It's almost comforting to learn that Wu-Tang Clan members still sometimes don't show up for Wu-Tang Clan shows. The chaos of Wu-Tang group performances has been a constant through most of their history, going all the way back to the '90s. I once caught a European festival set where only four of the ten core members made it to the stage. It was still great! The Wu-Tang members who do show up know how to cover for those absences, sometimes performing deeper cuts and changing up setlists on the fly. Wu-Tang have had a more professional operation lately, but the old chaos came back during their recent Australian tour.
In recent years, the Wu-Tang Clan have been in legacy-management mode, with their Showtime documentary and their Hulu series and all. Right now, they've nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Last year, they went on a farewell arena tour, and they're bringing the farewell tour back for an encore run this summer. Last week, the Wu-Tang farewell tour came to Australia, and promoters are now offering refunds after four members didn't show up, as The Music Network reports.
On their Instagram story, the group reportedly announced ahead of the show that Method Man wouldn't be joining them. But before the opening show at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, fans didn't get any word that Raekwon and Cappadonna would also no-show. They also didn't hear about the absence of Young Dirty Bastard, the son of late Wu-Tang member Ol' Dirty Bastard who performs his father's parts on current Wu-Tang shows.
Promotional materials for Wu-Tang's Australian tour reportedly promised "all members" would be there, and that obviously didn't happen. So even though the three shows got positive reviews, Austalian company Ticketek offered refunds and warned fans in Melbourne and Sydney that some group members wouldn't be there. I would argue that this just means they got the real Wu-Tang experience.
