As Childish Gambino had been MIA since 2014, during the time he released STN MTN and Kauai, when he mysteriously tweeted out a link earlier this year on July 16 it caught many people’s attention and got plenty of us to follow through to see what he had up his sleeves this time. The link happened to be for a downloadable app called Pharos. The app had a graphic of a distant earth slowly approaching as a countdown was in progress. At the end of the countdown the app revealed information about Pharos, an event where Gambino would be dropping new music during a live performance. I was lucky enough to get tickets, so I flew out to California for a week in preparation for the event.
The long-awaited date finally came over this Labor Day weekend and getting there felt like something out of a Sci-Fi movie; the event was taking place past a small town in the desert at California’s Joshua Tree National Park. As we approached, the first thing one could see of the compound was this dome structure, and soon after that you would find that the whole perimeter around the area was fully gated. To really drive home that this was a top secret location, at the entrance sat three patrol cars and just past that we were greeted by many more cops. A quick pat down and in I went. The venue felt like it was its own little village in a way, equipped with a main path for visitors to follow and where you would encounter the signs pointing you to all the different areas at the event. My first instinct was to go to the theater area where they would screen the first three episodes of Donald Glover’s show, Atlanta.Since I arrived at 6pm, 2 hours early for the actual concert, I had time to explore the compound. After venturing around I decided to go wait in line for the concert instead of waiting for the screening. This proved to be the better move since I ended up waiting in line for a couple of hours before finally reaching The Dome’s entrances. There I got my second pat down of the night and was instructed to put my phone in a small pouch, where my phone will be locked away for the rest of the night along with the mobile devices of everyone else in attendance.
It was easy to understand Bino’s logic behind this: prevent new music from leaking while forcing a crowd to do nothing but actually experience what they were witnessing. Once past security and in through a set of revolving doors, the amazement for what was to come was instant. The Dome had a beautiful night sky projected on it and the ambient sounds were executed in such a perfect way that no matter where I was in the room it sounded dope. I managed to get a great spot on the left side all the way in front, by the gates that separated the stage and the crowd. The decor on the set was meant to look like it was made out of stone with a glowing Pharos pyramid in the middle. As the band and choir got on stage the crowd went crazy, and it was then revealed there was a tribal influence in their outfits. The crowd was waiting with so much excitement for Childish that we started chanting “Worldstar” in reference to his song “II. Worldstar.”
As the lights went off, the ambient noise changed and the Dome’s projections changed to project 4 different stone structures, the crowd screamed once Childish Gambino appeared on stage wearing a glow-in-the-dark outfit. With a yellow grass skirt on, tribal paint all over him and rocking cornrows, Gambino took the audience not only on a musical trip but a visual one as well. The new material boasted a blend of music genres such as Funk, Soul and Hip Hop, and experiencing that paired with the artistic visuals displayed on the dome was definitely something never felt before. There were three songs/visuals that stuck with me; the first was when Glover decided to take us into a lightning storm that visually brought the song into the perfect mood. With Gabino’s signature vocals and a more mellow vibe, the song was able to offer a different side that contrasted the rest of the show. The second combo that really stood out as one of my favorites was an adventure through a psychedelic jungle that included dancing skeletons. The audio side was an energetic upbeat that had the crowd wanting more, with lines describing a girl suggesting to Bino a move to California. The final performance was breathtaking, as we all looked up to see the projection of oncoming planets that we explored through outer space. The speed of the ride was in correlation to the song’s tempo, speeding up and slowing down accordingly. As the track came to an end, we reached a galaxy with a huge blue sun in the center. We hurdled towards the blue sun, then with a big flash, the show ended. The effects of how Gambino’s music goes hand in hand with his visuals could potentially spark the beginning of a brand new concert experience. In the end, while trying to process the enormity of the concert, I was still able to watch three hilarious episodes of Atlanta, with one of the episodes featuring a cameo from Migos! Make sure to watch Donald Glover’s/Childish Gambino’s new series Atlanta starting on September 6, while we’re all eagerly waiting for Glover’s next album to drop.
