Festival Hall is one of those extremely daunting venues that make you feel as insignificant as a gnat. Seeing that many people amassed in such a giant space is like a sudden, booming sermon on the nature of the crowd.
One is excited but apprehensive about seeing Wu-Tang. Unfortunately the clan was short RZA and Method Man, both being notable exceptions for fans. On stage at various times were Ghostface Killah, GZA, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, Raekwon, U-God and DJ Mathematics with a strange and rather touching performance by Young Dirty Bastard (ODB’s son) who was expected to parrot his father’s inimitable style and lines with, unsurprisingly, not much success.
Their recent shows have unfortunately tended towards an annoying medley format, where rather than playing entire tracks, you could expect only portions of their songs, but when the concert kicked off everyone was pleasantly surprised.
Whole songs were being played and the crowd was responsive. ‘Protect Ya Neck’ drew fist pumping, popping and obediently yelling back lyrics when they were omitted by the legendary hip hop heirs on stage. Wu-Tang Clan have had so many seminal tracks, and have been such an iconic presence and influence since the 90s, it was like being part of a mass singalong of the modern era. ‘Clan in da Front’, ‘C.R.E.A.M’ – all the classics from Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers) drew active delight from the crowd.
They related an awful story about being stopped and questioned at Customs, then bounced into ‘Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin ta Fuck Wit’. But when it came to ODB’s ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya’ – it was almost embarrassing – Young DB struggled to deliver the lines at all, and a lot of it was left exposed to a backing track, with an unresponsive crowd expected to yell out the lyrics. The result was too much “Ooh baby I like it” and not enough “RAW”.
There’s a slight fatigue in friends and wider audiences of the standard hip hop MC tactics that have been happening for a while now. Feeling like you’re at play school/bootcamp “PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIIIIIIR MELBURNN” or “MAKE SOME NOOOOOOOOISEEEE” etc. You’re all for showing respect and acknowledging artists’ performances, but it can become irritating and stir the anti-authoritarian streak in people. It seemed that the crowd at Festival Hall was thus reluctant to make noise when directed. Perhaps it was the overwhelming nature of the space and the fact that your contribution, vocal or otherwise, would be lost in the swarm of killer crowd bees that got quieter and milder as the night progressed.
Wu-Tang’s performance went the way of the crowd in terms of lack of energy and consistency – it’s hard to know which one flew south first – but there was definitely a sense as they progressed through their set that the vibe was gradually petering out to a strange and abrupt ending.
The Wu members at this point started to look a bit disappointed, deflated. They played recent material, some solo tracks à la Raekwon and Ghostface, and cycled through the start of various songs discarding them with a “They don’t wanna hear this one”. But it failed as a gimmick of suspense and their eventual explosion into ‘Bring the Ruckus’ was brief and fizzled out with the barest acknowledgement from the crowd.
Most of the members had by this time either left the stage or were about to, and we suddenly got an effusive display of enthusiasm and excitement from Young Dirty Bastard. He confirmed his obvious discomfort in having to come up short on ODB’s tracks and revealed that he wished to freestyle his own stuff, proceeding to burst into a freeform and weirdly syncopated rap style that was kind of terrible. He eventually trailed off and dived into the crowd and the stage was left empty.
It was hard to tell if it was really over, it seemed like no one had really cheered or clapped for ages. Gradually the lights were turned on, and the cashed up bogans, hipsters and depressed-looking fans trailed out aimlessly, while some of the more strident attendees yelled ‘Boo’ and aggressively called for an encore that seemed unlikely.
The full power of the Clan was obviously a few aces short, but even so – never has this scribe experienced such a steady downward trajectory from such a solid and satisfying start.
– Anaya Latter
