Singer, rapper and actor Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover Jr., performs at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
- Jeff Strout
Singer, rapper and actor Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover Jr., performs at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
- Jeff Strout
Singer, rapper and actor Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover Jr., performs at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
- Jeff Strout
Singer, rapper and actor Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover Jr., performs at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
- Jeff Strout
Audience members watch singer, rapper and actor Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover Jr., perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
- Jeff Strout
Audience members watch singer, rapper and actor Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover Jr., perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
- Jeff Strout
Singer, rapper and actor Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover Jr., performs at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
- Jeff Strout
Following his show at the Smoothie King Center on Sept. 7, he postponed the rest of his New World Tour. Now he's canceled it.
4 min to read
Keith Spera
Singer, rapper and actor Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover Jr., performs at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
- Jeff Strout
Singer, rapper and actor Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover Jr., performs at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
- Jeff Strout
Audience members watch singer, rapper and actor Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover Jr., perform at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
- Jeff Strout
Singer, rapper and actor Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover Jr., performs at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024.
- Jeff Strout
New Orleans may have hosted a bit of hip-hop history last month: possibly the last concert by rapper Childish Gambino, otherwise known as actor, writer and director Donald Glover Jr.
Gambino headlined the Smoothie King Center on Sept. 7. Hours before showtime the next night in Houston, Glover/Gambino announced via social media that the show was postponed “due to illness.”
The next day, he revealed that the rest of the New World Tour’s North American dates would also be postponed.
The “postponement” turned out to be permanent.
On Oct. 4, he pulled the plug on the New World Tour, canceling the postponed North American dates as well as scheduled shows in Europe. The status of his 2025 shows in Australia and New Zealand is unclear.
Glover had previously “retired” his Childish Gambino alter ego. When the New World Tour was announced, fans were pleasantly surprised to have another opportunity to see him live.
But given the increasing demands of his burgeoning career in film and television, as well as his past ambivalence about continuing as a rapper, it’s entirely possible that he’ll never tour again.
Which would mean New Orleans was his swan song.
Writing, acting for TV, film
Glover launched his career as a writer on Tina Fey's sitcom "30 Rock." He then co-starred as Troy Barnes, the sweet-natured jock nerd on the NBC sitcom “Community.”
He created the award-winning FX comedy-drama series "Atlanta” and played hip-hop manager Earnest “Earn” Marks. He co-created the Amazon Prime series "Swarm." He played a young Lando Calrissian in “Solo: A Star Wars Story." He co-created and co-stars in the Amazon Prime series "Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”
All of which constituted more than enough for a successful career in creativity.
But he also sustained a parallel track as Childish Gambino, highlighted by the politicized 2018 single “This Is America" and its dramatic video. "This Is America" became the first rap single to win Grammy Awards for record and song of the year.
He was scheduled to headline the 2018 Voodoo Music Experience in City Park, only to cancel less than 48 hours before show time, citing the lingering effects of a broken foot. He had previously announced that his 2018 tour would be his last.
But this spring, Gambino dropped "ATAVISTA," the "finished version" of his 2020 album "3.15.20." The subsequent New World Tour would be an ambitious, high-tech undertaking, consisting of more than 50 shows in North America, Europe and, in early 2025, New Zealand and Australia.
A high-tech show
The tour, which kicked off Aug. 11 in Oklahoma, was not without hiccups. An Aug. 24 show at Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut was canceled hours before show time “due to production issues.”
Gambino/Glover wrote on social media that “while creating THE NEW WORLD TOUR, the idea was to give fans a new experience. we use a lot of new technologies, and when doing so, technical difficulties can arise… this has created some challenges in some settings.”
That impressive technology was on full display in New Orleans on Sept. 7. So was a problem that reportedly plagued multiple dates on the tour: slow ticket sales.
The Smoothie King Center’s entire upper level was curtained off. Scores of tickets in the lower bowl and floor were reportedly given away in an effort to “paper the room” and make it look full.
Nonetheless, Gambino/Glover was animated, engaged and eager to please as he fronted his five-person band. Two video cubes flanking the main stage offered close-ups of Glover who, as an actor, knows how to make good use of facial expressions.
Hundreds of light sticks suspended above the stage rose and fell in formation to create geometric patterns or an abstract rendering of his face. Laser beams connected light towers at opposite ends of the floor.
Glover was never overwhelmed by the bells and whistles. With boundless charisma and energy, he showcased 10 songs from “Bando Stone and the New World,” plus 19 other tracks, some truncated, from throughout his career.
Breaking down the fourth wall, a camera followed him backstage — technically he was below the stage — during a quasi-intermission at 10 p.m. The video cubes carried a livestream as Gambino toweled his sweaty face, sipped a beverage and slipped on a sort of spaceman’s jacket as he sang the falsetto “No Excuses” over a chill groove.
He put on a helmet that hid his face. The camera briefly lost sight of him, before it followed the incognito figure back onto the main stage during “Me and Your Mama.” In a nifty bit of sleight-of-hand, the real Gambino materialized on a satellite stage at the opposite end of the arena floor — the helmeted figure the camera had followed at the main stage was only a decoy.
After the percussive “Do Ya Like Me,” Gambino hustled back to the main stage by running a gauntlet of fans who answered the question of the song’s title in the affirmative.
Given a choice between the songs “III. Telegraph Ave.” and “Saturday,” the audience opted for “Telegraph.” After credits rolled on the screens, Gambino returned for “Lithonia,” the guitar-heavy lead single from “Bando Stone.”
With his band pounding away behind him, he directed fans to “put your middle finger up and sing this song as loud as you possibly can,” which they did.
It was a great performance. He planned to do it all over again the next night in Houston. But the Houston show, then the rest of the tour, was called off.
In his Oct. 4 announcement. he said his unnamed ailment has necessitated surgery:
“After my show in New Orleans, I went to the hospital in Houston to make sure of an ailment that had become apparent,” he wrote on social media. “After being assessed, it became clear i would not perform that night, and after more tests, i could not perform the rest of the US tour in the time asked.
“As of now I have surgery scheduled and need time out to heal. My path to recovery is something I need to confront seriously. With that said, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the North American tour and the UK and European dates. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase.
“I want nothing more than to bring this show to the fans and perform. Until then, thanks for love, privacy, and support.”
If New Orleans was indeed Childish Gambino's farewell, he went out strong.
Email Keith Spera at kspera@theadvocate.com.
Keith Spera
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