The Wu-Tang Clan are an iconic group whose legacy may never get replicated again. They first dominated the music industry with the execution of a five-year plan, first striking as a group with their 1993 debut Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), followed by half of the group’s members releasing solo albums over the following years, each on a different record label but all produced by RZA, culminating in nearly the entire corporate music industry backing their brand by the time they released their chart-topping double-album in 1997: Wu-Tang Forever. They’ve gone on to release several more albums both as a group and as solo artists, creating one of Hip-Hop’s most extensive and celebrated discographies, and now 30 years later have executed yet another five-year plan to cement their legacy in Hip-Hop’s history pages.

This most recent five-year plan was about highlighting the influence, legacy and impact the Wu-Tang Clan have on Hip-Hop, as well as the music business and pop culture worldwide. They used film to tell their story both in documentary format with the 2019 series Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics And Men, as well as with the 3-season biopic TV drama Wu-Tang: An American Saga. They also had a few members release individual biographies, including Raekwon’s From Staircase To Stage and Ghostface Killah’s Rise of a Killah, and reached some milestones on tour, joining forces with Nas on The N.Y. State Of Mind Tour for two years and becoming the first Hip-Hop act to hold a prestigious Las Vegas residency. Now at the culmination of this five-year plan, the Wu-Tang Clan have embarked on what they’ve called The Final Chamber Tour, meant to be a farewell tour marking the last time they’ll perform concerts together as a group.

Time will tell if this is truly the last time we’ll see the Wu-Tang Clan fully united on tour, but this bittersweet moment is understandable to see. Concert tours have always been a point of tension with Wu-Tang, even going back to when they were arguably in their prime in 1997 and their massive co-headlining world tour with Rage Against The Machine fell apart. It’s been extremely rare to see the full group together on stage, with a rotating door of members missing out on shows for various reasons over the years; from RZA being preoccupied with a filmmaking career, Method Man being a full blown actor often booked for filming, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah pushing their solo material (new Raekwon album The Emperor’s New Clothes set to drop this Friday July 18th), GZA constantly doing solo shows and getting involved in educational programs, Inspectah Deck cranking out new albums with his group Czarface, and U-God at one point even filing a lawsuit against Wu-Tang. With each member of the group now leading their own ventures, it must be difficult getting all nine of them to commit to a group tour, and so it makes sense that this would be the last time they’d unite for one last celebration of their 30+ year legacy for the fans.

We got to Scotiabank Arena early and witnessed the swarm of fans outside all wearing black and yellow, with that iconic W logo prominent everywhere you went. It was dope seeing how Wu-Tang has transcended generations, with fans ranging from preteens with their parents to the OG day-ones. You could tell a lot of them were either strictly Wu-Tang or ’90s heads though, as many didn’t seem familiar with the tour openers, my personal favourite group from the 2010s era, Run The Jewels. With an RTJ pistol-and-fist logo tatted next to my Wu-Tang W and my MF DOOM mask tattoos on my arm, this tour felt like it was made for my taste in music.

Related Article: Revisiting Run The Jewels’ Discography (1997-2020)

Run The Jewels is of course the duo consisting of Brooklyn, New York emcee/producer El-P, and Atlanta’s own Killer Mike. While they’ve both been making music since the late ’90s, their paths crossed and they formed a group late into their careers, releasing four albums between 2013 – 2020. Most recently, El-P has supposedly been in the lab cooking up beats while Killer Mike released his acclaimed solo album MICHAEL, which saw him sweep the Grammy awards in all the rap categories and won Album of the Year at the 2024 BET Awards. This tour would be a bit of a reunion after Killer Mike went on his solo run, and for me personally, I was hyped to see them back. After seeing them go from performing at the tiny Hoxton nightclub to The Danforth Music Hall and now Scotiabank Arena, it was epic seeing how hyped they were to be back on tour and opening for Wu-Tang.

