Dispatches from the Dave Chappelle & Childish Gambino show at Radio City Music Hall
To say that I was excited about going to see Dave Chappelle and Donald Glover a.k.a. Childish Gambino is an understatement. At the same time, despite being a fan of the numerous dimensions of Chappelle’s and Glover’s art, I didn’t know what to expect about the quality of their performances. I have to admit that I intentionally moderated my expectations because I knew Glover has spent most of 2017 in London shooting the new Star Wars movie and hadn’t yet really toured on his newest album “Awaken My Love.” Meanwhile, Chappelle had kind of stepped into some messiness about transgender issues in his last Netflix special.
My moderation of expectations was compounded by the fact that Glover’s new music is so different from his previous releases with no rapping and an eclectic array of funky, soulful music and vocals that occasionally invokes the spirit of Prince. I’ve been close friends of talented musicians and vocalists much of my adult life. I know that it isn’t easy to deliver without the ideal conditions and certainly it isn’t easy to deliver a tight show when you aren’t consistently performing. Quite honestly, I wasn’t even sure if Childish Gambino was just a “studio artist” who can sound fantastic with all the tools of a great studio but might not have the ability to deliver that in a full live performance concert. As Executive Producer for some of the solo work of the truly gifted MC and vocalist Maimouna Youssef (a Grammy-nominated artist who has a new album release on Aug. 31 entitled “Vintage Babies” with DJ Dummy), who performs with Common for his live shows, I’ve seen what it takes to maintain vocals for live performances.
Before the Show and the Opening acts
As I waited in line to enter Radio City Music Hall, the main expectation I had was to have a good time experiencing two of the most brilliant artists of our time for some levity but who also can speak to the madness of what’s going on in the world through their art. As you may know, Dave Chappelle shows do not permit cell phones inside the venue. After locking our phones into the secure pouches provided, there were clearly people in the audience who were not used to not having access to their phones. People near us were literally trying to rip open their pouch to get to their phone. Instead of people on their phones, many people were actually talking to people around them. (What an amazing concept!)
The DJ was Cipha Sounds, the original Chappelle Show DJ, who played music from many generations and cultures leading up to the opening of the show. He asked people from the incredibly diverse audience to greet the people around them and that despite everything going on in the world, this show was about love and positivity. As opening act comedians came to the stage, we had no idea what surprises were in store. Previous nights had surprise appearances by numerous legends including Jon Stewart. People near us said they heard Eddie Murphy was supposed to come to one of the 17 shows in Chappelle’s August residency at Radio City. There were even rumors going around that Donald Glover might even do some comedy in addition to performing music; but that didn’t happen.
The second comedian of the night turned out to be my homie Mo Amer, a brilliant Palestinian-American comedian I’ve known for 10 years whose career has been skyrocketing lately, including a recent performance on Colbert. If you haven’t seen him perform, I highly recommend you check him out. After Mo finished his set, Hannibal Burris did a hilarious set that really got us primed for Dave Chappelle. Just before Chappelle took to the stage, I saw Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel sit down across the aisle from me. They were among numerous celebrities around, many of whom left after Chappelle’s set and didn’t stay to watch Childish Gambino.
My Bias on Dave
Before I tell you about Chappelle’s set, I need to preface my bias about him because I know there are concerns about some of his jokes related to trans identity (which I will address soon). I was born and raised in Springfield, Ohio; 10 minutes away from where he lives and partially grew up. Everyone in my family has met Dave at various times; he’s a local and he’s around. The opening part of his movie “Block Party” all takes place in the area I grew up in. Dave, like me, is Muslim (which he doesn’t talk about much publicly despite his frequent attendance at local mosques) and loves to promote a similar world of Hip Hop culture as I do. In fact, Maimouna Youssef, my high school classmate John Legend (also from Springfield, OH), and many friends of mine all appear in “Block Party” at various points of the film. I also once lived in Durban, South Africa while in college which is where Dave often studied under his Islamic mentor. (This is where he was when people said he went crazy, left his show and had run off to Africa.) In addition, Dave’s mom wrote some of the first Black Studies curriculum at Wilberforce University, founded the Black Culture Center at Wright State University and is a poet (among other amazing accomplishments). I am a person who has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Black Studies, has run Multicultural centers most of my career and am a spoken-word poet. To say that I feel a connection to them is an understatement.
