In hip-hop, perhaps more than any other genre, the symbiosis between performer and audience is crucial – a dull crowd begets a dull show, and vice versa. During the opening acts before the veteran Wu-Tang Clan rapper, the whole room feels like a bath with the plug slightly dislodged – any excitement drains away imperceptibly at first, then all at once.
Arriving an hour late, Ghostface has already tested the crowd’s patience with a series of listless opening acts from his Yapp City crew. So when he finally appears with fellow Wu member Cappadonna, plus IcemanBronx Man, the response is tepid – particularly since his second song, Special Delivery, is a Diddy track that he features on. But at the distinctive opening chords of Criminology, the crowd swells; he begins to pack in some Wu-Tang heavy hitters (Ice Cream, Ice Water), and Fish from 1996 album Ironman is particularly well-received, as he and Cappadonna bounce and sway.
He wanders between the familiar and the esoteric. Wu-Tang’s sound is crowded – looping soul samples combined with blaring sirens and a crackling snare with static buildup, all on top of slang so cryptic it may as well be its own coded language – but his recent solo work such as this year’s Kilo in the Safe from Set the Tone (Guns & Roses) has a crisper sound. In between sits Mighty Healthy, a rugged stream of consciousness soaked in swagger.
The 29-song setlist begins to feel rushed and diluted – valuable minutes are lost to the DJ playing seemingly random tracks from the Stylistics, Damian Marley, Sister Nancy and Tina Turner; while IcemanBronx Man’s time in the spotlight, though well-intentioned, comes at the cost of Ghostface’s 12-album solo catalogue.
The performance comes to a memorable ending, though. Three fans stand in for other Wu-Tang members on Protect Ya Neck, and a boy in his early teens is invited on stage for Wu‐Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta F’ Wit. Overall, Ghostface’s unevenly curated gig falls short of expectations, but his legacy and the Wu-Tang mystique provide enough gravitational pull to keep the show from floating away entirely.
• Ghostface Killah plays Camp and Furnace, Liverpool, 19 November; Project House, Leeds, 20 November; then on UK tour until 22 November
