Tyler, The Creator live in London: theatrical flair from a true rap auteur

Tyler, The Creator hasn’t performed in London for six long years. Back then, the genre-warping ‘Igor’ had just dropped, later landing him a Grammy and cementing his status as rap’s most poignant auteur. Now, a restless sea of teens surge forward, desperate to catch a rare glimpse of the star in action. The lights drop. A sickly green glow seeps through the pleated curtain like a dystopian warning: our favourite creator is moments away.

• READ MORE: Tyler, The Creator – ‘Chromakopia’ review: a landscape of chaos that reflects his own psychological conflict

“‘Chromakoooooopia’! ‘Chromakoooooopia’!” fans chant as the titular album’s opener, ‘St. Chroma’, floods the arena. The accordion-style curtain lifts, revealing Tyler in a venom-green, exaggerated ‘Thriller’-style pantsuit and an afro pointed into horns, striding like he’s leading his fleet into a place where chaos and celebration blur. Endless flames and flashing lights accompany the industrial, growling sound Tyler crafted with ‘Chromakopia’ – riot-friendly and the perfect soundtrack for The O2’s frenzy tonight.

The rapper fully embodies Saint Chroma – the newest character in the Tyler universe. His mask is ominous, his feet (adorning his signature loafers) jittery, and his knees knocking like a Disney kid in a musical meltdown. The only time he reins himself in is during ‘Judge Judy’, sitting on a crate-like runway. “This shit sounds like what your mum would play in the house. This is real black music,” he declares, paying homage to late soul legends like Angie Stone and Roy Ayers who “laid the groundwork” for him.

But Chroma’s biggest moment comes during ‘Sticky’, as he surveys his minions going feral, making it rain with his own doctored bills and lip-syncing wildly to the ‘Chromakopia’ highlight. Later, he apologises for hitting a fan in the head when his mic dropped out of his pocket, asking the crowd, “Boo me?”

The conceptual Chroma act doesn’t continue the whole way through. Before ‘Take Your Mask Off’, a mock living room appears on the B-stage in the middle of the crowd. Still in character, the star hides behind white sheets onto which a house is projected – the slits between them like intrusive windows, as if we’re stalking him. Then he disappears, confusion swirling before Tyler returns in his old uniform: t-shirt, open button-up, slacks, and cap for a trip down memory lane.

Tyler finally talks – well, berates us and himself – as he flicks through a pile of vinyl nestled in the corner of his makeshift saloon. Some honour legends in his eyes like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. When Outkast’s ‘Stankonia’ is revealed, Tyler praises the crowd’s “cool” rendition of ‘Ms Jackson’. The LA rapper stumbles upon his own albums in the pile, too, each new find signalling a track from that record dropping into the setlist. First, ‘Igor’ reinvigorates the crowd, then in comes ‘Goblin’ and the moshpits open from wall to wall. When he picks up ‘Bastard’ – the debut album that got him banned from the UK for six years – Tyler recalls the moment: “For all you young n****s in the crowd, this album got me kicked out your country.

“All the ‘Flower Boy’ and the gay shit and the ‘Ooh, loafers and ooh, bikes!’ N****, I was a menace, bro,” he continues, ending with a dramatic “Dayyuummm” and “Thank you” to everyone who came to the opening night of his three-night London residency. The audience responds tenfold as Tyler queues his other albums, ‘Wolf’, ‘Call Me If You Get Lost’, and ‘Flower Boy’. As he raps and dances to the sultry ‘Wusyaname’, yellow and red lights swirl over a crowd twirling and grooving like an ‘80s disco.

Back on the main stage – no longer Chroma, but as himself – Tyler finally revels in his glory as he plays a medley of his most high-octane fan-favourites: ‘Thought I Was Dead’ becomes an anthemic assertion of his worth, while the vulnerable ‘Like Him’ sees Tyler’s inner child showered in sprinkling pyros. If you’ve come to a Tyler show before, you know that ‘See You Again’ and ‘New Magic Wand’ rattle the floor, but it’s so mesmerising to watch frailing bodies collide beneath the burgeoning bassline of the latter each time.

As Tyler wishes us a farewell, he remains humble, but tonight is no small feat. With outfit changes, multiple stages and live vocals front-and-centre, Tyler flips through his eras like a masterclass in fearless reinvention. From the raw menace of ‘Goblin’ to the kaleidoscopic chaos of ‘Chromakopia’, tonight is a vivid, wild ride through the mind of rap’s ultimate maverick – and London is lucky to be along for the journey.

Tyler, The Creator played:

‘St. Chroma’
‘Rah Tah Tah’
‘Noid’
‘Darling, I’
‘I Killed You’
‘Judge Judy’
‘Sticky’
‘Take Your Mask Off’
‘Tomorrow’
‘Igor’s Theme’
‘Earfquake’
‘A Boy Is A Gun*’
‘Thank You’
‘I Think’
‘Yonkers’
‘Tron Cat’
‘She’
‘Tamale’
‘Rusty’
‘IFHY’
‘Lumberjack’
‘I Thought You Wanted To Dance’
‘Dogtooth’
‘Sorry Not Sorry’
‘Who Dat Boy’
‘Wusyaname’
‘Thought I Was Dead’
‘Like Him’
‘See You Again’
‘New Magic Wand’
‘I Hope You Find Your Way Home’

The post Tyler, The Creator live in London: theatrical flair from a true rap auteur appeared first on NME.