. Perhaps paradoxically, this makes it seem all the more thrilling.
The word "choreography" has not been over-used in appraisals of the Clan's live work, but how else to describe what happens during Inspectah Deck's verse in Duel of the Iron Mic, when his band mates lower themselves to their haunches, slowly, then leap up at the lyric's climax, in something approaching unison? And is it just a trick of perception, or are the group members arrayed on stage in the shape of an inverted "W"? OK, so it is not exactly Busby Berkeley, but coming from a group who have only managed to play one previous UK gig in their 15-year existence to which every member actually showed up, this is advanced stuff.
Two barnstorming gigs in 12 months, then: should the Clan manage another next year, they will be in serious danger of acquiring a reputation for reliability. Who knew?
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