When the Wu-Tang Clan performed at Scotiabank Arena last year on their Final Chamber Tour, meant to be one last farewell tour as a fully united group, we thought it would be the last time we’d see them in Toronto. It turns out that the saga indeed continues. I wrote in my original concert review of that show that it felt like an induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame could be in the cards, and that speculation ended up coming true a lot sooner than I thought it would, as it was later announced that the Wu-Tang Clan would be among the Hall of Fame’s 2026 inductees, which led to them extending their tour through 2026 to take them to that induction ceremony. After the first Final Chamber Tour took them through North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia, they returned home to power the champion New York Knicks to a historic comeback win with their halftime performance in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, and would go on to embark on a second run through North America. This run would see them hitting some of the smaller market locations, with their return to big cities like Toronto downsized from arenas to amphitheaters, and will have them on the road until their Hall of Fame induction ceremony in November.

I’ve written countless times on this blog about Wu-Tang’s history and impact on music, even ranking and counting down the Top 10 concerts I’ve seen from them prior to this one. Needless to say, the Wu-Tang Clan are an iconic group who bring together all kinds of music fans at their concerts, whether longtime, diehard fans who’ve seen them perform live multiple times, younger fans getting their first and possibly last opportunity to see the full group united, and even parents passing the music on to their kids. They’re one of the few Hip-Hop groups who have a way of bringing together all demographics, and the diverse city of Toronto definitely showed up to celebrate that legacy with them one last time.

We arrived at the newly renovated RBC Amphitheatre shortly after doors had opened, and not much has changed from what we previously knew as Budweiser Stage, except for the new RBC signage. After showing up early to see Bone Thugs-N-Harmony open the show, which would have been a first for me personally, we were disappointed to see them not make it to the stage – rumour has it they were stopped from entering the Canadian border. Instead, we had DJ Intrinity spinning records for about an hour, playing nearly every notable New York City emcee ever, from KRS-One to 50 Cent and everyone in between. Other than New York classics, they’d also play a segment dedicated to Toronto Hip-Hop, including songs like “Northern Touch” and “Money Jane” that feature Kardinal Offishall prominently, and Choclair & Saukrates’ “Rubbin’.”

We heard rumours of there being a replacement opener, but instead DJ Intrinity would be followed by a near half-hour break for the stage to be set up for Wu-Tang, including a giant “W” logo revealed along the curved floor of the stage, the band Stone Mecca setting up their instruments behind the see-through monitors, and DJ Mathematics getting set up behind the turntables. Pretty soon the lights would dim to show nothing but black and yellow, and a video intro would play showing a swarm of bees forming an infinity sign as well as that iconic W symbol. As with most of Wu-Tang’s past concerts, The RZA would be the first to step on stage, and from there it was on!

The way Wu-Tang starts their concerts has always been interesting to see over the years; sometimes the whole Clan swarms the stage at once, and other times they’ll come out one at a time, using a different song to introduce each individual member. For this show, RZA would give a similar treatment as he did on the 2023 N.Y. State of Mind Tour, performing an interpolation of Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” where he rapped verses about forming the Wu-Tang’s sound as their producer, and getting the crowd to shout “Wu-Tang!” on the hook in place of the original “Bang bang!” Using this first song to reflect on early beginnings, he’d then go right into track 1 off of Wu-Tang’s iconic 1993 debut album, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), bringing out Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck and GZA to each rap their verses as they performed “Bring Da Ruckus.” Kicking things off with a bang with the live instrumentation making the production feel more dramatic, the energy was cranked from the beginning!

Similar to the last time they rocked Toronto on this tour, Wu-Tang would have the entire first segment of their show focused on that 36 Chambers album, next letting GZA perform both verses from his solo track “Clan In Da Front” before bringing out U-God to set off “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’.” U-God, Inspectah Deck and Raekwon would nail their “Chessboxin'” verses, and would be joined on stage by Young Dirty Bastard doing an incredible cover of his father O.D.B.’s verse, followed by Masta Killa gracing the stage to slay the final verse of the song acapella. The routine was familiar, as Masta Killa picked up the tempo of his verse with the beat building back up, getting a burst of energy out of the crowd as RZA sprayed a bottle of champagne. The most hype moment would come next, as they performed “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta F’ Wit,” which brought out Method Man on the third verse to thunderous applause!

