Were you on the fence about tuning in to watch the New York Knicks take on the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals? Would a performance by a legendary hip-hop group change your mind?
As per Page Six, Wu-Tang Clan are set to play the NBA Finals Halftime Show at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, with Game 4 kicking off at 10:30am AEST.
Their slated performance comes in the midst of their (alleged) farewell tour, ‘Wu-Tang: The Final Chamber’, with the next North American leg of the tour scheduled to commence in August and end in October.
Following the culmination of that tour leg, Wu-Tang are set to be inducted into the iconic Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November.
Although Wu-Tang have been based out of Staten Island, a short ferry trip away from Manhattan and MSG, they’ve never performed together at a Knicks game at the stadium. One of the group, Method Man, has performed solo though.
According to Bleacher Report, the NBA team reportedly paid Method Man millions in 2019 to make a music video featuring him wearing a Nicks jersey with Kevin Durant’s old number (35), in an effort to attract the immense player away from the Golden State Warriors, his team at the time. (It didn’t work: Durant ended up joining local neighbours the Brooklyn Nets instead.)
MSG will be familiar to all eight members of Wu-Tang, with the group playing there as recently as last July.
“The Wu have gotten in a good amount of road time over the past several years after a prolonged absence from Clan endeavors, but this might be their last collective saga,” Rolling Stone wrote in a review. “If that is the case, they went out in New York with a spectacular showcase worthy of their legacy.”
Here’s hoping Wu-Tang’s Game 4 performance — they gave a tough act to follow in Cardi B, too, who performed at Game 3 — goes a lot better than their recent Australian tour.
The tour, which promised a final opportunity to see “all members” of the legendary hip-hop collective together, was missing some of its most iconic figures. After the first show at Brisbane Entertainment Centre, punters began reporting that Method Man, Raekwon, Cappadonna, and Young Dirty Bastard were all no-shows
While the group apparently shared a since-expired Instagram story from their official account noting Method Man wouldn’t be making the trip, there was no official word on the others until after the tour had already started.
In response to the backlash, Ticketek sent an email to ticket holders for the remaining Melbourne and Sydney shows in an attempt to clear the air. “We want to make fans aware that due to unforeseen circumstances, a couple of members will be unable to join the remaining tour dates in Melbourne and Sydney,” the statement read. “Wu-Tang Clan will be performing and bringing everything that has made them one of the most iconic live acts in hip-hop history.”