Running right on schedule, DJ Trackstar got behind the turntables and introduced Killer Mike & El-P, bringing them out to their RTJ3 hit “Legend Has It.” The energy was cranked right away, with fans on the floor jumping out of their seats and joining in on the “R-T-J!” chant in the bridge of the song, although many who were up in the stands stayed seated. The set would go on this way, with Mike & El-P bringing a ton of energy to the stage with bangers like “Run The Jewels,” “Talk To Me,” “Blockbuster Night Pt. 1” and “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry,” but with assigned seating on the floor, the mosh pits couldn’t break out like usual, and the hits didn’t get the building shaking like they used to at The Danforth.

As a day-one RTJ fan, it was dope seeing them pull out some rare throwbacks they hadn’t done in a while, as they got the ladies moving to “Gold” before taking it back to 2013 with “36” Chain,” El-P cracking jokes about being the only rapper attempting to do a river dance at the end of the track. They’d next pull out some mic stands for a performance of the RTJ2 cut “Lie, Cheat, Steal,” getting the crowd to join in on the hook and showing off incredible breath control with the way they went from the slow pace behind the mic stand to rapid-fire flows while running around the stage – all without any recorded vocals to back them up. Even though this was just their second time touring since releasing their latest album, 2020’s RTJ4, they’d only perform one song off of it, again getting the crowd to join in on the hook as they rocked “Ooh La La,” with DJ Trackstar getting to shine with his cuts on the turntables in place of DJ Premier.

Run The Jewels would close out their set with a couple more RTJ2 throwbacks, cranking up the energy again with the hype Zack De La Rocha collab “Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck),” and pulling out a rare joint I hadn’t seen them perform in over a decade, the album’s closer “Angel Duster.” They’d thank the crowd for rocking with them and made their way backstage as the beat played them out, wrapping up a solid 45-minute set. I personally would’ve loved to see them keep going, with songs like “Call Ticketron” meant to fit an arena setting like this, and RTJ4 joints like “Out Of Sight,” “Goonies Vs. ET” or “Walking In The Snow” being sorely missed, but you could tell the majority in the building were eagerly waiting for Wu-Tang to come out. The inflated RTJ4 logo would get pulled down from the rafters and the stage would be prepped for the headliners as ads for official Wu-Tang merch played on the jumbo screens.

A live band would get set up at the back of the stage, including drums, guitars, violin, and keyboards, along with an MPC that RZA would occasionally go back to tap on throughout the performance, and of course DJ Mathematics on turntables. It would of course be the The Abbot himself, RZA, being the first to address the crowd on the mic. He’d set the stage with an introduction, performing a remixed and modernized version of his verse from “Impossible” over a dramatic instrumental, updating those 1997 conspiracy theory bars with lines like “babies gettin’ pierced with microchips stuffed inside their earlobes, then examinated, blood contaminated – the whole world got vaccinated!” while original bars like “my occupation’s to stop the inauguration of Satan” still resonated all these years later.

On their most recent tours before this, the Wu-Tang Clan would have extended introductions to the stage, with RZA bringing out each member one at a time and having them perform solo verses as they came out. This time would be different, as RZA shouted “I think it’s time to Bring Da Ruckus!!” and they kicked things off with a bang, with Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck and GZA all coming out as their verses dropped on that 36 Chambers intro track. The entire building was on their feet, as the live instrumentation gave the song an added punch to it, feeling like an all-star sports team making their entrance to the championship game, ready to kick some ass. They’d next back up GZA as he performed his solo track off the 36 Chambers album, “Clan In Da Front,” and would bring out the remaining group members over the next couple songs.

U-God came out and graced the front of the stage to set off “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’,” and mid-song Young Dirty Bastard would come out to cover his late father’s verse (R.I.P. Ol’ Dirty Bastard), followed by Masta Killa closing the song acapella. The routine was familiar, as Masta Killa picked up the tempo towards the end of his verse and RZA popped a bottle of champagne to spray on the crowd in a burst of energy. The last of the original nine members of the group to grace the stage would be Method Man, as they performed “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin’ Ta F Wit” and Meth popped up from a platform under the stage to make his entrance on the third verse. Instead of staggered introductions, it only took the Wu-Tang Clan four songs to bring out all of their original members; you knew they weren’t fucking around and were ready to deliver an epic performance.