As advertised, all 9 original members of the Wu-Tang Clan were represented on stage, and fans could rest easy knowing this was just the fourth time in the group’s history that they’ve been able to pull this off in Toronto. With Method Man having just graced the stage, he’d give a quick speech showing love to Canada before diving into his solo track off the 36 Chambers album, “M-E-T-H-O-D Man,” getting the crowd bouncing to his acrobatic flows. They’d then perform “Shame On A N****,” with Y.D.B. once again doing a masterful job bringing that Ol’ Dirty Bastard energy to the stage, and would close the segment with the classic “Protect Ya Neck.” It’s always incredible seeing nearly the entire group take turns rapping their verses on the song; GZA would make a dramatic entrance to spit the last verse, going acapella for part of it while Stone Mecca built up that menacing bassline around his vocal, eventually getting the energy cranked for the final bars: “…and I’m the dirtiest thing in sight / matter fact, bring out the girls and let’s have a mud fight!”

The Clan would retreat backstage for a quick interlude, with singer Tekitha bringing some RnB flavour to the stage with her vocals. Arguably the biggest RnB aficionado of the group, Ghostface Killah would return to join Tekitha on stage to vibe out as she got the crowd singing along to a cover of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” and would bring back the Wu-Tang sound with his solo joint “Mighty Healthy.” He’d only get about halfway through the first verse before his partner-in-rhyme Raekwon joined him on stage, abruptly flipping the track to Rae’s own solo “Incarcerated Scarfaces.” This was normally the part of the show where they would get into the Raekwon-Ghostface dynamic within Wu-Tang as a duo, leaning in on their albums Only Built 4 Cuban Linx and Ironman, but after a quick performance of “Criminology,” they’d instead bring out a surprise for the crowd.

We’d later learn that the Clan’s 10th member, Cappadonna, would be absent from this show, as he’d normally be joining Raekwon & Ghostface during this Cuban Linx segment. With Capp and Bone Thugs unfortunately not making this Toronto show, the rumoured replacement opener would actually join Wu-Tang on stage during the Rae & Ghost segment, as they brought out Havoc of Mobb Deep as a surprise guest! Apparently Havoc was in town early ahead of headlining Bastid’s BBQ later this weekend.

Raekwon & Ghostface would use Mobb Deep’s “Eye For A Eye (Your Beef Is Mines)” to bring out Havoc, with both Rae & Hav nailing their verses and Ghostface adding his aggressive vocals to give an extra punch to the late Prodigy’s hook. Havoc would then get to perform some Mobb Deep classics with Rae & Ghost backing him with adlibs, including “Survival of the Fittest” and “Quiet Storm,” and the most hype moment would be him performing “Shook Ones Pt. II” in full, complete with the crowd going bar-for-bar covering Prodigy’s iconic verse. Just as we saw when Havoc & Raekwon joined forces on tour last winter, it was proven once again that Wu-Tang and Mobb Deep’s music go together like bread and butter for any ’90s Hip-Hop fan.

After just a handful of songs, Havoc would make his exit, and Raekwon & Ghostface would close out their segment with a Cuban Linx classic for the ladies, “Ice Cream.” Method Man could be heard on the mic from backstage performing the hook, and eventually he’d grace the stage for his own solo segment, performing tracks off his Tical album including “Release Yo’ Delf” and “Bring Da Pain.” With the ladies on the mind, he’d of course also perform his romantic Mary J. Blige collab “All I Need,” flashing his abs after effortlessly nailing his verses. The Method Man segment would end quickly, as he’d return backstage for another interlude featuring Tekitha singing vocals again, and Stone Mecca’s trumpet player taking the front of the stage to perform a solo as the infamous “Torture Skit” played through the speakers.

