Last Night: Wu-Tang Clan at House of Blues

Photos by Katya Horner

It's probably not bad advice to say that if you're planning to catch a Wu-Tang show, you better be ready to lose control. Method Man, for one, hates lazybones. His twin requirements for an ideal concert: weed and energy. "The energy that you give to us, we gonna give back to y'all," Meth proclaims, without fail, at every show.

So, about last night's concert. Weed clouds rippling the air: Check. Energy: Uh, let's get back to you on that.

First, some anecdotal evidence of Method Man's obsession with energy. Last time we saw Meth in Houston (2009, alongside Redman and Ghostface), he lunged into a Kanye-style rant on the proliferation of lazy rappers.

Meth's 2009 rant:

"They cheatin' y'all. These rappers out here wanna show off their chain and show off their watch. They be having like a hundred niggas on stage, and each one of them has a microphone. They be lip syncin' and shit. You should wait for these dudes at the end of the show and ask for your money back because they cheatin' y'all."

Method Man's 2012 rant:

"You have two or three people jumping into the crowd, right? They jumping by themselves and they feel embarrassed because nobody else is jumping with 'em. Well, to those three people that wanna jump, don't be embarrassed."

Method Man's 2012 rant (contd.):

Method Man: "Now, let me ask y'all some real shit. Y'all love hip-hop, correct?
Crowd: YEAAAAAAAAHHHH!
Method Man: OK. Since when did the hip-hop crowd become too cool to fucking jump?
Crowd: *Deflated like a child in time-out*
Method Man: Since when is the hip-hop crowd too cool to say 'hooooo'?
Crowd: HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Method Man: Since when is the hip-hop crowd too cool to throw their hands in the air like they just don't care?
Crowd: *Hands in the air with, essentially, no care*
Method Man: Since when is the hip-hop crowd to cool to have fun?

Ah, fun. Fun was indeed a rare commodity last night. The sound was a disastrous mix of high-bass and warped mikes. The crowd was, at times, a lethargic mess.

But fun wasn't the only thing missing from the show. Also missing: Ghostface Killah and Raekwon, the toast and jelly of Wu-Tang. Still, the incarnation of Wu that made the trip (RZA, GZA, Deck, U-God, Cappadonna, and Meth) held it down for their absentee brothers. RZA led the crowd in a birthday toast to Raekwon, champagne bottle in hand.