“This is church.”
Ascending to the pulpit of London’s O2 Arena through a stark beamlight, the modern ‘Renaissance Man’ Donald Glover proceeded to impart a wholly religious experience to his worshippers under the musical guise of Childish Gambino for the very last time.
Glover's journey through to this sacred experience has seemingly covered every corner of the arts industry - from writing the TV sitcom 30 Rock, to acting and directing the hit show Atlanta, to dropping one of the most pertinent and head-turning singles of the decade, ‘This is America’. For the latter, as well as the rest of his alt-R&B/psych-funk discography, is the main reason, however, why the majority of the sold-out audience attended this evening. In fact, the last time Gambino toured through the UK came almost 5 years ago - a far cry from the name he has now made for himself at the culmination of this decade and musical chapter.
Surging into the exuberant chanting and singing of the gospel choir bolstered by the full live band situated in the pit, Gambino commenced proceedings with the infectiously-groovy, unreleased track, ‘Algorhythm’. Swaying to the polyrhythmic beats encompassing the frenetic persona of Gambino on stage, due diligence was taken to truly involve his followers: “if you came to record your favourite song then go home, this is church, this is an experience”. To rapturous applause, the worshippers imminently abided and committed to chanting the older hits of their idol within the two successive tracks of ‘The Worst Guys’ and ‘Worldstar’.
Meandering his way backstage and seemingly circumnavigating the venue in order to recite the groovy and intimate tones of ‘Stand Tall’, came as a miraculous surprise to those seated worshippers suddenly finding themselves beside the sweat-drenched preacher. Instigating the mid-section of the set back on stage, Gambino gave way to the impressive visual installations from the larger-than-life pillars, as well as the consistently tight-knit backing band wonderfully invigorating the sensual undertones of the tracks. ‘Boogieman’, ‘Have Some Love’, and Terrified’ all played their part in substantiating the comparatively subdued nature of the mid-section, yet ultimately concluded with the main set’s closer, ‘This is America’. Through a frenzy of frenetic flapping from the followers, the entirety of the venue revelled in an all-encompassing buzzing bass-drop as if possessed by the spiritual healings of Gambino’s musical force.
For the hit-ridden encore, Gambino excavated such less-refined but equally-catchy hits as ‘Sober', ‘3005’, and ‘Sweatpants’ exuding the all-familiar pseudo-rapping stylistics beloved by the worshippers. The level of spiritual exaltation, however, was raised to the true pinnacle of the evening with his 70s-R&B/neo-soul hit, ‘Redbone’, from his previous LP in 2016, Awaken, My Love! Reminiscent of tones from The Isley Brothers and Bootsy Collins, Gambino’s falsetto vocals, unsurprisingly, lived up to the spirited heights, perfectly incorporating with the backing band’s gusto and sumptuous intimacy.
On his self-claimed ‘last ever tour’ under the Gambino guise, Donald Glover emphatically bowed out as the world’s most-beloved preacher on this Sunday's sermon. Humorous, adored, and empathetic with the trials and tribulations of the Brexit debacle and Grenfell investigations, Gambino resoundingly won over the hearts, minds, and spirits for all at The O2 Arena. Whilst some further embellishments to the set’s production and design wouldn’t have gone amiss, the inclusion of sporadic gospel choirs and choreographed dancers, as well as a full backing band ultimately paid dividends for the preacher’s sermon. If this was supposedly his last ever show in the UK, then boy, was it worth the wait to witness the near-perfect culmination to such an illustrious and hallowed career from this decade’s ‘Renaissance Man’.
9/10
Childish Gambino’s 2018 single, ‘This is America’, is out now and can be found here.
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