In what’s shaping up to be an epic farewell tour, the multitalented Donald Glover is taking his Childish Gambino persona on the road one last time to rock stadiums around the world. The acclaimed musician and filmmaker has gained accolades entertaining fans across several mediums, from producing and starring in shows like Atlanta and Mr. & Mrs. Smith to playing beloved characters in Star Wars and Spiderman films, and has decided it’s now time to retire the character he’s channeled on-and-off for nearly 20 years when making music. As Childish Gambino, he’s released five albums that have seen him grow from a punchline-focused, emotionally-driven rapper to a hit-making, genre-blending artist that delves into Funk, Soul, RnB, Rock and Pop along with his foundations in Hip-Hop.

While Childish Gambino’s musical releases haven’t been that frequent in recent years, he’s lined things up in epic fashion for this final tour, re-releasing 2020’s 03.15.20 as a re-worked, polished album called Altavista, as well as the brand new 2024 album Bando Stone & The New World, which is meant to accompany an upcoming film of the same name. Along with the two new 2024 albums, fans going into this show could hope to see an all-encompassing celebration of Gambino’s entire catalogue, as it’s been rare to see him perform live over the years, his last show in Toronto being back in 2018. For some Toronto fans, this could be their only chance to see Childish Gambino perform live, as he’s often split his time between music and film, and seems to be looking to focus solely on acting and filmmaking once this tour is over. This would be just the sixth stop of The New World Tour, which will have Childish Gambino on the road through February next year, performing nearly 60 shows in arenas across 16 countries.

While Scotiabank Arena was slowly filling up, the opener for the North American leg of the tour would grace the stage, Willow. With me personally not having paid any attention to her music since she released the unavoidable Pop hit “Whip My Hair” as a child singer, I was pleasantly surprised by the style of music she’s now making as an adult. With a blend of Rock, Neo-Soul and RnB, Willow and her band had the crowd in a vibe throughout her performance, as she’d occasionally pick up a guitar to rock out, but mostly captivated the fans with her wide vocal range. Songs like “Symptom of Life” and “Transparent Soul” had the crowd grooving, as she showed off impeccable chemistry with her band, at one point improvising some vocals to match the pitch and rhythm of the guitars.

Willow would sprinkle in a few throwbacks in her setlist, including an acoustic version of “Meet Me At Our Spot” with just herself and her pianist, but the majority of her set would be focused on her latest album, Empathogen. Songs like “Run!” were a vibe, and she’d close out her set with the groovy “Big Feelings,” her incredible vocal range being on full display here. The sound mixing could have been a bit better, as Willow would sometimes get drowned out by her drums throughout her set when she went to her lower pitched vocals, but she herself nailed her execution and was in perfect sync with the band. She had the crowd fully behind her by the end of her performance, getting massive applause as she walked through the giant door to exit the stage.

There would be a bit of a break as Willow’s stage set was taken down and things got prepped for Childish Gambino. With two stages on each end of the arena and a massive set of laser lights in between, the anticipation was building for what would be an incredible visual performance to go along with the music. The sounds of tinkering machinery and a spaceship getting ready for takeoff could be heard through the speakers, and the lights would flicker to match the sounds, getting more intense as the time came closer for Gambino to grace the stage.

Unveiling some new tech being used for the first time at concerts, what Childish Gambino has called “the light-binder” on Instagram would begin to illuminate and lower from the rafters over the main stage as Gambino himself came out in an astronaut outfit on the second stage. Setting things off with the first song off the new album, “Hearts Were Meant To Fly,” Childish Gambino performed the full song with his astronaut helmet still on, and it reminded fans of seeing Robert Downey Jr. portray Ironman in the MCU films the way the light-binder projected Gambino’s face from within the helmet as he performed. After getting the crowd hyped with the first song, Gambino would take the helmet off to reveal his face, and would walk around the floor of the arena to the main stage, clapping hands with fans along the way and getting everyone hyped up for a good time.

Now taking the front of the main stage, Childish Gambino would continue with the new album, performing “Survive” with an incredible light show going on around him. While the first part of his setlist would mostly be songs off the new album, he did pull out the throwback “The Worst Guys” early on, getting affirmation from the crowd that we were down with his 2013 album Because The Internet as well. The crowd was turned up for the new joints though, as Gambino showed off his love for punchlines on “Talk My Shit,” got some EDM rave vibes going with the light show during the hype “Got To Be,” and displayed the softer palate of his vocal range on the mellow “In The Night.”

After another certified head-nodder with the boom-bap, bar-heavy, punchline-oriented “Yoshinoya,” Gambino would start to stray a bit from the Bando Stone album, next pulling out a soulful cut off of Altavista, “To Be Hunted.” A group of dancers would join him and make full use of the giant walkway on the main stage as he got the crowd grooving to his high notes, and the dance vibes would continue as he rocked his collaboration with Canadian producer Kaytranada, “Witchy.” Taking a seat by the front of the stage, Childish Gambino would briefly mellow things out with the acoustic vibes on “Steps Beach,” encouraging the lovers in the crowd to slow dance to the tune. Next would be his first energy-check with the crowd.

When he started the performance, Gambino told the crowd they had to have more fun and get more hype than the previous city he performed in (Detroit), and his first test would be next as he pulled out the Because The Internet throwback “Crawl.” Up to this point, this was the most hype song of the night, as the entire floor crowd was jumping once that beat dropped, the live drumming giving the song of ton of extra energy, and even the upper-bowl crowd was on their feet. As a fan who couldn’t get a ticket to Gambino’s sold-out shows at The Sound Academy a decade ago, and was disappointed to see he didn’t perform many throwbacks at his last Scotiabank Arena concert in 2018, this was a huge payoff finally seeing one of my favourites from Because The Internet get performed live, and I’m sure plenty fans in the building felt the same way.

