Wu Tang Clan, Shepherds Bush Empire, London, 15 July 2008

Ash and I were stressed out about going to see Wu Tang. Everyone who had seen them before had such bad experiences - turning up late, not all of them turning up, riots etc. Their reputation obviously preceded them because they had not managed to sell out the first night and tickets were going for less than face value. We agreed that as long as Method Man and RZA turned up, we would be happy.

Getting into the venue was an effort and a half. Everyone was searched and frisked in a way that would have made Heathrow airport proud. Crazy and quite unnecessary considering that the crowd was mostly made up of white, middle-class wannabe "rudeboys" and "rudegirls".

Wu Tang were 45 minutes late which did not help calm mine and Ash's nerves. Eventually they emerged and a wave of relief washed over us as all of the main members turned up. Thank fucking God! We exhaled the second we saw RZA and Method Man.

The Clan apparently don't rehearse but it obviously doesn't matter because they gave an energetic and at times, chaotic, performance, each MC taking turns to rap. Method Man took centre stage of course. I guess when he's in the mood Method can seriously rap his ass off! He was crowd surfing, ragging on a fan who stole his mic at one point and just plain whipping the wiggers into a frenzy. They played loads of classics, many off their debut album "Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers)" and only a handful from their latest album "8 Diagrams" (which no one really cared for). The absence of ODB was clearly felt and of course they had a special segment for him, screaming his name repeatedly which the crowd reacted to rambunctiously and teasing us with a snippet of ODB's most commercial hit, "Money".

They didn't play a very long set (ironically finishing on time despite turning up late). Ash and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves - it was a great show but a part of suspects that because we expected the absolute worst, anything that fell short of a complete disaster would have been a great result.

Wu Tang Clan ain't nuthin' to fuck wit!

I have some videos but I am too lazy to upload them.

Apparently this is the WTC symbol... it's a "W" with your fingers, geddit? Nevermind.