In the past few years (most of) Wu-Tang Clan have played two collective shows at the Enmore, and a handful of solo shows scattered around which seems to indicate that they boys really love Australia, and we love that such an iconic group are now frequent visitors to our shore.

With the first Wu-Tang solo show of the year, and the promise to hear one of the greatest Wu-Tang solo LP’s (Liquid Swords) live, the oldest of the Wu posse, GZA, once again graced the Metro Theatre to bring us nothing but raw and rugged hip-hop.

Worth the price of admission alone, GZA wasn’t left to hold the show on his own, the promoters gave us an extra special treat by bringing Pharoahe Monch and Jean Grae to constitute a massive triple-bill that guaranteed hip-hop fans their money’s worth.

Unfortunately, Rahzel, who was promised to be at the show, had to cancel at the last minute due to personal issues.

Aside from finding out that Rahzel wouldn’t there, the first hiccup of the night became apparent when Jean Grae was about 30 minutes late to the stage and set times were subsequently pushed back.

Being no stranger to Wu gigs I secured a nice spot towards the entrance because, let’s face it; Australian Wu-Tang fans are to the hip-hop scene what shirtless pill-munchers are to dance festivals. This was made even clearer when Jean Grae finally took the stage and received little appreciation, or even acknowledgement. The talented female emcee seemed to know what to do though, her witty banter and undeniable stage presence eventually won the crowd over as she launched into mostly new material, starting with ‘Casebasket.’

After a few more harder hitting tracks like ‘Stick Up Dance’ and a very entertaining cover of Biz Markie’s ‘Just A Friend’ Grae seemd to opt for slower jams, and while she showed off a pleasant singing voice, the songs, with the exception of “I’m Not The One,” were bland and forgettable. While they may sound great in the studio, in a live setting, especially at a Wu-based concert, they just didn’t fit. What did make up for a ‘half good, half bad’ set was Grae’s attitude, she really made you feel that if you disrespected her (and believe me, much of the crowd unfortunately did so) she would smack the living daylights out of you.

Pharoahe Monch made an abrupt and almost unnoticeable appearance on stage, joining Jean Grae for a performance of their relentless “Assassins,” kicking things off in a very positive direction. Monch, another frequent Aussie-visitor, would not and did not drop the ball while the mic was in his control, pushing out tracks like “What It Is” and “Free” without missing a beat, and that’s saying a lot since his unique flow requires perfect breath control.

Small surprises were dropped throughout the set like a hip-hop mix of Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Bull On Parade’ during ‘free’ but the biggest surprise of the night was when a drunk bogan jumped on stage and started telling Monch to “get the fuck off the stage.” Rather than give this disrespectful son of a bitch what he deserved, Monch remained professional and let security deal with him while the fans showed disapproval of their peers’ actions.

The incident didn’t seem to dishearten Pharoahe Monch at all, while the W.A.R-heavy set rolled on culminating in a tribute to Nate Dogg with “Oh No” and the monster-jam “Simon Says” which always gets the crowd going – perhaps the biggest fan reaction of the night.

My only gripe was with the lack of any Organized Konfusion material, whereas Monch usually at least performs the classic ‘Bring It On.’ Aside from this, yet again another great set from one of the most criminally underrated emcees in the game.

GZA was scheduled to begin at 11:30pm but that soon became 12am as the crowd turned restless and made security’s job much harder.

Just past midnight, The Genius finally made his way out onto the stage and was met with cult-esque praise from many ready for their annual Wu-fix. ‘Duel of the Iron Mic’ served as the set opener, with the crowd obviously knowing just about every word of the rap classic. A promise was broken though, we didn’t get to hear everything off the seminal Liquid Swords and because of GZA’s solo-ness most of the cuts were frustratingly short performances like my personal favourite ‘Gold’ which was over before it even began.

One thing that sets GZA apart from his Wu peers is his more laid-back and soulful flow, and this allows classic jams like ‘Cold World’ and ‘I Gotcha Back’ to work so well both recorded and live.

GZA knew that most of the crowd consisted of those familiar with all Wu material and hence performed a lot of the material any hardcore fan would want to hear, because of this less popular tracks like ‘Crash Ya Crew’ and ‘Swordsman’ made welcome appearances, the former being performed mostly from the middle of the crowd.

Other Wu classics like Raekwon’s ‘Guillotine’ were given a nod from The Genius, as well as most of their hits as a collective like ‘Reunited’ and ‘Clan in Da Front,’ all of which made the already-lively crowd constantly burst with energy. It was a riot by the time the expected Ol’ Dirty Bastard tribute came on, with everyone joining in for ‘Shimmy Shimmy Ya’ – always a beautiful thing to see.

The night ended with the strong medley of ‘Triumph’ (with GZA even performing Inspectah Deck’s classic verse), ‘Protect Ya Neck.’ And ‘Shame On A..’ which saw GZA closing his set with ODB’s iconic part.

There was no encore from the emcee, which seemed like a bit of a rip off, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the night was cut short because of the rowdy crowd. Fights and people getting kicked out were commonplace all throughout the night, but despite the majority of the crowd the night ended up as one of the better Wu solo shows I’ve been to, and this is largely due to assistance from Pharoahe Monch and Jean Grae.