Review – RZA, GZA and Stone Mecca at the Jazz Fest
by Risa DickensLast night headed down to Metropolis, that curvey, looming, cavern of a venue on St Catherine Street, to enjoy with 500+ other fans the return of the RZA. Wu-Tang was in town just a few months ago, and even then friends of ours who saw them said the show felt a little hollow with some of the voices pre-recorded, some of the collective energy gone. Last night was odd for that as well. Stone Mecca started the night, and closed it as RZA’s backup band. While it was kinda bumpin and fun to see him work the grooves laid down by 9 live musicians, Stone Mecca themselves feel like a throw back, to something good, but definitely something we’ve seen before (think Living Color). GZA was at his best (for me) when he was just talking to the crowd, or rhyming without musical accompanyment making the room suddenly awkwardly aware that after all, big beats aside, we’re assembled listening to poetry.
GZA told us that backstage RZA, aka Bobby Digital, said to him that their fans work regular jobs, get hit with the price of gas, deserve a SHOW for their money. I think this was the good intention behind stretching each set out, but having the headliner go on at quarter to midnite when the show started at 8:30 was kind of an energy killer for at least some of us. Wu-Tang fans are great though, they chanted, raised hands, responded to shout outs, knew all the words; all those young, mostly white dudes just exuded happy to be there and the musicians were loving in rhyme, working Montreal into all kinds of songs. As GZA pointed out it was a young crowd, packed in 13 years after the release of Liquid Swords, which according to the bill he was there to perform, and he did, but mostly in 2 minute chunks, his part and the chorus. New generations of fans getting treating to snackfood sized portions of songs may be fitting to the general trend in attention spans but again makes it hard to build energy. RZA did mostly new material with the big band back up and the new stuff is kind of light hearted compared to the Wu-Tang fury and made me want to own the album, but didn’t leave me singing in the streets.
Check out these videos by Darren Curtis:
Enjoyed this post? Visit the montreal page »
Filed under: Blog
Published on: July 4th, 2008
Terms Used: gza, hiphop, jazz fest, live show, montreal, Music, review, rza, wu-tang
Author: Risa Dickens
Aside from experimenting with these monstrous/sexy formations, producing Indyish events and developing new and existing Indyish endeavors, and trying to figure out how to do it armed[...]
Browse Indyish Content:
Use the tabs above to navigate between Featured Blog Columns, Product Categories, Popular Tags, and Recent Comments.
Sounds fun!! How long was the show??
Posted on July 4th, 2008 at 9:53 am [permalink]
I was at the show last night and GZA stole the show. RZA was the headliner but it was all GZA in my opinion.
GZA is a true performer, no hype man, just 1 emcee and his dj (Allah Mathematik was amazing). The fans were loud, the bass even louder, man what a great show…
I hope GZA comes out with an album of equal calibre!
Posted on July 4th, 2008 at 12:31 pm [permalink]
the show was long, 8:30 till 1ish, and yeah I agree GZA had raw power and intensity craaaazy verbal skills and was great with the crowd and the dj was hot, but really how many tracks can end with the sudden smashing glass explosion sound? that kinda bugged me, but aside from that, hot. i love wu-tang fans.
Posted on July 5th, 2008 at 12:51 pm [permalink]
Wu-Tang fans are the Trekkies of the Rap world. Undeniably devoted, passionate… and just a bit geeky. Lord love ‘em!
Posted on July 5th, 2008 at 1:03 pm [permalink]
I would have loved to be there..
Not many could tell by the type of music I produce… but the RZA is the main producer I idolize.. He is my favourite hands down. There are many more I like, but not as much as the RZA.
I owned 36 chambers in 95, I bought the liquid swords album in 97, along with forever (my first copy that got lost so I bought it again)
I didn’t bother going to the Wu-Tang show when I heard the Rza wasn’t going to be there…
Liquid Swords to this day, is probably one of my favourite albums I own out of the 75 gigs of music I have.
Did the RZA do any of his “bobby digital in stereo” tracks? I still think the beats on that album are ahead of their time.
I am disappointed I couldn’t come up with the money to go.
RIP Ol’ Dirty, and Wu-Tang forever!
Posted on July 7th, 2008 at 1:20 am [permalink]
First of all you couldn’t of been at the same show I was at cause the guy from Stone Mecca said the line about RZA wanting to give a show to the fans cause they paid there money and deserve to see a show and if your not a Wu-tang fan and can’t tell the difference between him and GZA then you don’t need to be writing about it. Second GZA was cool as always but RZA with a band had so much energy the crowd was in awe and screaming at the top of there lungs. All I know and heard from people was how great the show was from start to finish…
Posted on July 23rd, 2008 at 1:19 am [permalink]
i don’t remember anymore but was pretty sure at the time who said what, but anyway – it was slow to get going is all i’m saying, and my friend and i (who is admittedly a bigger fan then me) felt the energy was weird. but big fans loved it, as they will. are you good at reviewing hiphop shows timeout, or mr.debauch? if you write up a good one for indyish i’ll publish it and try to get you on the press list for future shows so you can go ahead and do a better job then me.
Posted on July 23rd, 2008 at 6:13 am [permalink]