Review: Wu-Tang Clan’s farewell tour ‘Final Chamber’ cements lasting legacy

As Wu-Tang Clan brought their final tour to United Center on Monday night, Chicago fans were ready to send them off in a blaze of glory. While an endless sea of yellow and black stretched down Madison Street, inside, unified chants of “Wu-Tang! Wu-Tang!” rang out as many raised “W”-shaped hands — all of it a clear message that, end or not, Wu-Tang is forever.

“We wanted to circle back one more time around the world to thank all the fans who supported us,” RZA, the group’s de facto leader, told the packed crowd. “It took a lot for us personally and professionally to do this together as a family.”

The efforts it took to orchestrate the collective’s Final Chamber Tour were nothing short of Herculean, getting the entire posse — RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, U-God, Young Dirty Bastard (son of the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard who has stepped into the role) and Cappadonna — in agreement and aligned for a massive 27-date tour, a rare feat getting them all together on stage. The two-hour production boasts 30 songs pulling from Wu-Tang’s and individual members’ catalogs. The gathering celebrates not only Wu-Tang’s unparalleled contributions to music history but showcases the rap giants as the cohesive collaborative unit that launched in Staten Island in 1992, selling 40 million albums worldwide over time.

The Final Chamber Tour is a strategic culmination of a multiyear plan that the members of Wu-Tang birthed to comprehensively tell their story and leave a lasting legacy within the framework of other important markers, such as the 50th anniversary of hip-hop in 2023. In addition to Showtime’s limited series, “Wu-Tang: Of Mics And Men” and Hulu’s multi-season “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” drama, there was also a Las Vegas residency last year (a first for a hip-hop group). But it’s the latest jaunt that is the most meaningful as it brings the music back to the people as Wu-Tang always intended. Their gritty barbs about inner-city life and raw production styles that looped in martial arts symbolism became a hallmark of their style, which kicked off an East Coast rap renaissance and became part of the cultural zeitgeist in the ‘90s.

It’s no wonder then that Wu-Tang has relied heavily on their groundbreaking debut, “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers),” for this four-act show, with 10 songs from the album that was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Recording Registry in 2022. (Selected recordings are deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically important.”) From riling up the house with the night’s second song, “Bring da Ruckus,” to performing megahit “C.R.E.A.M.” toward the end of the show, supported by a full eight-piece band, the powerful performances felt as fresh as they were 30 years ago. And seeing them performed one last time with the full ensemble was a true reward for fans who have been allegiant to the group for decades, as well as those seeing them for the first time. Both factions came out in droves; when RZA asked the highly diverse crowd how many were born in the ’70s, followed by the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s, each round sounded equal in audience applause.

Over the course of the night, there was much focus on the “memories” and “good ol’ days,” most explicitly in a set transition cover of Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “The Way We Were,” (sampled in “Can It All Be So Simple”) brilliantly delivered by Wu-Tang’s powerhouse vocal minstrel Blue Raspberry. This sense of memorial continued in the third act when, between Cappadonna’s “Run” and Wu-Tang’s “Tearz,” the group paid homage to the lives lost in the rap community — among them The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac and Nipsey Hussle — with RZA using the moment as a call for gun reform. “We gotta change gun violence, we gotta change that s—,” the emcee said, also referencing the shootings in Chicago over the Fourth of July weekend. “The government tried to regulate women but won’t regulate guns. They tried to regulate education but not guns to stop school shootings. But what do we know, we’re just rappers,” he added, concluding his remarks with a call to the audience to raise peace signs.

As much as the remembrances (and “out of character” birthday shoutouts to RZA and Inspectah Deck) were a theme, there was also a strong focus on the future, starting with tapping Run The Jewels, one of the most defining modern rap acts, to open. Since forming in 2013, the accomplished duo made up of Killer Mike and El-P have racked up Grammy noms and topped Billboard charts for their politically and socially driven missives (on this night, launching into a diatribe about the state of the country and ICE). RTJ has rightfully been the go-to support for important music moments such as opening for Rage Against the Machine’s short-lived reunion in 2022 and the Wu-Tang farewell tour, where they included their song “ooh la la” that pays homage to Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

Elsewhere, Wu-Tang also used set transitions to preview upcoming projects from individual members like a preview of RZA’s new film, “One Spoon of Chocolate,” and filled the late ODB’s spot with his nearly identical son YDB. “He’s got a lifetime job now, just like his pops,” said Method Man, hinting that, no matter what, Wu-Tang’s saga continues.

Wu-Tang Clan Set List at United Center

Act 1:

Sunlight

Bring da Ruckus

Clan in da Front

Da Mystery of Chessboxin’

Wu Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta F’ Wit

Method Man

Shame on a N- – – –

Protect Ya Neck

Act 2:

The Way We Were (Gladys Knight & The Pips cover)

Can It Be All So Simple

Holla (Ghostface Killah song)

Criminology

’97 Mentality (Cappadonna song)

Above the Clouds (Gang Starr cover)

Incarcerated Scarfaces (Raekwon song)

Ice Cream (Raekwon song)

Bring the Pain (Method Man song)

All I Need (Method Man song)

Act 3:

Liquid Swords (GZA song)

Duel of the Iron Mic (GZA song)

4th Chamber (GZA song)

Gravel Pit

No Said Date (Masta Killa song)

Run (Cappadonna song)

Tearz

Act 4:

Reunited

Shimmy Shimmy Ya (Ol’ Dirty Bastard song)

Got Your Money (Ol’ Dirty Bastard song)

C.R.E.A.M.

Triumph