Childish Gambino fans are calling for refunds after the rapper was reportedly booed by a number of concertgoers at his Listen Out sideshow in Newcastle overnight — a show which some attendees have called “unprofessional” and “very disappointing”.
Childish Gambino, real name Donal Glover, performed at The Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle on Thursday night, 1st October, but his brief performance left some fans annoyed and confused.
According to the Newcastle Herald, Gambino was on stage for over an hour at his Newcastle show, which sold out super-quickly. Gambino reportedly spent 40 minutes of his set barely uttering a word, and queued up tracks on a laptop as his crew worked the crowd.
Since the show, Gambino fans have taken to social media to share their experiences, with Facebook user Kane P Lawrence saying Gambino moved to “a bad freestyle” after 40 minutes of manning the laptop.
“Then it turns back into a dance party set and his hype crew making noises in between him occasionally singing one of his five songs (two of those the same fucking song),” he says.
The song which Gambino supposedly played twice in the same show was Retro, which Lawrence says the rapper tried to perform “over a sea of boos and ‘bullshit’ chants”.
Facebook user Kate Broomfield said Gambino “looked genuinely surprised to get booed at the end when he just dropped the mic and walked off. Fucking worst”.
A short video of Gambino’s set uploaded to Facebook by The Cambridge Hotel has been hit with a large number of negative comments. Catch the footage and the comments, below.
#childishgambino #soldout #thecambridgehotel #newcastle
Posted by The Cambridge Hotel on Thursday, 1 October 2015
A DJ performing after Gambino’s set reportedly played the rapper’s hit single 3005, with some concertgoers rushing the stage in the hope that Gambino would come out and perform the song himself, but he didn’t.
Some punters have defended Gambino though, who yesterday cancelled his Canberra Listen Out sideshow due to “his busy touring schedule taking a toll”.
Gambino also performed at Sydney’s El Topo Basement earlier this week as a guest during a DJ set by artist Royalty. Gambino was advertised as the headliner for his Newcastle show, however.
Gambino is scheduled to perform at Listen Out in Sydney and Brisbane this weekend. Catch footage and further social media reaction to his Newcastle sideshow, below.
UPDATE 02/10/15 12:35pm AEST: As the Newcastle Herald reports, Cambridge Hotel licencee Dru Russell says the venue is in discussions with promoter Big Apachee, and will contact ticket holders directly. That said, the groups are still trying to find a resolution regarding possible refunds.
UPDATE 04/10/15: Ticket holders who attended Childish Gambino’s Newcastle Listen Out sideshow have been offered free admission to the festival’s Sydney leg. Gambino’s management have also issued an apology.
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https://twitter.com/nicholasgerber/status/649581094375849985
@SamRigney him and his team have been doing several DJ sets in Australia this week. Doesn't seem like he planned to do a full performance
— TUPAC NOTSHUR (Mario) (@MarLew29) October 1, 2015
https://twitter.com/SamRigney/status/649598893760512000
