Wu-Tang Clan Review – Still generating buzz even on their farewell tour | Wu Tang Clan

RZA takes on the O2 crowd with an impressive pair of jeweled sunglasses. “How many people in this crowd were born in the 1970s?” he asks, after an attempt to get the audience to jump on the spot is met with a decidedly lukewarm reaction. The ensuing roar suggests that the majority of attendees at what is being billed as the Wu-Tang Clan’s farewell tour are old enough to remember firsthand the Staten Island rap crew’s arrival on the hip-hop scene in the early 1990s. He nods in understanding. “Your legs, right?” He offers, kneading the back of his thighs, probably no stranger to the occasional prick himself. Clearly, the challenges of reconvening the Wu-Tang Clan for one final round-the-world tour involve not only assembling the diverse members after years of infighting, but also accounting for the stiff joints of hip-hop’s fathers that such a gig would likely attract.

However, the tour arrives in the UK lagging behind the rave reviews it received from its 2025 US leg. Its European version has been trimmed down a bit by necessity, its setlist has been trimmed down a bit, and its impressive array of guest stars – everyone from Slick Rick to Lauryn Hill who have appeared stateside – has been whittled down to just one star: Mobb Deep’s Havoc. However, the release of Shook Ones, Part 2 that presents him in the company of Raekwon and Ghostface Killah is ferocious, and besides, it’s not as if the Wu-Tang Clan really needs the extra firepower.

As the members gradually take to the stage for two takes from their landmark debut, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), you’ll be amazed at how little their verbal power has diminished over the years. If a live backing band couldn’t hope to recreate the disturbing, grim atmosphere conjured by RZA’s shimmering samples on Protect Ya Neck or Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta F’ Wit, the vocals still carry a sense of brutal, barely-controllable energy: Young Dirty Bastard does a fair fist of filling in for his late father (who was the most brutal of the lot), and manages to capture some of ODB’s turbulent intensity without sounding like he’s doing an impersonation.

The party is then divided into individual showcases. The crowd seems a little reserved during Raekwon and Ghostface Killah’s segment, which seems confusing — 1995’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is widely considered not only among Wu-Tang’s best solo albums, but also among hip-hop’s greatest — but they were so impressed by Method Man, who was so impressed by their response that he not only showed off his abs, but tried to speak with a British accent.

Transitions between the individual locations are seamless, but the party is still subject to what we might politely call some unexpected set list choices. Poppy’s 2000 single Gravel Pit – which was a much bigger hit in the UK than in the US – received a huge response, but was cut off after one verse. On the other hand, there’s a version of Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were” — the actual song, not the theme song of 36 Chambers’ Can It Be All So Simple? of which she posted a sample – delivered live by a backing vocalist, in tribute to bandmate Oliver “Power” Grant, who died last month. You can understand why, but, like the announcements punctuating the party – for an upcoming RZA-directed film called One Spoon of Chocolate, a Wu Tang Clan video game, and a documentary about the making of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx – they give the show a slightly disjointed quality.

But it wouldn’t be the Wu-Tang Clan if it wasn’t at least a little chaotic and confusing. As audience members struggling to jump to RZA’s commands will no doubt attest, it’s as remarkable as a tightly choreographed pop concert can be compared to an early Wu-Tang gig: one mid-’90s London appearance for Method Man memorably devolved into chaos after he inexplicably chose to remove his trainers and throw them at the audience, then lost his nerve when the audience refused to put them back. Things like this used to happen all the time, and they didn’t happen anymore tonight. Instead, they’re reunited for a version of CREAM — a track that still sounds like the musical equivalent of a fight more than 30 years ago — and the audience limps home happily.