03. Wu-Tang Clan

Between fellow ’90s hip hop legend Nas’s early evening mainstage performance, and young god Kendrick Lamar’s even more crowded/electric set the next day around the same time, Bonnaroo came stacked with plenty of rap charisma. But those men are but one man each (albeit being one-of-a-kinds), and there isn’t a rapper alive — let alone a collective of them — that could hold a candle to the Wu-Tang Clan in full swing. And as swings go, the Wu-Tang Bonnaroo set was close to complete, missing only Raekwon and, of course, O.D.B. (R.I.P.). They broke in and out of formation, pumped the air, spat out hits, and generally flexed a staggering reserve of aggregate starpower/brilliance. The genius is undiminished, as is the GZA, the RZA, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Ghostface Killer and the Method Man, and Masta, making the prospect of a 20th anniversary record an extraordinarily attractive one. They just felt like they really had their shit together. You can watch them talking to Fuse News after the set to get a sense of the vibe in 2013. It’s a good one.