Childish Gambino has announced that the end of his musical moniker is nigh, but the singer and rapper decided to leave Nashville with a gift before he moves on from the persona: a stop on his sixth and final tour, "The New World Tour."
On Sunday night, the 40-year-old musician, actor, writer and director — born Donald Glover — hit the stage at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, delivering a nearly two-hour show that both celebrated and kissed goodbye the story of his music persona.
The "Redbone," "This is America" and "Lithonia" singer told the New York Times in July that he was ready to call it quits on releasing music as Gambino. “It really was just like, ‘Oh, it’s done,' ... It’s not fulfilling," Glover said. "And I just felt like I didn’t need to build in this way anymore.”
Or, as Gambino raps in his recently-released song "Yoshinoya": "I'm allergic to this rap s*** / Made a song, but spent more time writin' the caption / I'm an actor, you can put that on set, I'm about that action."
Though the Gambino days are done, Glover has not explicitly stated he will move away from all music-making permanently. As expressed in the lyric, the "Community" and "Atlanta" actor and writer will be focusing on his film and television projects from now on, in addition to his role as a father to three children.
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Earlier this year, Glover announced that he would be directing, writing and starring in a movie of his own. And before his musical retirement of Gambino, he dropped the soundtrack he wrote for the upcoming film, "Bando Stone & The New World."
The 17-song concept album released on July 19, and though a trailer has dropped, a release date for his upcoming film has yet to be announced. Glover will be playing protagonist Bando Stone himself, and throughout the evening in Nashville, fans would get to hear the songs of "Bando Stone" live from the very man who thought him up.
Before Gambino hit the stage, a shoeless Willow Smith warmed up the crowd.
The "Symptom Of Life" singer’s set featured screaming belts and intense popping neo-soul bass licks in front of a minimalistic set-up. A stripped down, R&B version of "Meet Me At Our Spot" had phone flashlights in the air; a jazzy version of "Wait A Minute!" brought the crowd to the "sixth dimension."
After Smith's set, 30 minutes of uneasy noises played as Gambino slowly brought the audience into the post-apocalyptic "New World" that his concept album is set within.
His upcoming film features a musician, Stone, who navigates a ravaged world with a woman and her son. They must fight prehistoric monsters and outrun a mysterious phenomenon that appears to delete chunks from the world.
The sounds playing throughout Bridgestone Arena were dystopian-sounding crackling, ominous hums and the eerie whirs of machinery as lights flickered onstage.
The tone for the night was set. Gambino would be telling us a story — and fans were eager to find out what it was.
Act I: 'Bando Stone & The New World'
Gambino first appeared to the audience on a side stage in a futuristic-looking space suit alongside smoke, pink lights and laser beams racing around him.
He began with "H3@RT$ W3RE M3@NT T0 F7¥," the first song on his new album — an intense, confrontational track. As he rapped, cylindrical glass rods that hung from the ceiling moved while lasers projected Gambino's face onto the crystalline display.
Following the song, Gambino moved into the audience, saying, "I got a few rules. Rule number one: Just keep your hands out of the way of the new equipment," he said, explaining that the show included "laser beams and s***" and that it would get "pretty intense."
"Rule number two," he said, "we need to have as much fun as humanly possible tonight. I'm not playing, this is for the fans."
From there, he dove into the first half of the show — the portion where he played much of his new album, including songs "Survive," "Talk My S***," "In the Night" "Steps Beach," "Cruisin’" and "A Place Where Love Goes."
As the show commenced, it was impossible to ignore the complexity and impressive technology incorporated into Gambino's production. The show, stage and lighting was designed by Tobias Rylander (Beyonce, The 1975).
Between a two stage set-up, a giant laser light rig could project the beams all over the stadium, or focus them onto shards of hundreds — maybe thousands — of moving glass crystals above the stage.
The beams would project moving images onto the rod-like crystals, which would move in sync to form shapes; at some points the crystals would create a cloud, other times a pyramid, occasionally a moving wave.
The first half of the show was futuristic, witchy, and moody as Gambino sang the hits off of "Bando Stone" and a couple from "Atavista," an album from earlier this year, released on May 13.
Afterwards, Gambino headed backstage as the cameras followed him, showing the rapper drinking water backstage and resting. He told the audience it was time for an intermission.
"Thank you guys for coming out, you can spend your money and time anywhere else ... you came and spent that time with me, so thank you," he said. "Go grab that beer, or pop that edible, smoke that joint ... the rest of the show is kind of a wild ride."
Gambino wasn't wrong.
Act II: Gambino tests the audience, 'But are you real fans?'
Gambino's second half of the show was a face-paced whirlwind of throwbacks that have aged into hip-hop classics over the years.
He started off with "Me and Your Mama," kicking off the new act with an impressive optical illusion.
Gambino appeared on one stage in the space suit, and as sparks flew and lights flashed, he seemingly teleported to the other stage on the opposite end of the arena. A clever body double had the audiences' jaws on the floor.
Then, Gambino shot into a test portion of the evening. He wanted to know how many folks in the arena were real fans — and he doubted any of the concert-goers were, he said.
He cycled through his classics, starting with the 2018 hit "This Is America," asking if the audience knew all the words. He segued into "IV. Sweatpants," saying that only the real fans could recite this song in full.
He wasn't convinced the arena knew him since day one, so he asked to hear the crowd sing "Sober," "L.E.S.," "Heartbeat," "Bonfire" and one of his earliest songs, "Freaks and Geeks," alongside him. Nashville passed the test, he said.
Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the show, the crowd could've held its own on the 2011 song "Bonfire" without Gambino's help at all. As the crystals turned red and moved into shifting pyramid formations, Gambino rapped with animated, bulging eyes and danced with a theatrical vigor.
Gambino reminded the crowd over and over again — he is an actor and a performer, not just a musician.
He ended the night with the funky R&B song "Redbone" and rolled tour credits over the screen by the stage like the end of a film. He then returned for the encore, performing "Lithonia."
Walking out in a rainbow-rimmed spotlight, Gambino sang the emotional power ballad, asking the arena to put their middle fingers in the air with him.
The song seemingly follows a character from his upcoming film who has a realization that nothing really matters. The crowd screamed: "Cody LaRae / He had a break / He's findin' out / That nobody gives a f***."
And just like that, Gambino's last-ever musical Nashville stop came to an end. A highly-choreographed and expertly executed cinematic show, "The New World" was more of an experience than a concert.
"I love you Nashville, Music City," Donald Glover said. "Thanks for coming to the last Childish Gambino tour. I made it."
Childish Gambino's Nashville 'New World Tour' setlist
Act I:
- H3@RT$ W3RE M3@NT T0 F7¥
- Survive
- I. The Worst Guys
- Talk My S***
- Got to Be
- In the Night
- Yoshinoya
- To Be Hunted
- Witchy (KAYTRANADAcover)
- Steps Beach
- I. Crawl
- Cruisin’
- Feels Like Summer
- Why Go to the Party
- Human Sacrifice
- A Place Where Love Goes
- No Excuses
Act II:
- Me and Your Mama
- Do Ya Like
- This Is America
- IV. Sweatpants
- Sober
- L.E.S.
- Heartbeat
- Bonfire
- Freaks and Geeks
- III. Telegraph Ave. ("Oakland" by Lloyd)
- V. 3005
- Redbone
Encore: Lithonia
Audrey Gibbs is a music reporter at The Tennessean. You can reach her at agibbs@tennessean.com.
