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UPDATE:
FANS left disappointed after Childish Gambino's performance at the Cambridge Hotel on Thursday night have been offered tickets to his Sydney show on Saturday night.
Promoter Big Apachee and Childish Gambino's management blamed the show, which ended in boos from angry fans, on a miscommunication.
In a statement, they said the show was a "Childish Gambino and Royalty" set, which is "very different" from the Childish Gambino show, and sought to make amends.
"Those who purchased tickets to the Newcastle set are invited free of charge to the "Listen Out Festival" in Sydney this Saturday where Childish Gambino will be performing with his full band set up," the statement said.
BEWILDERED fans have raged across the internet after a rapper’s Newcastle visit turned from a highlight of the Hunter’s musical calendar to a gig that will live in infamy.
Childish Gambino, also known as former Community actor and 30 Rock writer Donald Glover, stood on stage for more than an hour on Thursday night. But fans are livid, demanding refunds after the rapper did little more than take the stage.
Fan Maddie Jordan said she could not think of a worse show she had ever attended.
Thrilled when her idol announced the Hunter visit, Ms Jordan said she was still angry on Friday.
‘‘I honestly feel he was being arrogant and I felt a strong vibe that he felt he was too good to be there in our little town,’’ she said.
‘‘It was probably one of the worst – if not the worst – gig I’ve ever been to. I had a lot of respect for Donald Glover. He is one of my favourite people, but I feel extremely disappointed and let down.
Fans online dubbed it ‘‘atrocious karaoke’’ and ‘‘a massive middle finger to Newcastle’’.
Glover stood behind turntables and sat down for more than 40 minutes on Thursday night, with rap outfit Royalty doing the heavy lifting during his set.
Devoid of his biggest hits, fans booed the rapper before the end of a show that sold out in less than three hours.
While fans had queued through the renowned music venue hours before he took the stage, the hours after saw them inundate the Cambridge’s Facebook page with calls for refunds.
A DJ played several of his hits after he left the stage, sparking unfulfilled hopes he would return.
![Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover. Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/storypad-iKQx4aiD4Q7fvCgDvFeGgz/36e9cee5-c922-4b49-b89c-fbbd0dc2649b.jpg/r0_0_673_678_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Thursday’s set list is a wild departure from recent shows in Melbourne and abroad, which almost exclusively offer tracks from albums Camp and Because the Internet.
But many fans said they were more frustrated they saw a show featuring Childish Gambino rather than the headline act’s own performance.
Ms Jordan said Glover’s decision to repeat Retro near the end of his set was the final straw.
‘‘Obviously he thinks we are small-town morons if he thought we wouldn’t realise he played the same song twice,’’ Ms Jordan said.
‘‘He rapped a couple of times, which was good, and he did some singing for about 15 minutes and then cleared the stage, sang a 20-second solo and said ‘‘this is a gig what did you expect’, dropped the mic and walked off. Everyone started booing and pretty much running for the exits.’’
Cambridge Hotel licencee Dru Russell said he and staff were as disappointed as patrons by the performance.
Mr Russell said claims circulating online that Gambino was booked for a DJ set were wide of the mark, arguing promoters and venues expected the rapper’s Newcastle and Canberra shows to be intimate concerts as advertised.
Royalty were expected to be a support act, he said.
Ticket holders would be contacted directly once organisers finished discussions, Mr Russell said.
Promoter Big Apachee expressed frustration on behalf of itself as well as ticket seller BigTix and the venue.
‘‘We all worked very hard in booking a great act for a great venue and unfortunately the act did not deliver on what was billed,’’ they wrote.
If you wish to take up this offer please email tickets@fuzzy.com.au with NEWCASTLE in the subject line and provide the below information.
Name
Booking ref from Newcastle show.
Ph Number
Email address.
This ticket offer is only for existing ticket holders of the Newcastle show* and is limited to 1 per ticket holder.
* names and booking refs will be checked before making contact.
ROUGHLY 600 people turned up at The Cambridge on Thursday to see Childish Gambino.
On Friday, the internet exploded as people demanded their money back.
By late afternoon, the crowd was being blamed for not getting the set or misunderstand Royalty’s billing on the Newcastle poster.
To be clear – they were below Childish Gambino’s name, in lettering a third the size. The venue says they expected them to be a support act, and that’s how most people seem to have read it.
They played the first 40 minutes of a sold-out, 75-minute show. As a casual Gambino fan reviewing the show, I was simply confused.
Dud gigs can be forgiven, but this was in practice a different act on stage compared to the name written on the ticket.
What do the promoter and venue have to gain from advertising a gig that wouldn’t live up to the hype? Both operate in this city.
Childish Gambino had a euphoric crowd cheering when he walked on stage. An hour later, polite boredom gradually became booing.
I doubt anyone paid $65 in the hope they could spend their night that way.
But Glover still had a microphone and a stage, and did little to shake the popular impression that we were watching him and what most thought would be the support act have a great time. They just didn’t share it with the audience.
Off-stage the blame can be shifted, but the completely squandered potential of what shaped as a landmark gig rests with the man paid to perform.
Nobody pretends even the great musicians, from Snoop Dogg to Bon Scott, were always virtuosos – but they were always interesting.
Some of the vitriol directed at The Cambridge and Donald Glover was disproportionate, granted. It was, after all, just a concert. But spare a thought for the people who made it happen – and will bring the next big name to town long after you remember Donald Glover is, as he sings, just a rapper.