Making for an effective palate cleanser, the interlude eventually transitioned into the intro from GZA’s Liquid Swords album, setting the tone for some more hardcore vibes, with both GZA and RZA coming out to perform the title track. GZA would calmly recite the dense rhymes in his verses, while RZA brought all the hype with his high-energy call-and-response hook. They’d continue into the album with “Duel of the Iron Mic,” with RZA going behind an MPC to play some of the instrumental live, and Masta Killa and Inspectah Deck joining the duo on stage to rock their featured verses. After getting the crowd to pump their fists and build up their aggression for “Duel of the Iron Mic,” RZA would then get us to open our fists and let that energy loose, next jumping ahead to the year 2000 and bringing out U-God to perform his verse on the upbeat “Gravel Pit.” While U-God’s verse is cool, it would’ve been dope if both Method Man and Ghostface Killah joined in with their verses as well, but sadly they stayed backstage for this segment.

There would be more missed opportunities for some iconic verses, as the Clan next went into GZA’s “4th Chamber,” doing their routine where they restart the track and encourage everyone in the crowd to jump. RZA would do an age check with the crowd, getting fans to cheer if they were born in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, and he’d bring a young fan representing the 2000s to join them on stage and jump to the beat. While the energy was high and the crowd did get hyped and jumping, the performance of “4th Chamber” left something to be desired, as instead of seeing Ghostface, RZA or GZA rock any of their verses, we instead just got RZA doing some call-and-response chants over the beat.

With the setlist mostly flowing chronologically up to this point, the next segment is where the Clan got into their Witty Unpredictable bag, pulling out deep cuts and obscure tracks you don’t get to see live on stage that often. GZA would perform his standalone single from 2015, “The Mexican,” with this possibly being his first time rocking it on a Toronto stage. Masta Killa would keep the energy high with his ’04 solo track “No Said Date,” and U-God brought that gruffness with his Golden Arms Redemption cut “Dat’s Gangsta.” If there’s one member who’s been carrying the flag for Wu-Tang in 2026 though, it has to be Inspectah Deck, who’s coming off of releasing two new albums this summer: his solo Dragon’s Breath and his Czarface collab Czarface Meets Frankie Pulitzer, which notably marks actor Tom Hardy’s rap debut as the latter character. Deck would get to perform one of those new songs, closing out the rarities segment with his latest single “Shaolin Rebel 2.” With these songs being lesser known, each emcee locked in to nail every word of their verses without relying on the crowd to shout out lyrics for them.

Moving along into a segment of the show dedicated to paying tribute to those we’ve lost, RZA would speak out against street violence before performing his verse from “Tearz” to set the vibes, with U-God playing the second character in the verse. They’d then bring out another special surprise for the Toronto crowd, with hometown comedy legend Russell Peters joining RZA on stage. Having seen Russell perform a rare DJ set at last year’s Bastid’s BBQ festival, we knew he could definitely represent Hip-Hop on this stage, helping RZA perform covers of iconic hooks as he paid tribute to legends like Nate Dogg, Biz Markie, 2Pac, Prodigy, Phife Dawg, Nispey Hussle, DMX and The Notorious B.I.G. The tributes to major artists would flow into an interlude paying tribute to Wu-Tang’s own former manager and branding architect, Power, who they lost earlier this year. Tekitha would return to the stage for some soulful singing as images of Power displayed on all the screens, and this time would be followed by a trailer for RZA’s latest film, One Spoon of Chocolate, playing on the jumbo screen.

Following that final interlude, the Stone Mecca band would play a dramatic rendition of “Reunited,” and the whole Clan would return to the stage together as GZA, Method Man and RZA performed portions of the song. Just as it hit last year, that live version of “Reunited” with the militant-sounding drums and violins made it go extra hard, and the crowd was hyped by the time they got to the hook. RZA would note that they didn’t include Ol’ Dirty Bastard in their tributes to fallen legends earlier, and so they next got into a segment with Young Dirty Bastard covering O.D.B. solo classics, getting the crowd rapping along to “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” and arms waving to “Got Your Money.” Having been stepping into his father’s shoes on these concert tours for several years now, Young Dirty Bastard brought a unique youthful energy to these O.D.B. records, jumping high up in the air as the beat dropped.