With this entire first segment of the show focused on that 36 Chambers album, Wu-Tang would continue with those 1993 hits, with Method Man being joined by Streetlife to take the spotlight on “M-E-T-H-O-D Man” and Young Dirty Bastard nailing his father’s verses, mannerisms and overall energy as they performed “Shame On A N****.” RZA would then hype the crowd up as the interlude played leading into their very first song, “Protect Ya Neck,” which was an early contender for the most hype song of the night. All eight members on the song spit their verses with a ton of energy, and GZA did his closing verse acapella, with the crowd finishing his lines for him and the band behind him bringing that menacing bassline back, slowly building the beat back up around his vocals.

The segments of the show would be split up by advertisements being played on the jumbo screens, but unlike other artists partnering with random corporations for tasteless promo, these ads were directly tied to what Wu-Tang currently has going on. The first ad would be a trailer for RZA’s upcoming film, One Spoon of Chocolate, which he wrote, directed and produced himself. The Clan would all go backstage as the lights went dark and the ad played, clearing the stage and effectively cleansing the palate for the next segment.

After the string of up-tempo, hardcore tracks, the soft reset was placed perfectly for Wu-Tang’s backup singers, including frequent collaborator Blue Raspberry, to perform some old-school R&B. They’d do a cover of Gladys Knight’s “The Way We Were,” which is of course sampled to create the beat for Wu-Tang’s “Can It Be All So Simple.” The cover would eventually transition into the Wu-Tang joint, to which Raekwon and Ghostface came out to perform together. Rae would rock his verse with Ghostface doing adlibs, but rather than continue on into Ghostface’s verse on the song, they’d abruptly switch to another R&B/Soul-sampling track for GFK to rock, pulling out a rare joint off his 2004 Pretty Toney Album, “Holla.” With The Delfonics’ sample shining on the hook, you could tell this segment of the show was going to be for the R&B fans, but not without a few Witty Unpredictable curveballs.

With the first part of the show focused in on 1993, before Wu-Tang added their tenth member to the group, it was time to move things forward. Raekwon & Ghostface would next bring out Cappadonna to bless the stage for the first time, as he came out rocking a custom made Toronto Maple Leafs jersey and performed his solo track “’97 Mentality,” nailing his verse with Ghost as his hypeman. The trio would remain on stage as Blue Raspberry got a solo segment, captivating the crowd with her incredible vocal range as she performed her intro to Raekwon’s “Rainy Dayz” and showed off that rising pitch she sang on “Glaciers of Ice.” Ghost and Cappadonna would toast a couple glasses of champagne and Raekwon would praise the performance, calling Blue Raspberry the Queen of Wu-Tang for all her contributions to their albums. Rather than dive all the way in to these Only Built 4 Cuban Linx songs she’s featured on though, they would abruptly jump to another year, bringing Inspectah Deck back out to perform his featured verse on Gang Starr’s “Above The Clouds.”

Wu-Tang would continue to keep things unpredictable, Inspectah Deck simply coming out to kill his verse before returning backstage. Rae, Ghost and Capp would continue on with the Cuban Linx vibes, with Raekwon next performing his solo “Incarcerated Scarfaces,” followed by the romantic hit “Ice Cream.” The live keyboard would cut through nicely as all three emcees performed their verses, and the band would flip to an alternate Funk groove for Cappadonna to rap his verse to. Keeping things in a romantic vibe for the ladies, you knew the group’s biggest star and symbol for fitness had to get in on the action; Blue Raspberry would perform her intro to Method Man’s “Release Yo’ Delf,” and the man himself would grace the stage, ready to turn things up. Rather than continue on with the Blue Raspberry collab, they’d abruptly switch the song right after her hook, and Method Man would dive into a hype performance of his solo single “Bring The Pain.”

