After nine studio releases scattered across a handful of personalities and alters, Tyler, the Creator has built himself a status that cannot be understated in modern music.
With the release of his eighth album, 'Chromakopia', in late 2024, and just weeks after he dropped his ninth record, 'Don't Tap The Glass', Tyler, the Creator has touched down in Australia for the third time, commencing with four concerts in Melbourne.
As soon as we entered Rod Laver Arena (20 August), the giant stage fashioned from Chromakopia-themed shipping containers instantly captivated the amassing crowd.
A fantastic atmosphere enveloped the punters, an audible hum from a sea of fans in fur hats, polo t-shirts, and Converse sneakers, all chatting excitedly about the show to come.
Tyler has brought California-based hip hop duo Paris Texas and Lil Yachty to open the tour. Paris Texas delivered a loud and heavy-hitting performance that had the audience moshing within five minutes of beginning.
The duo brought a sound that bore a heavy Odd Future influence; ditto their attitude onstage; their energy and interaction with the audience set the bar high for the rest of the evening.
Unfortunately, