FAINT WAVES

Childish Gambino, live at the T-Mobile Center, 08/12/24. Shabby video stills provided by yours truly.

I’ve seen a few concerts this year with a few more coming down the line. I didn’t plan to write anything for this specific show, but after seeing it, I almost felt obligated. I’ve been following Donald Glover, and more specifically his career as Childish Gambino, since I was in my late teens. I’m very familiar with his work and have been a fan for well over a decade. All of this is simply to say that, going into this concert, I knew I would have a good time. What I didn’t count on, was just how spectacular everything would turn out, nor that it would end up in my top three live performances of all-time. 

I’ll give you some background beyond what I’ve already said to give this writing some context and something of a narrative through-line. I’ve had a number of opportunities to see Childish Gambino live over the years. From him being in my hometown to him being at Bonnaroo the sole time I ever attended, I’ve had chances to see Gambino time and again. Yet, it never happened. There’s any number of reasons why that is, most of which come down to me feeling it unnecessary. As much as I liked his work, I just didn’t feel the drive or the need to see him. I considered myself fairly casual as a listener; I’ll touch more on that later. Flash forward though, and Donald Glover has become something of a superstar known for his work as an actor/auteur. A long way from his time on Community, Donald Glover has carved out a unique and impressive artistic niche for himself, whether it’s with the abstract and surreal Atlanta or his crowd-pleasing iteration of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Never mind his connections to colossal franchises like Star Wars and Spider-Man. With these things in mind, it’s easy to forget that he’s a musician, and a genuinely talented one at that. Donald Glover himself has increasingly put his music on the back burner over the years, presumably just because he’s been focusing on these other things I’ve mentioned.

Donald Glover went as far as announcing the eventual retirement of the Childish Gambino name/project all the way back in 2017. That may tell you just how long this has been gestating and that it’s likely not some impulsive decision on his part. That brings us to today, the supposed final Gambino album (Bando Stone & The New World, a sort of soundtrack that coincides with a film) is finally out and he’s on what could be the final Childish Gambino tour. After all the opportunities I had to see him and all the years that have slipped by, I was given one more shot, and I knew I couldn’t pass it up. Even if this isn’t his final musical outing, I don’t have a problem believing it to be his final under the Childish Gambino banner, and I wanted to see what that looked like. So I went, I attended night two of his “New World Tour”. After seeing him and what his live show looks and sounds like, it reinforces my belief that this really could be the end, or at least an end. There’s a sense that this really has been a long time coming. Donald Glover has seemingly pulled out all the stops to ensure this Childish Gambino tour is as strong as possible. It is equal parts a retrospective, a celebration, and a requiem. Not unlike the film attached to his new album, there’s a vaguely dystopian quality to what he’s doing, a finality; optimism and hope in the face of destruction. Without further ado, let me walk you through the show proper.

It was really almost serendipitous, the tickets I purchased for myself and a friend were double booked by the venue, so we got moved an entire section closer to the stage for free. Immediately, before the music even began, things were off to a strong start. The concert started with Childish Gambino’s opening act, Willow (a.k.a Willow Smith). The good fortune continued, as I was pleasantly surprised by Willow and what she brought to the stage. I wasn’t expressly familiar with her music, one or two songs maybe, but that didn’t end up mattering much because she primarily focused on new material. New material that is pretty slick by the way, definitely give her latest album (Empathogen) a look. The set was strong enough to dissuade any talk of nepotism, because there’s some real talent happening there, regardless of her two famous parents and how her musical career began. At just 23 years old, I’m intrigued by both where she is and where she’ll end up. She has serious vocal chops live and her backing band was doing some serious work of their own. There’s a strong sort of 90’s edge to what Willow and her band were doing; an ebb and flow between jazz, funk, and alternative rock. If Sade, Fugees, and The Cranberries had a love child? You’d be in the ballpark of what Willow was doing on that stage. If that seems like high praise, it is. It really was quite something, especially for someone like myself, who was largely uninitiated. If there’s any way to introduce someone to Willow, I might just recommend you do it through her live work, it certainly did the trick for me. In retrospect, she really was a perfect choice to open for Childish Gambino.

Then there’s the man of the hour, Childish Gambino himself. There was a sort of audio-visual preamble to Gambino coming out, a distant rumble and the sound of the wind, accompanied by strobing lights. The lights culminated in a sort of spinning detonation before fizzling out and giving way to the voice of a fembot. “Hello and welcome to the New World Tour, featuring Childish Gambino”, she said. The venue featured two stages: the main stage to my left and stage B in front of me. Childish Gambino materialized via some stage craft, arriving on stage B, illuminated only by red light. In a fashion that might bring to mind the likes of Daft Punk or Will.i.am., Childish Gambino wore a luminescent helmet and jumpsuit. It was appropriately dramatic and the theatrics didn’t overstay their welcome. After a short intro of two songs, “H3@RT$ W3RE M3@NT T0 F7¥” and “Survive” (new cuts from Bando Stone), he ditched the helmet and unveiled his visage, much to the thrill of the audience. From there, he made his way to the main stage, walking through the floor crowd to get there. “Wow, y’all are young in this motherfucker. Yo, welcome to the last Childish Gambino tour, The New World Tour”, Gambino said, before going into detail about the new technology they’ve got for the tour. Lights and lasers, so powerful they shouldn’t be touched for any significant length of time, the likes of which I’ve certainly never encountered in a live event. “This show is for the fans, for the real fans. I hope you guys are real fans, because I’m doing real fan music tonight”, he declared, moments from climbing the stairs to the main stage. I didn’t know it at the time, but the idea of “real fans” was a recurring motif in the show and something that I would personally contend with after it. Finally, he arrived on the main stage, and he proceeded to blow the roof off of the place with 28 more songs.

On the main stage proper, he launched into “I. The Worst Guys”, a track from his 2013 opus, Because The Internet. With that album having its 10th anniversary just nine months ago, it would’ve been very easy for Childish Gambino to capitalize on that and have that album make up the majority of his set. He didn’t fall into that aforementioned trap though, with 11 songs of the 30 song set being tracks from his new album, Bando Stone & The New World. That isn’t to say Because The Internet got shafted, he still did five cuts off of that album, and there’s no denying the crowd reaction to any one of them. Speaking of crowd reactions, it was refreshing to be in a crowd that actually loved the new material. So often you go to shows and people just want to hear the hits and never bring the energy they should to newer material. That was not the case here. People were already familiar with the new material and reacted accordingly; that made the whole show feel like a near seamless experience because the entire venue seemed locked in and just there for everything Gambino had to offer. The next five songs included four from the new album and one from Atavista, the 2024 reissue and “finished version” of his 2020 release, 3.15.20. After that was a sultry solo rendition of his new Kaytranada feature, “Witchy”, which benefited very much from Gambino’s superb backing band. A backing band that, I might add, has been with him for nearly 20 years. That backing band and Childish Gambino’s own live chops, whether singing or rapping, really brought a vibrant and new energy to every song.

I could talk at length about every single song and how there was never a dull moment, but we’d be here all day, so I’ll just do my level best to sum up the remainder of the show for you and talk about some of my personal highlights. One of which was the very next song; after eight songs of unbridled enthusiasm and energy, Gambino used the sultry groove of “Witchy” to slow things down and segue into “Steps Beach”. Steps Beach is a simple, breezy, ultra-mellow cut off the new album. Those of you who are familiar with me and my interests, it’s easy to see why I would like this song. It’s not my favorite on the record, but it is probably the most accessible and certainly the most laid-back on the album. Comprised of an acoustic guitar, a sparse electric piano, a moog synth, and a downtempo beat, this is the sort of song that translates well in almost any live setting. With many of his songs, he and his band made tasteful changes for the live arrangements; they didn’t bother with this one because it wasn’t necessary. They just did what was on the record, live. Conversely, the next song was a case where the live arrangement was different and vastly superior. There was a tonal shift as Childish Gambino pivoted to “I. Crawl”, a well-known hit from Because The Internet. Crawl is a song that my friends used to use to test speakers and subwoofers. Live, that same power was there, this time amplified by thick guitars. It gave the song a sort of rap-rock underpinning that was never present in the studio version. It was absolutely a standout.

Other favorites included a rousing rendition of “Feels Like Summer”, a socio-political commentary wrapped up in a brilliant 2018 summer jam. Live, he stuck close to the studio version until making a remark about the sad nature of the song, and then he turned the remainder of the song into an uptempo groover that stood in stark contrast to the original. Then there was “Human Sacrifice”, a long-gestating song that made its first appearance in a 2019 commercial for the Google Pixel, but didn’t see release until this year on the Atavista reissue. I’m not kidding when I say that I had been waiting years for that specific song to finally see release, so for it to not only be released but also get to see it performed live? It was extremely gratifying for me as a listener. When I heard those percussive techno hits, glittering synths, and that pan flute arpeggio, the journey was complete. What a moment. “Sober” from his 2014 project, Kauai, was another highlight. Largely a bass-heavy, synth-driven R&B tune with the occasional guitar flourish, Sober was another that benefited greatly from its altered live arrangement. The guitars and keys were front and center, second only to Gambino’s well-performed vocals. If I can reiterate anything, it’s that Childish Gambino’s live vocals were excellent; he sounded great. Just different enough to tell he was doing it live, but similar enough to be reminiscent of the original vocal recording, the exact balance you want. Songs like “Heartbeat”, “Bonfire”, “III. Urn” (which the crowd thankfully chose when given a choice between it and “Saturday”, Urn hadn’t been performed in 10 years!), “V. 3005”, and “Redbone” (in which Gambino gracefully walks the vocal line between Prince and Macy Gray) were all performed beautifully. Then he left the stage, and the credits rolled, literally. There was a credit sequence up on the screen, like that of a film, that detailed everyone and everything that went into this show and the tour. It cemented the theater-like spectacle that the show had for me, and when the credits came to a close, one word popped up on screen: “Lithonia?”.