After that energetic entrance, Method Man would get right back to the romantic vibes, getting the crowd involved as he performed “All I Need,” with the backup singers covering Mary J. Blige’s vocals and the ladies in the crowd grooving out. Method Man’s solo performance seemed to go by quickly, as the lights would go dark and there would be another video interlude after just those two songs. This time the advertisement would be a trailer for an upcoming Wu-Tang video game produced by Ghostface Killah, Wu-Tang: Rise Of The Deceiver, which will be the group’s second video game after 1999’s Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style on the original PlayStation.

With the Rise Of The Deceiver ad being another effective palate cleanser after the R&B vibes, it was now time to return to the hardcore. The familiar skit from the 1980 film Shogun Assassin would play out in full, and we all knew GZA was coming out next to perform “Liquid Swords.” Joined by RZA, the two cousins ripped through the performance effortlessly, feeding off of each others’ energy to make it extra hype. The energy in the building continued to build up as they went in with more cuts off of GZA’s Liquid Swords album, next bringing out Masta Killa and Inspectah Deck to rock “Duel of the Iron Mic” with them, getting the crowd to pump their fists to the beat.

Before closing out the Liquid Swords segment, RZA would do an energy check with the crowd, getting fans to make noise if they were born in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and 2000s, getting a good amount of representation across all generations. He’d then pick a young fan out of the crowd, a 12-year-old aspiring rapper named Cairo Snow, who’d join RZA in getting the entire building to jump when the beat to “4th Chamber” dropped. While GZA and Ghostface had gone backstage and weren’t around to do their verses, RZA fed off of that energy and performed most of his verse while continuing to jump with the kid, the entire building absolutely turned up!

RZA would continue to facilitate the crowd’s energy with help from Cairo, next getting the crowd to wave their fingers as the beat for the Clan’s 2000 hit “Gravel Pit” dropped. Rather than perform the song in full with all the verses, U-God was the only member to come out and rock his verse, with the backup singers covering vocals by Paulissa Moorman on the hook. Almost symbolizing how individual success led to some divisiveness within the Clan when they were doing their second round of solo albums, Cairo would be the main hypeman on stage to backup U-God as he nailed his rapid-fire flow, and would get to stay on stage for one more song as Masta Killa next came out and tagged him to be his hypeman for his own solo joint, a rare performance of “No Said Date.” Having been to several Wu-Tang concerts over the years and never seeing any Masta Killa solo material get performed, I was hyped to see Masta Killa perform this one for the first time.

After showing Cairo how to get off stage safely, living up to the phrase “Wu-Tang is for the children,” RZA continued on with a performance of his verse from “Tearz,” with the backup singers covering the Wendy Rene sample on the hook and U-God playing the alternate characters in the verse. The beat would continue to play as RZA took time out to pay tribute to some fallen legends, giving shoutouts to Nipsey Hussle, 2Pac, Biz Markie, Prodigy, Phife Dawg, Nate Dogg and DMX, getting the crowd to join in on some of their famous hooks. One would think this would naturally lead into a tribute to Wu-Tang’s own Ol’ Dirty Bastard, but continuing to remain unpredictable, there would next be another video interlude with a movie trailer, this time promoting an upcoming documentary film on Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx album called The Purple Tape Files.

Opening up the final segment of the show, DJ PhearNone, who we had seen perform with GZA at a solo show in 2023, would perform a violin solo. He’d play a familiar tune from OutKast’s “So Fresh So Clean” before getting into a full performance of Wu-Tang’s “Reunited,” the whole Clan returning to the stage as GZA came out to set off the song. Rather than perform the entire song, only RZA and GZA performed their verses, with Method Man joining in on the hook, but it was still epic seeing that beat get played with a live violin, PhearNone and the band giving the song a more militant feel. That Ol’ Dirty Bastard tribute we were expecting earlier would come next, as Young Dirty Bastard took over the stage and performed covers of his father’s solo joints “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” and “Got Your Money,” getting the crowd to clap along and dance to the beat. YDB damn near stole the show with the energy he brought to the stage, again emulating that raunchy ODB energy, shouting out “I’m a good father! I have seven children, and I’m about to make another baby tonight!!”

