Prior to 9:15 Saturday night I spent the day running around Randall’s Island in New York City bouncing around between Local Natives and Marshmello sets while consuming a staggering amount of rose´ waiting for my personal headliner of Governor’s Ball, Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino.
I’ve touched on the impact Glover’s music has had on me previously when previewing Atlanta, so needless to say this was my must see.
As we navigated to the most crowded I’ve ever seen a stage at Gov Ball, we settled into the masses as a quiet sound mirroring twinkling began the set and Gambino opened with his outrageously powerful vocals on full display with “Me and Your Mama”.
Image via Vulture.com/Ibra Ake
He weaved in and out of primarily Because the Internet and Awaken My Love! records with “Sober” and an unbelievable “Get Silly/Can’t Tell Me Nothing/Sex With Me” mashup thrown in before concluding with a goosebumps-inducing performance of “Redbone” before ending his time with us by saying:
I love you, New York, thank you. You’re in my heart. I’ll see you for the last Gambino album.
And just like that, an artist that defined my high school and college years was announcing that his swan song was on the way. Fitting that the man responsible for the soundtracks of my youth was announcing his exit from the game as I prepare for my entrance into the “real world” in 3 weeks time.
Gambino may be almost done, but Donald Glover is just getting started.
He first gave us a glimpse into his ability as a filmmaker and his brilliant partnership with director, Hiro Murai, with a 25-minute short film, “Clapping for the Wrong Reasons,” back in 2013 that paved the way for what has come since.
After his award-laden inaugural season of Atlanta, Glover announced that the show wouldn’t be returning until 2018, as we know he giveth and he taketh away.
But again, that doesn’t mean he’s slowing down, not even a little bit.
First up for DG is an untitled role in the quickly approaching Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 7th and he has just made his first appearance in the latest trailer with loads of speculation circling on who he might be playing.
Then it’ll seemingly be a quiet second-half of 2017 before things ramp way up in 2018 with the aforementioned return of Atlanta and the untitled Han Solo prequel film slated for May 25, 2018 that’ll see Glover play the smuggler, gambler, and overall very crafty compatriot of Han Solo, Lando Calrissian.
Less than a week after the film’s release FXX will begin airing a 10-episode season of a new adult animated comedy version of Deadpool created by Glover and his brother Stephen “Steve G. Lover” Glover, both of whom were heavily involved in Atlanta.
Deadpool, Donald and FX — the perfect fit for the Merc with the Mouth! - Marvel TV chief Jeph Loeb
After a 2018 where Glover will play major roles in 3 of the year’s most anticipated projects he’ll find himself voicing Simba in a live-action reimagining of “The Lion King” for director Jon Favreau in July 2019.
Favreau was at helm of the live-action adaptation of “The Jungle Book” and will also be directing “Jungle Book 2,” so look for this one to be done in a similar style.
So, while Childish Gambino is preparing for his last album (and let’s be honest, we’ve heard this from plenty of artists before, but with someone with the monumental aspirations that Glover has I wouldn’t be shocked in he were committed to expressing his creativity in other arenas), we will not be short of work coming out of one of the rare modern day renaissance men in entertainment.
I have a feeling we’re seeing the tip of the iceberg here with many more projects from the mind of DG ready to emerge in the coming months. Safe to say we’ll all be on the edge of our seats anxiously awaiting what comes next in the midst of all that is already on the docket.
With that said, the top of the list for me is still experiencing the final bow from Childish Gambino.