The Clan would next pause for a moment to draw a raffle for one lucky fan to get a cash prize, before getting all the fans in the crowd to light up their cell phones. With all the lights shining back on them, Wu-Tang would get into one of their biggest hits with “C.R.E.A.M.,” the crowd instantly recognizing that piano loop. It was a dope moment as Rae & Meth set Russell Peters up to shout the first “Dolla dolla bill y’all!!!” right before Raekwon dove into his iconic opening verse, and they had the crowd fully with them to shout the hook both before and after Inspectah Deck’s verse.

As we’ve come to expect, there’s only one song Wu-Tang can do at this point of the show that will get a bigger reaction than “C.R.E.A.M.,” and that’s of course the 1997 classic featuring all 10 members on the same song: “Triumph.” RZA would do a call-and-response to hype up the crowd as the beat from the Wu-Tang Forever Disc 2 Intro built up, and everyone got energized once that “Triumph” beat dropped. Young Dirty Bastard would cover the O.D.B. intro, and would be followed by Inspectah Deck gliding through that iconic opening verse, getting the crowd to shout some of the lyrics with him. Method Man would fight through a dead mic during his verse, getting the crowd to shout the lyrics for him while Y.D.B. ran over to trade mics with him, Meth never missing a step in his flow as he recovered. The Clan members then took turns going bar-for-bar to cover the absent Cappadonna’s verse, followed by the beat change during U-God’s verse getting fans to wave their W hand symbol, and RZA, GZA, Masta Killa and Ghostface Killah all coming in to nail their verses and unique flows. Closing out was of course Raekwon, who spit his verse acapella as the band built the beat back up around him, and RZA popped another bottle of champagne when the beat fully came back.

The Wu-Tang Clan finished their setlist with about 10 minutes left before curfew to have a potential encore, but after taking a moment to shoutout every individual member of the Stone Mecca band, RZA would end the show there, the Clan and all the band members going backstage. DJ Mathematics would let Russell Peters take over the turntables and do some scratches as the fans started to clear out, and the stage lights would come on to mark the end of the concert.

Overall, while the second round of The Final Chamber Tour is an incredible show that sees the Wu-Tang Clan rocking the stage for over 2 hours, I have the same gripes that I had with the first time they came around on this tour. Although it’s meant to be a farewell tour, the setlist felt like it was missing plenty of classics, especially from later albums in their discography like Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Ironman, Supreme Clientele, Wu-Tang Forever, and The W. Aside from 36 Chambers, most of the songs they performed skipped over some classic verses and seemed more geared towards individual solo performances rather than group collaborations. It’s dope seeing selections of rarities and deep cuts like “No Said Date” and “The Mexican” get performed live, but it would have been even more incredible to see the Clan come together for songs like “9 Milli Bros,” “Guillotine (Swords),” “Wu-Gambinos,” “Severe Punishment,” “Assassination Day,” and doing a proper version of “4th Chamber,” where multiple members have verses they can spit. They could have even pulled out “Play IV Keeps” with Havoc in the building.

If it’s the last time we’re going to see the entire Wu-Tang Clan united on stage, we want to see them actually united and collaborating on stage rather than taking turns doing solo tracks. Nonetheless, besides those gripes that really only affected the latter half of the show, it’s still an incredible experience witnessing the rarity of having all members of the Wu-Tang Clan on the same stage, even if there are only so many songs they can do with the limited time. For fans who have never experienced this before, it’s absolutely a must-see while you still can, and even for longtime fans coming back yet again, the Wu still deliver the essentials while finding ways to bring something new to the stage.

Time will tell if this is actually the last time the Wu will tour together, but the legacy will definitely continue as they branch out into their different paths. We can speculate that RZA and Method Man will continue making films, with Meth still having one foot in the music business killing every featured verse; Raekwon, Ghostface and GZA continue to do solo tours, with Ghost hopefully able to return after cancelling his Supreme Clientele 2 Tour stop in Toronto earlier this year; Masta Killa has a new joint album with Kurupt and Rakim dropping later this month; and we can hope Inspectah Deck will eventually be able to take his Czarface crew on tour for the first time in Canada. With the Wu-Tang Clan’s legacy being honoured for over 2 years on this tour, the induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame feels well deserved and we look forward to seeing the ceremony.

The Final Chamber Tour continues through the USA this fall, dates and tickets can be found here.

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

Check out the SYpherSights Youtube channel for more concert videos.

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