In hip-hop, perhaps more than any other genre, the symbiosis between performer and audience is crucial – a dull crowd begets a dull show, and vice versa. During the opening acts before the veteran Wu-Tang Clan rapper, the whole room feels like a bath with the plug slightly dislodged – any excitement drains away imperceptibly at first, then all at once.
Arriving an hour late, Ghostface has already tested the crowd’s patience with a series of listless opening acts from his Yapp City crew. So when he finally appears with fellow Wu member Cappadonna, plus IcemanBronx Man, the response is tepid – particularly since his second song, Special Delivery, is a Diddy track that he features on. But at the distinctive opening chords of Criminology, the crowd swells; he begins to pack in some Wu-Tang heavy hitters (Ice Cream, Ice Water), and Fish from 1996 album Ironman is particularly well-received, as he and Cappadonna bounce and sway.
