Special to The Vinyl District Toronto, reviewer Adam Micallef brings us his take on the Raekwon show at Toronto’s Opera House this past Friday. Sadly he missed opener Miles Jones – always a crowd pleaser. Here’s what he had to say about the rest of the show.
Hundreds of Wu-Tang Clan fans descended on The Opera House in Toronto’s east end this past Friday. Although on this night only one member of the clan was scheduled to perform, loyal Wu followers would not be disappointed as Raekwon, one of The Clan’s more popular members, delivered a classic Wu-worthy performance.
At 12:15am he hit the stage garnering thundering applause from the entire venue, accentuated when the crowd noticed Rae’s attire. Rae came to T.O. aiming to please, rocking a fitted Blue Jays’ cap and Vintage Toronto Maple Leaf’s Jacket. He began the show performing his verse to “C.R.E.A.M.” with the rugged style he’s been famous for since he burst onto the Hip-Hop scene in 1993. This was one of the few times he stopped short of preforming an entire Wu-Tang song by himself, usually without missing a beat. He even took time to do a tribute to the late Old Dirty Bastard as he rapped “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” with a little help from the over 700 fans who’s actions throughout the night could best be described as “wilding out”. The entire set was comprised of classic material with songs such as “Ice Cream”, “Killa Bees” & “Criminology” much to the delight of the crowd that showed utter appreciation for Rae’s dedication. He did manage to squeeze in his new single “Rock ‘N’ Roll” from the Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang album that was released last month.
Exactly one hour after his set began Raekwon ended the night with an exceptional performance of one of his biggest hits “Incarcerated Scarfaces”. The only real criticism was that the one hour set was a little bit short for a rapper who has released five solo albums on top of the five albums he did as a member of The Clan. It was obvious that many fans, myself included were disappointed that there wasn’t an encore, but even still it would have been difficult to leave The Opera House upset after watching such a superb performance from one of Hip-Hop’s pioneers.
