Twitpic: @mymanhenri 1. It was Ghostface’s first time in Toronto in over 10 years and he made extra-sure you felt the absence. Scooping out the rawest cuts from his deeeeep catalogue – five Wu-Tang Clan albums + nine solo albums + myriad side projects – Ghost seemed to scarcely breathe as he yell-rapped at least one verse of basically everything he’s ever recorded. For anyone else, this would’ve been a sloppy, disastrous strategy. Ghostdini, by sheer fucking charisma, turned a fluid mass of back-to-back-to-back bangers (like, “Apollo Kids,” “Mighty Healthy,” “Run,” “Biscuits”) into an elaborate production without lasers or hydraulic cubes. 2. “I got so many of these fucking aliases, yo!” The success of the Big Ghost Chronicles blog reinforces why Tony Starks is one of rap’s most universally beloved characters: his affable sense of humour. Almost everything tumbling out of his mouth manages to be simultaneously hilarious, menacing and insightful. (From now on, please refer to Toronto as “Wu-Dot” instead of “T-dot”) But the offbeat quips, pot-mouth tendencies and real-time narrative, plus the ability to give into the fun of being on stage, also make Ghost’s show one of the best going. Bringing two guys on stage to rap along (karaoke?) to “Protect Ya Neck,” Ghost gave us this concession: “If these guys fuck up, boo them n*gga!” 3. Dude-to-girl ratio was approximately 5,000:1. Sorry, but it is way more fun being surrounded by fanboy goons at a rap show minus their girlfriends because their enthusiasm is contagious! It stands that being walled in from every side by tree-like bodies means your line of sight is limited to leather jackets and toques, but that’s not so bad when you are in standing in the World’s Largest Hotbox. Also, there isn’t much of the everydude uniform at a Ghostface show. Instead, I saw Wallabees, of course, looooots of camo, and silkscreened Wu-Tang shirts from 1995. 4. From the predictable, heavy-on-the-’90s pre-show mix, to the older crowd, to the energy on stage, it felt like being transported back in time. Nostalgia is so obviously the tour’s bread and butter: Ghost borrowed liberally from his Wu brothers (and brought out ODB’s son Boy Jones for “Shimmy Shimmy Ya”) but also sifted through the canon of ’90s hip-hop. I’m pretty sure he did “93 til’ Infinity” at one point? 5. Best show of the year! Boohoo if you missed it.