Wu-Tang

[1986]

21 hours ago, Mr.Tease said:

I don't agree, but I think the key thing is to have a live band rather than just someone on the decks- been to some fantastic rap and hip hop stuff over the years (the roots, public enemy, Michael franti, Naz, ozomatli, Deltron immediately spring to mind re glastonbury) but the great ones have always had a live band and the disappointing ones have not. 

 

100%. There is only so much mileage that a person(s) on a mic with someone behind them doing all the music has. The only exception of I can think of was when Doomtree played Glasto but the 4 of them were so into it that it made all the difference.

That's part of the reason Kanye fell flat for me, I know he had a live band hidden in the back so it sounded good but some impressive lights and him running around on his own was a snore after 20 minutes.

[ghostdancer1]

Really i just think it comes down to the rapper(s) and how arsed they are really. Not sure how much the source of the music really matters.

I saw Kendrick with a DJ just after GKMC came out and it was brilliant. seen him a few times with a full band since then and they've all been pretty dull.

[jfaragher]

22 hours ago, nikkic said:

Run The Jewels want a word...

Honestly, that was my set of the festival in 2017, and comfortably one of the best 10 shows I've ever seen.  I was already a fan, which helped, and JC on before probably boosted their crowd a bit, but it was an incredible show, especially for an afternoon.

 

Highlight reel on iPlayer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ec584f/play/ahvqwh/p059krz1

Edited March 18, 2019 by jfaragher

[Matt - Ed Banger Records]

I thought that Wu Tang at Glastonbury was really good, better than Snoop Dogg in 2010 anyway. I have found with Wu Tang that the entire performance rests on who turns up, Glastonbury was pretty much everyone, then Bestival, Lovebox, and their own show at Brixton Academy they have had fewer members there, and it has been completely phoned in. At the Lovebox show in particular, they were pretty rotten, which is a shame because the sound was really good for a change, they spent about 20 minutes trying sell merch. I think it will be clash dependant this time around, but having seen them loads, I don't think I would miss anyone I liked to go and see them again.

[BambooShanks]

2 hours ago, Matt - Ed Banger Records said:

I think it will be clash dependant this time around, but having seen them loads, I don't think I would miss anyone I liked to go and see them again.

I'm in the same boat.  Love Wu Tang and I can't see them phoning in a headline set but they are up against Jon Hopkins and Hot Chip.

Unless the timings are very forgiving, I doubt I'll end up seeing them this time.  It's a shame because Enter the 36 Chambers is one of my favourite hip hop albums of all time.  I've just got to pray that where ever Jon Hopkins is playing, it's after the Clan. 

2 hours ago, jfaragher said:

Honestly, that was my set of the festival in 2017, and comfortably one of the best 10 shows I've ever seen.  I was already a fan, which helped, and JC on before probably boosted their crowd a bit, but it was an incredible show, especially for an afternoon.

 

Highlight reel on iPlayer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ec584f/play/ahvqwh/p059krz1

+ 1 for that, it was bloody marvellous.

 

 

[lukemack]

5 hours ago, eFestivals said:

they're headlining.

Any inclination of which day yet?

Glad that they wont be wasted on the Pyramid or The Other Stage though.

 

[eFestivals]

Just now, lukemack said:

Any inclination of which day yet?

Saturday, 100%

[RarerThanDandyB]

Unfortunately nothing on the Saturday yet for myself, hoping for Foals. Chems would be brilliant on the Saturday also... then I could do Tame Impala, Chemical Brothers and The Cure as my headliners.

When do we normally find out what days its are on such as TI and Brothers? Do you find out prior to the whole lineup usually @eFestivals?

Edited March 18, 2019 by RarerThanDandyB
Spelling

[shuttlep]

3 hours ago, Matt - Ed Banger Records said:

I thought that Wu Tang at Glastonbury was really good, better than Snoop Dogg in 2010 anyway. I have found with Wu Tang that the entire performance rests on who turns up, Glastonbury was pretty much everyone, then Bestival, Lovebox, and their own show at Brixton Academy they have had fewer members there, and it has been completely phoned in. At the Lovebox show in particular, they were pretty rotten, which is a shame because the sound was really good for a change, they spent about 20 minutes trying sell merch. I think it will be clash dependant this time around, but having seen them loads, I don't think I would miss anyone I liked to go and see them again.

i loved snoop dog in 2010

[eFestivals]

7 minutes ago, RarerThanDandyB said:

When do we normally find out what days its are on such as TI and Brothers? Do you find out prior to the whole lineup usually @eFestivals?

it'll depend if the acts put it on their website. Some do, some don't.

All the info is gathered together on the line-up page:-
https://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/glastonbury/2019/lineup.shtml

 

[fuzzy_logic]

???

[dentalplan]

Good review here for the Wu Tang part of Gods of Rap - although I see on Twitter that it's a bit more mixed than that.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/concerts/gods-rap-wembley-arena-review-wu-tang-clan-save-night-thin-sets/

Quote

At the sold-out first stop on the Gods of Rap tour, a three-night UK musical event featuring the legendary and culture-defining hip-hop acts De La Soul, Public Enemy and Wu-Tang Clan together on the same bill, the gathered crowd at London’s Wembley Arena erupted in short, 20-minute bursts of recognition and excitement. Fists were pumped, lyrics were called out, and flumes of what may have been smuggled illegal substances were blown into the atmosphere, security be damned.

