RZA Talks the Group’s Extended Farewell Shows

In 2018, RZA pitched the rest of Wu-Tang Clan on a five-year plan, which would corral all of the members that had been floating in and out of projects and serve as an exclamation point on their storied run. Actually, there were two different five-year plans — although the timelines were intertwined. “I called it ‘The Relay Plan,’” says the Wu’s longtime mastermind.

One timetable would involve the film properties focused on the groundbreaking New York hip-hop collective: a multipart documentary (which became Showtime’s four-­episode Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men in 2019), a TV dramatization of the group’s formation (Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga, which ran for three seasons through 2023) and “some type of feature film” that RZA says is still to be determined. The other plan would center on live shows — a multiple-tour farewell that would unite all 10 members and allow them to scatter upon its conclusion.

“That was my pitch to the brothers,” RZA recalls. It might have been a tough sell, considering how busy the members were: “Method Man was making movies, Ghostface [Killah] was making albums, people have families and all of that.” RZA himself was interested in getting behind the camera; this year, One Spoon of Chocolate, an action thriller he wrote and directed, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. But, RZA says, “I told everyone, ‘If we can carve out the time to match your schedules and lifestyles, would you agree to do this?’ And everybody said yes.”

Wu-Tang Clan’s touring renaissance began with NY State of Mind, a co-headlining run with Nas in 2022 and 2023, and continued in 2024 with the Las Vegas residency The Saga Continues. Yet Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber, a farewell arena tour that began in June, has become the culmination of the group’s strategy: Not only has the show earned rave reviews and included top-line guest stars, it has been one of the hottest legacy tours this year.

From 27 shows in June and July, The Final Chamber grossed $30.6 million, with 245,000 tickets sold, according to Billboard Boxscore. The $1.2 million average gross per show exceeded the average for NY State of Mind ($897,000 per show) and significantly outperformed Wu-Tang’s 2019 tour alongside Public Enemy and De La Soul ($692,000). “It blew away our expectations,” says manager Tyler Childs, who started working with RZA in 2009. “We knew that their first-ever Madison Square Garden show was going to sell well. But Raleigh, N.C.? Tampa, Fla.? These are arenas and are not core Wu-Tang [markets], but these shows sold out quickly.”

RZA says the co-headlining tour with Nas “built up their momentum” and that the Las Vegas residency elevated the production value of the group’s stage show. (“We had actors, dancers — a samurai fighting during an orchestrated version of ‘Shame on a N—a’!”) When it came time to game-plan The Final Chamber, the goal was to translate those experiences into a thoughtfully curated arena set: RZA and his team would huddle in his Woodland Hills office, dozens of sticky notes with the Wu member names sprawled across a window, and concoct a set list that would tastefully showcase each MC — a process that made RZA feel like part “sports GM” and part “Broadway stage manager.”

The Final Chamber show was ultimately structured into four acts: a full-group opening blast of energy with multiple classics from Enter the 36 Chambers, then a soulful reprieve marked by Raekwon and Method Man solo tracks, then a “samurai” section highlighted by GZA’s Liquid Swords material and then a family-­first finale featuring Wu-Tang Forever staples “Reunited” and “Triumph.” As the tour made its way toward a Northeast conclusion in mid-July, the surprise guests became more notable: The Madison Square Garden show included Lil Kim, Big Daddy Kane, Redman and SWV, while the final stop at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center boasted Lauryn Hill, LL Cool J and Freeway.

“We passed the mic because it wasn’t only about us — it was about hip-hop,” RZA explains of the guest stars. “There’s a stigma that hip-hop couldn’t be what it is — that from our generation, you couldn’t have an arena tour full of artists in their 40s and 50s performing. It was predicted that this would not happen, but Wu-Tang is living it out, and we’re doing what rock music did before us.”

The Philly performance could have been the final Wu-Tang Clan concert ever had ticket sales been anemic; now the show will be the end of the group’s first leg of an extended farewell run that will push into 2026. “There are a lot of different options,” Childs says, “certainly Europe, Australia, Asia and then definitely coming back to North America next year. What shape does that take? It’s going to be arenas again, and we want to go to markets that haven’t been repeated.”

At some point, however, Wu-Tang Clan will leave the stage together for a final time and both five-year plans will be complete. “’Bittersweet’ is the word,” says RZA, who celebrated his 56th birthday on the tour. “We’re getting all this love. But to be honest, [performing] is not easy. It’s not like I’m 25 years old. Method Man is in great shape, but he’s like, ‘Yo, I’m tired!’

“At the end of the day, I love the art and I love performing,” RZA continues, “but I know that there’s an exit to it. And mentally, we’re preparing for that.”

This story appears in the Aug. 30, 2025, issue of Billboard.