The venue erupted with applause at the suggestion of one last musical number, “Lithonia”, the lead single from the new album. With the sound of the song’s lone organ playing him out, Gambino made his way back on to the stage, illuminated from behind by a wheel of prismatic light. He sang the intro, and the lights dropped out, revealing him in full as the keys, synths, and guitars came in. Him and his band ended the show with the closest thing to a rock number in his catalogue and what an ending it was; it made sense in the context of the setlist and it was a perfect closer. Just like that, it was over, and I was floored. Actively blown away. So much so, that outside the venue, I came to the inevitable conclusion that I was a “real fan”. It’s an interesting feeling when you walk away from a concert, realizing just how big of a fan you are of that artist. It was a sensation I had, coming down from the adrenaline of the show. Walking away from that spectacle, and it was a spectacle in every sense of the word, I knew almost every single song and I loved how he performed them. The very few I didn’t know off-hand were still brilliantly arranged and completely enjoyable. I was under no illusion that I was Gambino’s biggest fan—not at all, quite the opposite really. I knew I liked his work, but I suppose it’s like I mentioned at the beginning of this writing: I saw myself as more of a casual listener, someone more passive than die-hard. In truth, I had underestimated just how much I like Childish Gambino and his catalogue. I think perhaps I had taken his work at face value each time over the years, enjoying this and enjoying that, not really taking inventory of the brilliant magnitude of pieces that had connected with me. It wasn’t until they were presented to me this way—collected, compiled, arranged, and performed live and direct—that I could grasp not just the artistic merit of it all but the sheer entertainment value and impact it had on me. It really was a near immaculate bridge of art and entertainment, this concert, and you really could say the same of Gambino’s musical vision. It was a spectacular showcase and celebration, a fitting end to a truly remarkable musical legacy, with an identity all its own outside of his many other creative pursuits. I may have waited until what could be the last second to see Childish Gambino, but I picked the right time because it was all leading here. For him, as the artist. For me, as the fan.

In closing, I’d like to address something I’ve seen in regards to the PR done for the new album and the tour. Some people have been critical of how Donald Glover has talked about and promoted his new album and the tour that coincides with it. I’ve seen individuals reluctant to bother with the new record and the supposed final tour, simply because they feel he’s apathetic about the music and has already moved on, making some feel as though it’s all an afterthought and they have no “incentive” to listen or see him perform. To some, he has come off dismissive of the music and, by extension, dismissive of the fans. I think this perspective is nonsense and people simply don’t get what’s going on from an artistic standpoint. People are simply taking away all the wrong things from what Donald Glover has had to say about the end of his time as Childish Gambino. Donald has spoken on this time in his life and the music, it can simply be boiled down to this: the music had its time for him artistically and this is the end (for now). He feels he’s done all he can or needs to do with it, especially under the Gambino name. He simply wants to focus on other things. He wants to focus on being Donald Glover; he wants to focus on things that matter to him, like his wife and children, and other things that he feels passion for creatively. He has not discarded or disowned the music; he’s simply been honest about where he stands with it and the finality he feels.

Perhaps I see it differently, as I feel I can relate in my own way. Myself and many other artists can tell you, sometimes the passion isn’t there, and you have to move on to something else. You have to go where creativity takes you, where passion takes you, and where you find fulfillment. Art is not this thing that we, the consumers of it, are entitled to. You do not need an “incentive” to take in the art; the art itself is that incentive. Take it in or don’t, but do not expect the artist to appeal to you and your sensibilities, and do not ask the artist to feel differently than how they feel about their work. The artist does not owe you anything and you are not entitled to some great enthusiasm that they may or may not have. This does not mean Childish Gambino doesn’t care about the new music; he made it and saw it worthy to release, and the work he put in? You do not put in that work when you are checked out, when you do not care, because if you do? It’s obvious. This tour and the live show I saw, night two of what may very well be a final tour for him as Childish Gambino? This is not a man who is going through the motions. I can tell you with absolute certainty that he cared, that he put blood, sweat, and tears into it. He and the myriad of people he has making everything happen on that stage, in that venue; it matters to them. I felt it, I heard it, I saw it. End of story. If that’s not good enough for you? Well, to quote Gambino, nobody gives a fuck. 

Listen to Childish Gambino’s new album, Bando Stone & The New World and see Childish Gambino live on The New World Tour. You will not be sorry.