Mellowing things out again, Childish Gambino would next perform “Cruisin'” off the Bando Stone album followed by the bright, happy vibes of “Feels Like Summer.” With the lights going dark, the “Why Go To The Party” interlude off Altavista would play as Gambino introduced the next song as one he wrote specifically for the live performance, “Human Sacrifice,” encouraging the fans to dance as the beat built up. Setting off the dance vibes again, Gambino got the crowd grooving as the laser lights put on a spectacle around him in the darkness, and the light show got brighter and more energetic as he moved into the hype Bando Stone album closer, the EDM-influenced “A Place Where Love Goes.” This was another contender for the most hype song of the night so far, and Gambino would give the crowd a moment to take it all in as he briefly headed backstage.

After putting his all into his performance, the big screens would show Gambino getting toweled down and hydrated backstage as he took a moment to acknowledge his band, who have been touring with him for nearly 20 years, and spoke a bit on this being his last Childish Gambino tour. He’d also sing his way through the mellow “No Excuses” while changing outfits backstage, which saw his band shine with the jazzy instrumental on the tail end of the track. Being seen putting his astronaut helmet back on, Childish Gambino was ready to take the stage again for the next segment.

Up to this point, Childish Gambino had completely avoided his most successful album to date, 2016’s “Awaken, My Love!”, but that would change as the first piano keys played to the album intro “Me And Your Mama” and the crowd erupted with instant recognition. An astronaut could be seen walking his way up on the main stage as the beat built up, but this would be an elaborate fake-out to create a surprise factor, as Gambino himself appeared without the helmet on the second stage once the beat dropped, screaming out his Funk and Soul-infused vocals to the track. He’d then pull out the oldest song he’d perform all night with 2010’s “Do Ya Like,” and would begin to test the crowd to see if they were true fans with his next few songs.

Walking around the arena and clapping hands with the fans as he made his way back to the main stage again, Gambino would next perform his one-off single from 2018, “This Is America,” getting the crowd hype once again as the dancers joined him on stage with some dope choreography from the music video. The next several songs he performed would be strictly from 2014 or older, as he continued to test the crowd to see if they knew throwbacks like “Sweatpants” and “Sober.” The crowd was definitely on point, as we rapped along to the hook on “Sweatpants” and were singing along to that infectious hook on “Sober.” Gambino next took things back even further to his debut album, Camp, performing the hooks and one verse each from classics like “L.E.S.,” “Heartbeat,” and “Bonfire.” With him not even touching this album on his last tour, hearing these songs live was another huge payoff for the fans, the hype building with every throwback that he dropped.

With one last test for the true day-one fans, Gambino would pull out another obscure joint off his 2011 EP, performing part of his bar-heavy verse from “Freaks and Geeks” and getting the crowd to shoutout his punchlines for him. Having passed the test, Gambino would then give the crowd the option of which song he’d perform next by getting them to cheer for either “Shadows” or “Telegraph Ave” off of Because The Internet. With the lighting on both ends of the stage elevating based on the sound levels, the cheers were much louder for “Telegraph Ave,” and so Gambino would perform that song for the first time on this tour, with the crowd singing along to the smooth vocals.

Keeping up with the fan favourites, Childish Gambino would do one last throwback with his romantic hit “3005,” the fans erupting with cheers once they recognized the first few notes of the song and singing along loudly to the hook. Nearing the end of the setlist, the most epic moment of the concert would come as Gambino performed his Grammy award-winning classic “Redbone.” He’d get the crowd to sing along with him as he adlibbed some high notes into the chorus, and then ran a lap around the stage to clap hands with the fans up front as the band played out the instrumental towards the end of the song. Marking the end of the concert, Gambino would show one last flash of synergy with his band as he did a James Brown-style “hit me!” before setting off fireworks around the stage.

As Childish Gambino left the stage to huge applause, a set of end credits backed by the upbeat song “Real Love” played on the jumbo screens acknowledging all the technical staff and management that helped put the tour together. By the end of the song, the screens simply showed the writing “Lithonia?,” which got the fans hyped to cheer for an encore. Obliging the cheers, Childish Gambino returned with rainbow lighting backing him, and he’d get the crowd to sing along to the Rock anthem off the new album, encouraging some head banging once the beat dropped. In one last glorious ride, Gambino rocked out with the fans and thanked the crowd for coming out to the last Childish Gambino tour.

Between the new technology behind the lighting, special effects, the synergy between the band and Childish Gambino’s performance itself, this was an incredible concert to witness. I wrote in my last concert review in 2018 that if Childish Gambino was really retiring from music, he needed to come back and perform a more diversified setlist showcasing his entire discography for the fans, and he definitely delivered with this one. As always, Childish Gambino displayed impeccable showmanship, stage presence, choreography and vocal execution in his performance, as he put his all into every song he performed and had the crowd fully engaged throughout his set. It’s bittersweet knowing that this may be our last time seeing Childish Gambino perform live music, but he made sure to mark the moment with one of the most epic concerts that makes full use of the arena setting. Between music and film, Childish Gambino has always been a creative visionary, and The New World Tour puts his artistic vision on full display in all its glory.

The New World Tour is just getting started, with several shows taking place in USA and Canada before heading out to Europe and Oceania in the winter! Tour dates and tickets can be found here.

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