Childish Gambino feels the love.
The star artist’s latest stop on The New World Tour was Atlanta, his hometown, on Sept. 2 at State Farm Arena. Gambino, also known as Donald Glover, sold out the venue. Thousands of cell phone lights illuminated the space from the general admission area, where fans waited in line from 9 a.m. Labor Day morning to get good spots on the floor, to the highest sections up top, to which Gambino made a point to repeat, “You’re important!” before a beat drop.
“This really means a lot to me, no BS,” Gambino told the crowd. “Back in the day, there was no internet. I’m that old. There was no internet to find other weirdos. You had to go to Little Five Points. Over there, you could find Goodie Mob or Outkast [records]. Now, to see all of the greatness that comes out of this city, to see all the music, and you guys still show up, it’s just really beautiful.”
For an hour and 45 minutes, Gambino performed on two stages and walked through the crowd multiple times to perform the most popular songs from his catalog, from 2011 to his latest album, Bando Stone & The New World. The set featured wardrobe changes, a live band, dancers and strobe lights like no other arena tour. It was up there with Missy Elliott’s tour for the most creative video presentation of this year’s hip-hop shows. He didn’t bring out any guests, and the fans were still as satisfied as they walked out to State Farm Arena employees blasting “This is America,” “3005” and Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You” as they walked out.
Many critics of Gambino’s music in the early 2010s might be surprised to see how far his career has come from the days of being written off as a “cringe-worthy” online rapper with a screeching voice. Unironically, some of those same songs, like “Do Ya Like,” “Bonfire,” “Freaks and Geeks” and “L.E.S.” brought some of the loudest reception from the crowd during the night in the close to the largest venues he’s headlined in his 13-year career. While early doubters might have been surprised to see what Gambino has become, the 40-year-old surpassed his childhood expectations.
“You want to know what my first concert was?” Gambino asked the crowd. “I saw Kris Kross at the Fox Theatre when I was in first grade. I had gotten A’s, and my mom said I could go to this Kris Kross concert, to which I was like, ‘A rap show? And I can go?’ So I had on my overalls backward, as you did in 1991. I looked fly as f—. My bad a– first-grade self.”
“And I saw Kris Kross perform at the Fox Theatre with a little-known group at the time, you might have heard of them, they’re called TLC, and another group, ABC, Another Bad Creation. It blew my mind. I was like, ‘If one day, I could get on the Fox Theatre stage and perform in Atlanta, I’ve made it.’ ”
Gambino performed at the Fox Theatre in 2011 on his IAMDONALD tour. The venue has a capacity of 4,665. State Farm Arena has a capacity of upwards of 17,000.
“So to see all these lights … and I’m in the State Farm Arena, n—-?” Gambino said.
Willow opened the night as she showed off her impressive singing and guitar-playing abilities. Her unique sound makes her an artist like no other, and her art also knows no bounds. The 23-year-old continues to push the boundaries of what it means to be a modern-day musician.
Gambino and Willow have a day of travel before returning to the stage on Sept. 4 in Tampa, Florida.
