Actor, comedian, writer, producer, director and – in this case, most importantly – musician Donald Glover said Saturday night at the Austin City Limits Music Festival that he's done performing as "Childish Gambino."
“I know I broke my foot last year, but you came back and thank you,” Glover said, referring to his canceled ACL 2018 performance.
Fans were packed in to watch Glover well over an hour before he ever reached the stage, some claiming that they would rather miss other acts they also cared about because they were so anxious to see the artist perform.
Glover kept the festival-goers in suspense, starting the show with around five minutes worth of steadily increasing feedback. As everyone stared at the main stage, Glover appeared from the middle of the crowd on a rising platform covered in disco balls, kicking off the set with “Atavista.”
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After moving into “Algorithm” and then “Summertime Magic,” Glover said to the crowd, “Welcome to our last show."
“That means this needs to be our craziest, most wild show,” he said, adding that they have been on the road for two years.
The crowd was more than responsive, jumping, screaming and recording the show on their phones.
After playing more of his melodious songs, Glover played one of his earlier songs, “Worldstar,” walking into the crowd, taking photos and dancing.
“We’re not even halfway through and y’all are at 12,” Glover told the crowd.
Moving through the show, Glover said that he was going to play a new song that he has been working on, later telling fans that he may never record it and only ever play it live.
“Act like this is your first and last time you’re ever going to hear this song,” Glover said.
Despite having never heard it, the crowd quickly caught on to the song's lyrics, singing them back to Glover as he made his way back to the platform in the middle of the crowd.
Later, Glover took a seat on stage, talking to what looked like a stage manager, performatively looking defeated to make the crowd chant and cheer for him to get back up. Quickly after, the beat for hit song “This Is America” began, as his backup dancers started performing the choreography from the song's viral video.
A few songs later, Glover finished his triumphant last performance as Childish Gambino with his hit song “Redbone” – leaving the crowd starstruck.
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