The show was on July 23, but I've been having so many problems
with my provider that I decided to go ahead and do this damn review from
my school provider.

They had initially scheduled one show, but had to reschedule
because of a commitment to MTV.  So the rescheduled date had two shows,
one at 2:00 and another at 7:00.  So the previously sold-out single show
gave way to a sold-out 7:00 show & a 2:00 show with a lot of tickets.  Me,
Jason (my baby bro), JT, Munoz & Marcus got to Columbus about 1:15.

We found a parking spot near the show and immediately saw a car
with the Wu-Tang symbol in the back window.  There was a cat with a
Wu-Tang tatto with his name across it.  There were about 5 badly
airbrushed t-shirts with the symbol and someone else's name.  Is this what
ya'll mean by Wu-Riders?  Geez...

They let us in around 3:45 and the house was jam packed.  They
started at 4:30 with Poppa Wu.  He introduced the KillArmy.  I haven't
been too impressed by them  They sound like Wu-Tang clones.  Why would I
pay money to hear someone imitate the Wu-Tang clan?  Anyways, the crowd
was very perceptive and they got amped during "Wake Up".

The intermission brought Poppa Wu back out.  Now this part was
interesting.  He began preaching to us about striving to fulfill your
dreams and stuff.  He said that you could do whatever you wanted as long
as you got the proper knowledge.  He said that all races, all colors have
to learn how to deal with each other because none of us are going
anywhere.  It was a very good talk and he got several rounds of applause
from a crowd that was hot, tired and restless.  Very impressive.

The show finally starts.  Now, I've rarely ever heard of a Wu show
where all 9 (or 10 with Cappadonna) members show up.  I expected the same
thing here.  We got RZA, Inspecta Deck, Ghost Face, Raekwon, Method Man
and U-God.

The bad part about missing members is that the songs get cut off.
We missed the best parts of some songs...Cappadonna's verse on "Ice Cream"
and Masta Killa's verse on "Glaciers of Ice" were both cut off.  RZA got
us to sing the opening chorus to "Liquid Swords", then cut us off.  They
should have let the crowd do some of the verses that everyone knows so
well.  At the end, RZA did do "Dog Sh*t" with the crowd providing the
"HHHEEEEYYYYYY!!!!!  HHHHOOOOOOOO!!" part.  This was the most annoying
thing about the whole show.

Inspecta Deck was simply stuffed into the back.  He was featured
on about 3 songs and was then stuck in left field.  U-God got more
spotlight than Deck did.

My favorite members are RZA, GZA, & ODB (a show within himself)
and I missed 2 of 3 of them.  

But on the positive side, they performed well.  they did a great
job of keeping the crowd hyped & involved in the show.  Everyone lost it
on "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin'" but it wasn't as hyped as Black Sheep's
"Engine, Engine #9" break when I saw them.  Still, it got us all amped.
They put on a good show, despite missing 3 members.  They're talented
entertainers, especially Meth.  He climbed the speakers and jumped into
the crowd.  That inspired some skater kid to do the body surfing thing.
But he was at the wrong place for that because while someone held his
feet, another bro dropped his upper body.  Anyways, Meth put his life in
danger when he did that.  The crowd surged forward and all of these people
wanted to be up there.  I had a great spot about 10 feet from the stage,
but I got bum rushed by people behind me at this time.

Now, I've seen what ya'll mean by Wu-Riders.  I can see how this
would get people irritated.  At one time, we could see the Clan backstage
and one group of jerks felt it was necessary to shout every Wu-Tang code
name & alter ego into our ears.  "RZA! Golden Arms! Johnny Blaze! Rebel
INS! Lex Diamonds! Osiris! Abbot! Methical! Genius! Rollie Fingers!"  They
sounded like jerks, straight up.  The show hadn't even started yet.

All in all, it was a good show.  Not the best performance that
I've seen, but it was a good one.  They didn't disappoint me.  I think
that the show would have been MUCH better with the GZA & ODB.  It's too
bad that they can't all show up at one time.  I think that a complete
Wu-Tang show would be off the hook.  If you get a chance, check them out.
I know that some of ya'll don't dig the Clan, but if you do like them then
you won't be let down by the show.

Oh yeah...one of my other ctas who showed up at the show managed
to get his video camera in the show and recorded about 30 minutes before
his battery gave out.  he's supposed to give me a dub soon.

	Peace,

	*** MARBLES ***