Review and Photos by Jason Marecki
Wu-Tang is by far one of THE most legendary hip-hop groups ever to grace the face of the Earth. Their infectious hooks and iconic Shaolin style have secured their spots in rap history.
Founded in Staten Island in 1992 by RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard (who has since passed away), they certainly lived up to the hype.
Getting into the Momentary can always be a bit of a hassle. The place is huge and there are so many ways to actually get into their shows, with certain entrances being for premium ticket holders or members. Anyways, I eventually found my way in and picked up my media pass.
Wanting to get a feel for the camera, I arrived pretty early. I was taking pictures of anything and everything, adjusting shutter speed, pulling focus, experimenting with aperture and ISO. I guess I kind of looked like an employee, causing some to ask me where the bathrooms were.
After 30 minutes, Wu-Tang’s opener, Classic Flow, took the stage. The Fayetteville-based breakdancing crew consists of two core members, Van, also known as Poppin’ Sunshine, and Ambrosia, also known as DJ Afrosia (recently interviewed by KXUA’s Abby Lynn Davidson here), performing here with supporting members from the also Fayetteville-based Breaking Habits Crew, and Tulsa-based Soul Rivals Crew. Their energy
was electric. The power moves and handstands were awesome, yes, but the way they moved their arms, the way they flowed from one member to another, like a cypher, really captivated me.
Not to mention the music was great too, flowing from chopped up old-school hip hop to soul and funk. Perfect vibe check for a group like Wu-Tang.
Their set ended, and things calmed down. People went back to talking amongst themselves, with more people steadily arriving, and I was deleting any unusable garbage pictures I took out of the 500. The pre-show music was fine, classic hip hop from the 90s and early 2000s, nothing to really write home about.
One point I would like to bring up is the issue of the rain. The show was going to happen rain or shine, no matter what. This is due to the fact that the Momentary has a huge tent over their outside stage, keeping everything under it rather dry. This is not the case for the rest of the green. As the show went on, and the rain kept on, the ground got wetter and muddier. By the end of the show, I was soaked from head to toe and my shoes were forever muddied by the green. There isn’t anything the Momentary could have done about this, just a facet of the show that was important to the experience.
After another 40 minutes, Wu-Tang finally came on. The huge crowd was positively buzzing with anticipation. Their guitar players, drummer, keyboardist, and DJ all came on stage first to briefly set up, my ear plugs went in and camera readied, then the show began. At first, it was just RZA performing a cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)”. This was just incredible. Like, it’s hard to describe the excitement in the air. The song built up EVERYTHING. It was a theatrical retelling of Wu-Tang’s beginnings, the live guitar and drums rocked the crowd, everyone was ready for what was to come.
After such an amazing opening, one issue reared its head with their next song “Killa Beez”. The issue isn’t with the song, it’s a great song. The issue comes with the visuals they used. Instead of using the music video they made for the song decades ago (as they did with later songs in the set), they instead used Al-generated visuals of bees taking over a city? Maybe? I don’t know, at times it just looked like a jumbled mess. I’ve never really understood their occasional fascination with bees, and these visuals didn’t help. It was just disappointing to see a group that has had such a large hand in inspiring so many up and coming visual artists to kind of throw that all away for some bleh, messy visuals.
Anyways, U-God and Inspectah Deck came out during “Killa Beez”, three down, six to go. The classics finally popped out with “Bring Da Ruckus”. Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and GZA came out to perform their respective verses. The crowd went crazy, their iconic W hand sign was getting thrown up, people were screaming, it’s hard to explain the energy the crowd had. Three members left.
A lot of the songs they played came from Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and rightfully so.
It’s some of their best and most popular work. Not to say they didn’t play a wide range of songs, they even performed a song off of Tha Wu Family Stories and some songs off of Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version. The crowd seemed to know the words to each song anyways so I don’t think it mattered much to them.
The next few songs would come from 36 Chambers as well, aside from “One Blood Under W” coming from The W. “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’ saw the arrival of the final three members Method Man, Masta Killa, and a surprise appearance of Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s son, Young Dirty Bastard.
Young Dirty Bastard had, by far, the most physical energy on the stage out of any of the members. Maybe this is due to the fact he’s 20 years younger than the others, but maybe not. It’s anyone’s guess really. Either way, all the members of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan were on stage and performing their hearts out.
Young Dirty Bastard was running around, jumping up and down, RZA and Method Man were going crazy on the mics, and the guitarists were headbanging as they played.
My time in the media pit had come to a close, and I got to step back and truly see how large this crowd had become. It was huge. Even the premium $200 ticket section was packed. People really showed up and showed out. They responded to all the calls, they threw up their W’s and seemed to know every lyric for every song. It can be hard for me to hear the crowd through my ear plugs (protect your hearing and INVEST in high quality ear plugs, trust me), but going all the way to the far back of the Momentary Green and taking them out really showed me just how dedicated people were.
The rain still wasn’t letting up, but it wasn’t as much of a problem anymore. I had already resigned myself to the fate of being soaked from head to toe, feeling the muddy water from the Green seep into my socks with every step I took. It was fine. Cold and wet, but fine.
After so many songs and incredible performances, THE song I was waiting for was finally approaching. They had a lot of buildup to it, but I knew which song it was as soon as RZA said “This song is about survival”. The song I’m talking about is “C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)”. It’s by far their most popular work to date, and one of my favorite songs of all time.
It cannot be overstated how deeply this song is etched into my mind. I wake up to this song. It’s my ringtone. I’ve heard “C.R.E.A.M.” almost every day of my life for years. If I did not hear this song, my soul would never be able to rest peacefully. This was, by far, the highlight of the show for me. Everyone was on point.
If I went deaf after this one song, I would be fine with it.
For me, this was the culmination of the show. It’s hard for me to even remember what happened after “C.R.E.A.M.” ended. Maybe it’s because the battery of the camera died, so I was hoping that the pictures I took were good? Maybe I was just in aftershock? Either way, I do distinctly remember Method Man, in his New York Jets starter jacket responding to RZA saying they need to come back to Bentonville by saying “Nah man, there are too many f***ing Dallas Cowboys fans here”. That got a lot of boos.
At the very end of the show, after the band had played a cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, RZA took center stage, just as he had at the beginning of the show.
He addressed the crowd one last time before their set ended. They werecelebrating 50 years of hip-hop, and exclaimed that our energy had dispelled the rain. I was standing under the huge awning that covers the stage and the barrier, so I stepped back.
He was right. The rain had stopped. I’m not gonna lie, I truly, with all my heart, believed in magic for a second after this. I can’t get it across in writing, but they were wizards on stage. Their presence, their crowd work, their movements, their flow, their everything was captivating. If they ever come back to Bentonville, or perform anywhere near you, do yourself a favor and go to their show. It will be an experience you won’t soon forget.
Rated Ten out of Ten