Normally, a visit from any luminaries of '90s east-coast hip hop to Australian shores is a major event.
Imagine the excitement, then, when the package deal N.Y. State Of Mind tour – a co-headliner between the Wu-Tang Clan and Nas – was announced for Australian shores.With neither party having made it down under for several years – with at least two accounted for, for obvious reasons – what made this world tour especially intriguing was the fact that neither was overtly spruiking new material.
Instead, it felt like a victory lap – a celebration of the music that has survived and created a legacy for over 30 years; a parade of classics in the spirit of going to see Springsteen or the Stones.
For those that grew up on it – and, from the looks of the crowd, those that are being raised on it by those that grew up on it – this is a truly exciting prospect.
Time feels very of the essence as soon as the lights dim. Not only is this a 72-hour sojourn to the continent for this touring party, hitting the three major east-coast cities in three days, but it's also literally a non-stop show.
Each act gets two sets apiece, tagging in and out across the staggering 140 minutes total. Rather than having two full sets sandwiched by an interval, there are both no brakes and no breaks from lights-out to lights-up. It's certainly a unique approach to your usual arena show fanfare, and unquestionably value for money too.
There are, however, a few notable cons that should be addressed before getting to the pros. For one, the dynamic is largely off despite the purported equal billing between each act.
Make no mistake: This is a Wu-Tang crowd, through and through. From the moment GZA emerges atop an elevated platform and gets the crowd to throw their hand signals in the sky, the energy is electric.
The surprise of early hits like 'Bring The Ruckus' and 'Clan In Da Front' have the whole place moving, stopping only to gaze in awe at the impressive comic-book visuals projected on the giant video screens behind them.
When the eight MCs representing the Clan depart, however, Nas' arrival feels surprisingly muted in reception – at least by comparison. The crowd perks up for tracks from 'Illmatic', particularly the tour's title track – everyone in attendance still knows the family ties between sleep and death, after all.
Away from that, however, it takes lots of extra work on Nas' end to engage the audience. Perhaps if the setup was more traditional and he was able to come out for a straight hour before Wu-Tang, the crowd's attentiveness may have been streamlined into something more palpable and dynamic for the New York veteran.
As it stands, however, more than a few punters in Wu-Tang merch use key parts of Nas' set to head to the bar. Who does the crowd like more? Sadly, it ain't hard to tell.
For another, the mixing tonight struggles throughout both performances – not because it's too soft or quiet, mind you, but because it's ear-bleedingly loud. Wu-Tang have brought a full live band with them for the tour, which is a great touch – as is Nas' live drummer.
It's just difficult to make them out over the utter booming of the beat track, which particularly wallops the sub-bass so hard that you can probably hear what's happening in Olympic Park over in Hurstville. When rappers say "turn it up", please be assured this specifically is not what they mean.
Of course, these are all largely external factors. What of the internal? As luck would have it, Wu-Tang are performing better than they have in a long time.
The collective's past live shows have often felt cluttered and overly complicated, with too many cooks essentially spoiling the broth. Even with the absence of members like Method Man and Redman, however, the Clan felt like they were on a united front.
GZA is a confident leader and a great showman – literally the only bad reaction he gets the entire evening is when he holds up a Rabbitohs jersey out in Eels and Panthers territory.
The tribute section to the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, too, is both heartwarming and ruckus-bringing – you can't help but get down to ultimate party-starters 'Shimmy Shimmy Ya' and 'Got Ya Money', especially when played back to back.
As for Nas, the Don is still as cool as you please. Even on the verge of 50, he can spit rhymes he wrote in his late teens and early 20s with confidence and aplomb – not to mention he's still coming up with exceptional bars, as recent cuts like 'Rare' and 'King's Disease' will attest to.
His crowning moment comes in the finale of his second set, where he leads the audience in an en-masse sing-along to Tears For Fears' 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' before segueing into his own 'If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)'. It's a track that's as prophetic and inspiring now as it was nearly 30 years ago, and that's a feat few can lay claim to.
The NY State Of Mind tour is messy. It's too loud. It's needlessly convoluted. It's imbalanced. It also happens to be great. Of course these things can coexist – that's what legacy is all about.
