Donald Glover Brings The New World Tour, His Last as Childish Gambino, to Bridgestone Arena with WILLOW Tonight, Sept. 1

It’s been almost six years since Donald Glover last properly toured as his alt hip hop and r&b, genre-bending musical alter-ego Childish Gambino, when he last played Nashville at Bridgestone Arena, and six since he headlined a host of prominent musical festivals, including nearby Bonnaroo. On the recorded side, he hadn’t, until recently, been much more active, following up 2016 boundary-pushing, musically-reinventing modern classic “Awaken, My Love!” with his biggest single ever, “This Is America,” in 2018, a two-song EP, Summer Pack, that same year, and a somewhat raw surprise drop fourth album, 3.15.20, at the onset of the pandemic, which was just rereleased in May in “finished form” as Atavista, now complete with song titles and more polished production.

That’s not to say Glover hasn’t been busy outside of his work as Childish Gambino, however. That 2018 tour came on the heels of his debut as iconic character Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story, which Donald and his brother Stephen are actively working on a Lando-centric sequel to. The following year, he wrote, produced, and starred in musical film Guava Island with Rihanna, and also voiced Simba in Disney’s mega-hit live acton The Lion King, a role which he’ll reprise later this year in prequel Mufasa. Even more active on the small screen, Glover concluded his brilliant and award winning FX show Atlanta (season two aired in 2018, around the same time as Solo) with not one, but two full seasons in 2022, before interrogating fandom and obsession the following year with dark comedy Swarm (which he co-created and directed the pilot for, but does not appear onscreen), and, earlier this year, co-created and co-stared in globetrotting spy thriller Mr. & Mrs. Smith, part of an overall deal he inked with Amazon.

Though it seems unlikely he’ll ever step away from music in any permanent capacity, Glover has been expressing an intention to retire the Childish Gambino moniker since even before that last tour and record. Something that initially began as a casual side project (even the name famously came from a Wu Tang name generator site) along with Community composer Ludwig Göransson (who’s not only stuck with Glover over the years, but has branched out to work on huge projects like The Mandalorian, Oppenheimer, and Black Panther, earning Grammys, Oscars, and Emmys along the way), Childish Gambino has been one of Glover’s longest artistic endeavors, and one that seems to have transcended its course and come to, at least in his mind, a natural stopping point. So it shouldn’t come as a huge shock that, along with Atavista, Donald announced one final Childish Gambino album, Bando Stone in the New World, which arrived in July to critical acclaim, and also acts as the soundtrack to an upcoming film of the same name, directed by Glover.

In support, Glover is currently in the midst on what will be his final tour before retiring the Childish Gambino moniker, The New World Tour, spanning a massive trek of North American dates throughout the rest of the summer and into fall, before heading abroad for a leg that stretches into next year. And, of course, we’re thrilled that Nashville is on the itinerary, with the multifaceted artist set to return to Bridgestone Arena tonight, Sept. 1 with genre-hopping young rocker WILLOW, marking just his fourth Music City show ever, after the aforementioned 2018 Bridgestone stop, an appearance at Vanderbilt’s Commodore Quake in 2012, and a headliner at Cannery Ballroom in 2011. A limited number of tickets to the show- again, likely his last-ever in Nashville, at least as Childish Gambino- are still available right here; don’t miss out!

Childish Gambino and WILLOW will perform tonight, Sept. 1 at Bridgestone Arena. The show is all ages, begins at 8 p.m. (doors at 6:30 p.m.), and tickets are available for $60.95-154.55.

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