First on stage, 45 minutes late, came a DJ in a floppy hat, urging fans to chant for Wu-Tang Clan. Next came a flunkey with fluffy towels, which he laid out carefully in rows along the DJ’s desk. A case of water was deposited on the floor, bottles of spirits arranged to one side, with glasses, mixers and what may or may not have been nibbles. Instruments? Don’t be daft.

Fifteen years after they ambushed hip-hop with their innovative debut album, Enter he Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Staten Island’s multi-tasking collective of rappers, writers and producers occupies an odd place in pop. Still revered for their risk-taking early records, but now more successful with solo projects (not to mention missing their most controversial member, ODB, who died in 2004), they sporadically collaborate despite seeming to despise each other. When their fifth album, 8 Diagrams, was released late last year, some of the group disowned it, others refused to tour it and two took lawsuits out against each other.

The most striking aspect of their London show was that all the main members turned up. The most surprising was how well the eight rappers rubbed along. Bouncing between each other without once exchanging a dirty look, they took turns to rap, graciously shared the spotlight and even looked on admiringly during drinks breaks.

That said, the Clan’s two most famous members – producer RZA, who has a sideline in Hollywood soundtracks, and the rapper Method Man, also an actor with a recurring role in the TV series CSI – nabbed their own towels from the off and the 30-song set list included only one track from 8 Diagrams.

The rapping was boisterous, melodic, occasionally chaotic and bursting with an energy so infectious that the mostly young, male fans bounced along from start to finish, thrusting their fists in the air or, if instructed, waving their arms from side to side.

The music, sadly, was a shade of its recorded self – a muffled, bass-lite blend of beats and samples with no discernible tune. Still, several songs stood out: the funky first single Protect Ya Neck, a deliriously delivered Ice Creamand a magnificent Method Man, which, Method Man himself began by dancing with his towel and ended by throwing his broad, 6ft-plus frame on the heads of the audience.

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