WU Enjoy Myself: RZA Spent His Birthday At A Phish Show In Boulder
After performing in Colorado, the night before, the WU-TANG’s Abbot used his day off to experience the world of “Vermont’s Phinest”
BONG BONG!
Wu-Tang Clan is currently on their 27-city The Final Chamber Tour, advertised as their last group tour with all remaining members performing together. When it was announced, super-producer/emcee/hip-hop mogul, Robert “RZA” Diggs, described this major endeavor by stating, “This is a special moment for me and all my Wu brothers to run around the globe together one more time and spread the Wu swag, music, and culture. Most importantly, to touch our fans and those who have supported us throughout the years.”
We caught the Seattle date on June 28th, and these shows are something special. Not only do they have Run The Jewels opening each night with an impressive production of their own, but from the visuals to the sequencing of the tracks and the heartfelt interactions, it really is something to behold. I’ve seen both RTJ and Wu-Tang before, but this is a different multi-beast altogether. The last time I saw the Clan, Method Man and Inspectah Deck weren’t even on stage with them. A tour like this requires every one of the strong personalities involved to put aside any personal beef or egos to go all out for the fans, and the shows are reflective of that. The members seem to be enjoying themselves and savoring this run, with plenty of after-party and pre-show events lined up that allow more direct interaction with the communities they are visiting.
On the 4th of July, the greatest hip-hop group of all time took the stage at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre in Greenwood Village, Colorado. At the same time, PHISH was only 41 miles away, performing the second show of a 3-night run at Folsom Field in Boulder. I wouldn’t be surprised if a number of folks doing the run dipped out on night 2 so they could catch Wu-Tang. The following day was RZA‘s 56th birthday, and, as surprising as it seems, he chose to spend it seeing PHISH‘s final night at Folsom Field.
According to sources like PHISH.net and Setlist FM (not my friends in attendance who should have texted me about it), drummer Jon Fishman wished RZA a happy birthday. Trey Anastasio did a guitar tease of the Happy Birthday song during their cover of the Talking Heads classic, “Crosseyed And Painless” and later called out “WU-TANG Forever!“
Looking at yesterday’s setlist, it appears that the band played “46 Days” as the second tune of the night. This feels like a missed opportunity for them to have switched it up to “36 Days.”
Also not performed last night: M-E-T-H-O-D MWSIY
Unfortunately, beyond the recognition of Bobby Digital being in attendance, the birthday shoutout, and Trey yelling “Wu-Tang forever!,” there doesn’t seem to have been any further incorporation of the WU references in the show. RZA didn’t join the band on stage like Jay Z did back in 2004, and they didn’t weave the C.R.E.A.M. melody into a jam, like they did with Tupac‘s “California Love” at the 1998 Portland Meadows show. And there definitely weren’t any mashups along the lines of “Can It All Be So SIMPLE,” or “A Better Tomorrow’s Song,” or “7th Chamber Below.”
We don’t know how it came about, but I’d imagine it was a spur-of-the-moment situation with no actual preparation. What I do know is that this minor crossover is already firmly embedded into the vast PHISH lore and history.
My head nearly exploded when I saw this Instagram post from Trey this morning. Anastasio‘s caption referencing RZA‘s verse from “7th Chamber” makes it all the more surreal. Photographer René Huemer captured these behind-the-scenes moments of the Older Gods, interacting. The Jedi and the Abbot. Shaolin and “Vermont’s Phinest.” It’s amazing, yet bewildering to see these two disparate, yet singular and equally influential worlds collide like this.
The response to Trey‘s post is already pretty wild. Two of my favorite comments so far are from the accounts of @utraheadies and @braxtonkhan_drums, who responded with “Stash Rules Everything Around Me” and “Wu Enjoy Myself,” respectively. As you can see, I even snaked the latter comment to title this article.
Something that several people are pointing out is that the PHISH and the WU-TANG tours will overlap again this Wednesday, July 9th, when both groups play Columbus, Ohio. Would that even make sense for them to collaborate when they each have shows booked at the same time? It doesn’t really matter, to be honest. There’s nothing that the phanbase enjoys more than speculating about this type of shit. At least we know that the first step toward any potential collaboration has been established. RZA is a curious cat, and if he’d never seen the band before, then I’m sure he was interested in discovering what it was all about. I was at that Jay Z show in Brooklyn, and the awe he felt was tangible. I wouldn’t be surprised if, at some point, RZA is intrigued enough to consider getting on stage to experience a taste of that crowd for himself. Wu-Tang already discusses the importance of energy exchanges with their own audience. And if these worlds never merge again, it’s still cool to see these photos and know this happened. I love them both.
WU-TANG is for the children (outside dancing on my lawn).
#Treyumph #ProtectYaNip