In 2008, I was with Mo Amer and a few other Muslim comedians at an Islamic conference in Columbus, Ohio. Dave made an unscheduled appearance and did a largely improvised performance for a Muslim audience with largely Muslim-specific humor. This was back when Dave was rarely seen or heard in public. It was the first time he performed for a Muslim audience and he later said he was nervous about it. Among the hilarious jokes was a whole rif he did on how accepting of every type of person Muslims are during the pilgrimage to Mecca. He then asked, “What if Barney the Dinasour went on pilgrimage?” I’m not sure if I’ve ever laughed harder than when he went through all the iterations of what it would be like if Barney went to Mecca.
That night was the first time I met Dave and his mom (who I later invited to speak at the University of Michigan). When I told him about all my weird connections to him, he actually agreed with me that it was pretty strange. I also expressed to him how much I respected him for walking away from his show and the money despite how tough it must have been for him to do. Over the years, I’ve learned about how uncomfortable Dave became about his personal experience with fame and celebrity. As a result, I recognize that coming back has been a deliberate and careful process for him in which our world, particularly with regards to media, has dramatically changed.
Suddenly we were all treated to his new specials on Netflix and in one of them, he says some things about transgender folks that were problematic and uncomfortable. Despite my love for him, I too felt uncomfortable when I heard some of those jokes and didn’t really find it to be funny. Despite the fact that he will always be a brilliant and intrinsically funny human being, the sense of disappointment that I had felt about the specials left me thinking that maybe he’s lost a step in these rapidly evolving times. After watching his performance at Radio City, I no longer believe that to be the case whatsoever.
Dave Chappelle’s performance
Dave’s set from my perspective was poignant and hilarious. Among the numerous topics he spoke about, he addressed the current politics of our times with deep insight, wisdom and humor as only he can. It was original, profound and funny to the point of uncontrollable laughter on multiple occasions for me and most of the crowd. I feel comfortable saying that his brilliance as a performer was on full display and flawless. He addressed people’s concerns about his jokes related to trans people and did so while managing to make more jokes that actually were funny and more appropriate. He found a way to own his misstep, while refusing to compromise his artistic integrity as a comedian who is committed to his craft. He made sure we knew with specificity why he believed trans folks should and always deserve to be fully enfranchised and treated with respect while also having jokes that met the standards of how he engages in humor related to various other identities. Finally, he also boldly did so while addressing the intersecting racial dimensions related to these issues.
Of course, I’m saying this coming from the positionality of a cis-gendered straight male who is not subject to the implications of being trans. However, I am a person who has been working as an ally to trans and various queer-identified folks in my work for many years but is always in a constant state of learning and growth. Again, I don’t want to say that my perspective is definitive, absolute and not biased; but I do believe that as a person who has been in the work of social justice education for more than 15 years, my perspective is somewhat informed. The reality is that no one can ever truly capture a Dave Chappelle performance through writing or even in one’s own words (just try to tell one of his jokes yourself and see how it lands). So don’t take my word for it, but know that a fairly thoughtful, conscious individual like myself who is in the work of social justice truly enjoyed his performance without reservations.
