Possibly one of the Last Shows for the Actor/Musician Donald Glover
If you were to ask me what my favorite show of the year would be, I would not have expected to say aloud that it was going to be a rap show that I would attend because my daughter wanted someone to be front and center. The Childish Gambino tour at the Amalie Arena in Tampa was just that show. Stay with me here as this show last week was visually and musically amazing.
Childish Gambino is the alter ego of the actor Donald Glover, best known for his time on the TV show Community along with many awards for creation and appearance in the FX original, Atlanta.
I first heard Childish Gambino on the Late Night with Conan O’Brien show singing Heartbeat from his debut album Camp in 2011. I immediately downloaded Heartbeat and then found Bonfire and Sunrise which are two of my favorite rap songs of all time. The humor that Gambino has in his lyrics is incredibly unique as he tells you about his background as a BLERD(black nerd) from Georgia who went to NYU and then wrote for 30 Rock under Tina Fey.
Those three songs stayed on my phone playlist for the next few years. When my daughter got to the age when she started taking over the music in our car rides, she was playing songs by Travis Scott, Kanye, and Tyler the Creator at which point I strongly encouraged her to take a listen to Gambino. I played Bonfire and she was hooked. As an aspiring DJ she went down a Gambino rabbit hole listening to every one of his songs over and over. Now, as a fan I was thrilled, as a father, I did not love that she repeats the lyrics aloud, but as a lover of 90’s hip hop, how can I pass judgement. Gambino’s music had continued to change over the years as he moved away from traditional hip hop to more of an R&B artist.
I have mentioned in previous stories how I have a bucket list of artists that I want to see, and my daughter is no different. She has been lucky that she has been able to see most of her favorite artists through the help of her parents and when Gambino announced this would be his final tour, we knew that we needed to be there.
This takes us to last Wednesday night where my daughter and I took the 90-minute drive to Tampa through monsoon like rain to get to the arena. We parked grabbed our umbrellas and ran through the flooded streets to get in line for the early floor access. We grabbed some PDQ to snack on and then were released onto the floor at about 7pm. Now with wet shoes and socks, we took our place standing on a thin layer of plastic over the ice rink for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Good times. We made our way to the railing next to the main stage runway and waited patiently as the crowd started to fill in. I quickly realized that I was not going to be able to move for the next 4 hours as my spot would be taken by those hovering behind me leaving my 16-year-old by herself.
Willow (Smith) the daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith took the stage around 8:15 with her band. I had the chance to see Willow at Camp Flog Gnaw last year in Los Angeles and was looking forward to another good show. The crowd was excited to see Willow as she captivated the audience as she greeted the crowd in a long gold dress and bare feet. It seems like she is still trying to figure out what type of artist she is wanting to be as she jumped genres from rock to jazz to R&B but crowd was behind her. She would have benefited from a cordless mic as she seemed tethered to the wired mic and stand and did not use the whole stage to her advantage.
Someone who did use the whole stage and for that matter the whole arena was Childish Gambino. The lights dropped down and an LED helmet appeared on the screen and started to sing. Quickly everyone realized he was not on the main stage but across the arena on the small secondary stage where he sang his first song , Hearts Were Meant to Fly, he then proceeded to come down from that stage and walk the length of the arena right past us to the main stage.
The stage was set up on the north end of the arena and he had a runway that was almost dead center. Behind each stage was a large light tower that shot laser beams across the whole arena as well as fiber optic cables that came down right below highlighting a projection of him singing.
Gambino never stopped moving and dancing throughout his 29 songs. He also never stopped entertaining the crowd. He continually had the whole crowd jumping and I even started jumping when I got to hear Heartbeat and Bonfire, trying to rap along the best I could. During his intermission he had the camera follow him backstage to towel off and get something to drink. He continued to talk to the crowd and even sing while backstage. He then came out back in his fiber optic helmet on the main stage only to find out that it was a stunt double, and Gambino appeared back on the B stage across the arena. He again made his way through the crowd and even got close enough for my daughter to touch his shoulder which almost brought her to tears. Her passion for music, especially live shows run deep. My favorite moment of the night for sure.
As I alluded to earlier, one of the best concerts of the year and in the opinion of my daughter the best concert she has ever seen. I would tell you it is a must see, however, Childish Gambino announced this week that he is cancelling the remainder of his North American tour which makes us feel even that much more special that we were lucky enough to see him before he was gone. I guess I will just have to enjoy his TV and movies going forward.