Unexpectedly, said bursts occurred most often during the hits-filled interludes designed to fill time between the night’s three headliners and provided by DJ Premier, record producer and the surviving half of rap duo Gang Starr. It was a reaction that spoke to an audience eager for a night of glorious hip-hop nostalgia, but left mostly wanting.

The event’s headlining trio, all celebrating milestone anniversaries this year in relation to three of their most seminal albums, should have theoretically fit the brief. Long revered as acts that transformed hip-hop into what we recognise it as today, they remain essentials, their output staggeringly daring and experimental in its scope and vision. De La Soul reconfigured rap as playful, psychedelic and suburban, while Public Enemy spoke to the rage and inequality baked into the fabric of black America; both acts were responsible for rap’s sonic and lyrical transformation at the tail-end of the Eighties. Wu-Tang Clan’s subsequent ubiquity at the start of the Nineties was even more unexpected. The group's work acted as both theatre and fantasy; their records traded more stereotypical hip-hop largesse for unvarnished violence and grand, Shaolin-influenced mythology.

With so many legends in one arena, it feels somewhat unfair to issue criticism. But there was something oddly out-of-whack about much of the show’s first half, with De La Soul talkative and grateful to still be playing to awestruck crowds, yet responsible for an abruptly curtailed set that barely clocked in at 20 minutes.

And considering “Public Enemy” is credited on the tour’s posters, some ticket buyers may have been disappointed to be greeted by “Public Enemy Radio”, a revamped incarnation of the original group comprised of the legendary Chuck D, long-time band turntablist DJ Lord and new recruit Jahi, an MC and academic. It wasn’t too much of a problem, a missold night with Chuck D still more thrilling and rousingly political than anything put on by many of today’s hip-hop behemoths, but he did appear noticeably apologetic as a result, making vague reference to “visas” and “Brexit” being responsible for most of his Public Enemy bandmates being unable to tour the UK alongside him.

Thank the rap Gods, then, for Wu-Tang Clan, whose climactic appearance, cycling through much of their 1993 debut Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), injected the show with a much-needed bout of firepower. While the group admit in a new documentary series commemorating their legacy (currently screening in the US) that today they only resurface as a unit for “business purposes”, such financially motivated cynicism wasn’t at all visible on stage. Instead they were energised and gloriously competitive with one another throughout their set, battling for cheers, spitting their way through iconic bars and demonstrating the camaraderie, verve and pure showmanship of men half their age.

Save for the disappointing absence of Method Man, who backed out amid hints at an underwhelming appearance fee in a Twitter post earlier this week, and the fact that several of the group’s members have gone a little soft around the middle in the intervening years since their creative and commercial zenith, you’d think you were watching a performance beamed directly out of 1993.

 

[mcshed]

31 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

Good review here for the Wu Tang part of Gods of Rap - although I see on Twitter that it's a bit more mixed than that.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/concerts/gods-rap-wembley-arena-review-wu-tang-clan-save-night-thin-sets/

 

Mate of mine who saw the Manchester leg last night had a similar reaction, massively underwhelmed until Wu got involved. Method's absence has been talked up on the West Holts thread but he is the only one missing, this isn't the B team shambles I've seen in the past. Looking forward to tonight.

[Sasperella]

43 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

Good review here for the Wu Tang part of Gods of Rap - although I see on Twitter that it's a bit more mixed than that.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/concerts/gods-rap-wembley-arena-review-wu-tang-clan-save-night-thin-sets/

 

I saw them last night in Manchester. I'd got tickets for my boyfriend, even though I'm not really a fan. Was expecting to be underwhelmed (especially given some of the reviews I've read in here) but I thought Wu Tang were great! The production really kicked up a notch compared to the Public Enemy and De La Soul sets, and they dropped in a remix of a classic tune by a v famous UK band and did an ode to ODB, which both got the whole room bouncing. I think they're definitely worth a punt at Glastonbury 

Edited May 12, 2019 by Sasperella

[priest17]

Funny one last night, felt like a wu tang show with the others just supporting. Wonder why wu were the only ones allowed to use that insane light rig at the back of the stage.

I've seen Public Enemy before, the radio incarnation didn't compare. Got there at 20 past 7 and missed De La Soul as well which is a bit annoying.

Wu were incredible though, their west holts set should make up for the underwhelming 2011 performance. 

[_.mark._]

Its a shame Method Man has pulled out of their European shows. Feels like their will be a bit of a gap to fill as his style is so distinctive 

[mcshed]

Hands down the best I've seen Wu-Tang. RZA ain't quite the front man that Method is but he gives everyone room to breath. Never seen a crowd so hype for baby-U before but he was given his spotlight. Also YDB is a fucking revelation, yeah he's just doing an impression of his dad but it really fucking works. I'll be at Hot Chip but if everyone on this tour turns up it'll be a special night. Even without Method this incarnation of Wu-Tang ain't nothing to fuck with.

[Havors]

Very very disappointed if there is no Tical at Glasto.... I've waited 25 years to see them all together (minus ODB) and just when it looks like they will all turn up he pulls a fast one. He is one of my favourites along side GZA and Ghostface as well which makes it worse. 

Is he still doing that stupid drop the mic shit tv show and thats why he is skipping it? 

[Mr.Tease]

Perfect, I'll give Wu Tang a chance and if they're no better than their pyramid performance of yesteryear, I'll sneak off to Cat Empire on Avalon