***To anyone who intends to contest me on my perspective through comments, etc: If you weren’t at the show, I have no intention of engaging anyone other than my diverse set of friends and family who know me and know my life commitment to equity and justice. I’m not interested in engaging in self-righteous efforts of social justice one-upsmanship, I’m just sharing my experience and perspective. If you were at the show, I’m open to having a respectful dialogue on your thoughts regarding Dave’s performance.***
Childish Gambino’s performance
During the intermission before Childish Gambino’s performance, you could feel the anticipation building. There were so many fans in attendance who were anxiously awaiting to see this rare performance. I continued to moderate my expectations because in addition to the fact that I knew that he had been working on Star Wars most of the year, I thought to myself, “This guy has won Emmys and did close to everything a person could humanly do (creator, writer, director, producer, lead actor, etc.) in making a phenomenal show called ‘Atlanta’; He’s easily a top 5 rapper of his generation if not top 2 (along with Kendrick); maybe his live performances aren’t on that same level considering how hard it is to achieve what he does on records. He’s gotta be less than stellar at something!!!” I was wrong…
After Dave introduced him, the curtain raised to reveal his band featuring 3 background vocalists on either side of the stage (who sounded even better live than the background vocals on his album), an array of musicians, and beautiful artistic images projected on a massive screen behind the band with a full set of lighting effects and smoke. It was elaborate, tasteful and gorgeous staging with effects that perfectly complimented everything that happened on stage and easily could be used to conduct an amazing arena or stadium concert tour someday. Childish Gambino mystically emerged calm and peaceful yet seemingly centered and focused on what he was about to bless us with. They immediately opened into “Me and your Mama”, the opening song of his newest album. I assumed that he would play all of the songs from the newest “Awaken My Love” album, which he did over the course of the night in addition to key popular songs from his previous two albums including “3005,” “Flight of the Navigator,” “Firefly,” and others.
I immediately noticed how fantastic they sounded right from the start. Beyond the expected legendary acoustics and sound system at Radio City, I was surprised at how they truly captured the eclectic sound of the album. Prior to the performance, I wondered if they could capture the elaborate sounds of his recorded music. It was immediately evident to me that they sounded better than the records. The band was fantastic and was incredibly in sync with one another.
Donald was completely in tune with the band and was fully in control of what was happening on stage. He moved throughout the massive Radio City stage with a presence that was simultaneously centered within himself while also projecting a holistic engagement with an audience that was completely captivated by him. His presence filled the stage as his body seamlessly flowed and embodied every sonic feeling from the music. His dancing was impeccable and he even threw in some moon walking a couple times. His dancing was only topped by the perfection of his vocal performance.
When listening to a Childish Gambino album, it’s hard not to wonder how one person can achieve so many vocal styles and sounds. As a rapper alone, Glover occupies a unique status in his ability to deliver such a diverse set of styles of delivery and sound. For years I’ve thought of Childish Gambino as the unofficial disciple of Andre 3000 in his ability as a rapper, singer and artist with a little Kanye in him as well. He obviously had many influences but on his previous albums but I definitely think there are echoes of 3000 (which would make sense given his Georgian roots).
When “Awaken My Love” was released, I thought, “Wow, I knew he could sing but this I’m shocked that this is all vocals with a funk/soul vibe to it!” Going into this show, I thought that would be impossible to achieve given that some of those vocal sounds were the result of distortion, reverb and studio effects including some definite use of autotune. I’m here to attest that I watched him do all the vocals with perfection in front of my eyes with limited effects; and it was masterful. He is quite simply an anointed singular talent. I was in awe of what was happening and had never witnessed anything quite like it before in my life. At certain times, his voice literally sounded almost exactly like Michael Jackson. I intentionally looked away from him to truly take in the sonic resonance of hearing a voice live that sounded so much like MJ.
I walked away from the show in shock at the phenomenon that I had just witnessed that we call Childish Gambino. As impressed as I’ve already been with Donald Glover as an artist, I walked away completely blown away by his performance. Without engaging in hyperbole, I believe he approaches (but currently is not in) the territory occupied by only Michael Jackson, Prince and James Brown as American popular music performers. I believe he surpasses the likes of Madonna, Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Lauryn Hill, Bruno Mars, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu and Lady Gaga (among others). That is my current subjective analysis based on what I believe I witnessed, experienced and was totally blown away by on Aug. 19th, 2017.
It is my sincere hope that more people will have the opportunity to experience a Childish Gambino live performance in the future and that he is able to replicate if not somehow exceed what occurred at Radio City Music Hall with Dave Chappelle. Regardless of what anyone may believe, I think it is truly hard to walk away from one of his live performances (with consideration of all he achieves as an artist with the most pinnacle of excellence), without easily considering Donald Glover one of the greatest popular culture artists of this generation.
