Tyler, the Creator @ RAC Arena
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Tyler, the Creator’s show on Tuesday at RAC Arena for the Perth leg of his Call Me If You Get Lost world tour served not only to delight his legion of fans but also to confirm his status as one of the most exciting and enigmatic artists of the current era. Ever the fashion icon, the sizeable crowd was equally also well turned out and spanned several generations, with many under eighteen in attendance thanks to the show’s all-ages status.
With a Wes Anderson inspired set of grassy, rollicking hills from some nonspecific European country, Tyler commenced the show by climbing theatrically ascending the 10 metre high summit. Upon reaching the top, he discarded his hiker’s rucksack and climbing poles, picked up the mic and turned front on to the crowd to launch into Call Me If You Got Lost opener Corso.
The bass-heavy Lemonhead quickly followed, before Tyler took a seat on the set’s steps to get personal with the crowd, “I like your city. It’s really cool. It’s chill. Brisbane feels racist as fuck. Sydney is too city-like. Not that that’s a bad thing. Melbourne is cool,” before smoothly winning the crowd over with “but there’s something about your city, low key, my favourite city in Australia,” before moving into the smooth tones of CMIYGL single WusYaName which had the crowd singing along for the first time in the night.
Now properly warmed up and at the front of the stage, Tyler removed his pale-lemon puffer jacket before launching into banger Lumberjack. He quickly doubled down on this, moving into Come On, Let’s Go from NIGO’s 2022 album, I Know NIGO!, before telling the crowd “Let go back in years, and let’s see what that feels like” and working his way through Boredom and 911/Mr Lonely from 2017’s Flower Boy.
Climbing back to the hill’s top, Tyler was joined by five soldiers in red and grey uniformed soldiers on the back screen, all moving in co-ordinated 360 degrees moves, before entering into See You Again and the ruckus-inducing Who Dat Boy.
Moving even further back in his discography, Tyler noted the youthfulness of the crowd by commenting “a lot of you here are babies… you was one year old when I released these next tracks” before snaking his way through a medley of She, Yonkers, Tamale and IFHY from his 2012 and 2013 albums Goblin and Wolf.
Breaking from his assigned setlist, Tyler did a short acapella version of Smuckers as requested by a fan’s cardboard sign, before dropping into IGOR era tracks I Think and Earfquake. Now taking on the role of hype man, Tyler stated “this next song scares me. And I wrote it” before a surge of pyrotechnics and flashing lights announced the arrival of the pulsating New Magic Wand and galvanising the entire crowd into movement, with bodies in the pit going every which way and the entire audience singing along.
Rounding things off for the night, Tyler pulled out I Thought You Wanted To Dance before farewelling Perth with the breezy and uplifting CMIYGL album cut RunItUp. There was no encore, and this felt fitting. Tyler had so masterfully built and released tension throughout the set, that at the setlist’s end, the performance felt complete and nothing further was required. This mastery of performance means Tyler has more in common with a theatrical production than your average hip hop arena show, and ultimately, sets Tyler’s as one of the most unique and entertaining performers in the world.
MICHAEL HOLLICK
MICHAEL HOLLICK
Photos by Stu McKay