Nearing the end of their set, Wu-Tang Clan saved their biggest hits for last, next performing “C.R.E.A.M.” with the live keys standing out as Raekwon and Inspectah Deck spit their verses, and the crowd lighting up their cell phones and joining in with Method Man on the hook. The big finale came next, as the group performed one of the few joints that features all ten of them on the same song, “Triumph.” With Inspectah Deck’s opening verse widely regarded as one of the greatest verses in Hip-Hop history, he let the crowd shout the first few bars for him before going in, most knowing the words “I bomb atomically/ Socrates’ philosophies and hypotheses/ can’t define how I be droppin’ these/ mockeries, lyrically perform armed robbery/ flee with the lottery/ possibly they spotted me…” Of course Deck would be followed by verses from Method Man, Cappadonna, U-God, RZA, GZA, and Masta Killa, all bringing their own unique energy to the mic. Ghostface Killah would bring out Power actor Omari Hardwick, who plays the character Ghost on the show, getting him to hype the crowd up during his verse. Finally, Raekwon had the last verse on the song, and he’d spit it acapella, the beat building back up around him until it reached one last burst of energy with RZA spraying another bottle of champagne on the crowd.

The Wu-Tang Clan would all thank the fans for their support over 30 years, RZA speaking on how they put this tour together the give appreciation to the fans one last time as a group. With Scotiabank Arena having a strict 11pm curfew, the show had to unfortunately end there, with no chance at an encore. The fans cleared out, and you felt a sense of unity as Wu-Tang’s music could be heard blasting in Maple Leaf Square/Jurassic Park as we walked out of the arena.

Overall, the Wu-Tang Clan gave the fans an epic performance that lasted nearly two hours, although with a discography as deep as theirs, it felt like they just scratched the surface. Some might argue that this didn’t feel like a farewell tour with so many songs left off the setlist; Ghostface Killah’s Ironman and Supreme Clientele albums were completely absent, and with the rarity of having all the group members on the same stage together, I would’ve wanted to see more of their collaborations on stage rather than solo performances. Songs like “9 Milli Bros,” “Assassination Day,” “Guillotine (Swordz),” “Severe Punishment,” “It’s Yourz,” or “Hellz Wind Staff” (since Streetlife was in the building) that have verses from multiple members on them would’ve been dope to see, and even the songs they did pick out like “Reunited” or “4th Chamber” would’ve been dope with everyone spitting their verses rather than just one or two members.

Nitpicking aside, given the limited time Wu-Tang had to perform, this was one of the better curated setlists I’ve seen from them. Even though they skipped over some of Ghostface Killah’s classics and most of Wu-Tang Forever, they made sure to dedicate segments of the show to the other major albums released during that initial five-year run, with 36 Chambers, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Tical, and Liquid Swords each getting a piece of the spotlight, and selections from later albums getting sprinkled in. As always, Wu-Tang definitely made sure each individual member of the group got to shine, and the energy was at its highest when all of them were on stage together hyping each other up as they rapped. They delivered that raw Hip-Hop energy to the Scotiabank Arena stage, upgrading the scale of their show without sacrificing the authenticity of the performance.

Seeing a rap group this large with the longevity they have is rare in Hip-Hop, and it feels bittersweet knowing this may be the last time the entire Wu-Tang Clan will be united on stage in Toronto. As for their current five-year plan, I think The Final Chamber Tour has shown us that Wu-Tang’s music is influential enough to transcend generations of music fans and have a timeless impact; maybe an induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is in the cards.

The Final Chamber Tour is nearing its end, with stops in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia remaining. Tickets and tour dates can be found here!

Check out this playlist of Run The Jewels concert videos from all the times I’ve seen them over the years.

Check out this playlist of Wu-Tang concert videos from all the times I’ve seen them over the years.

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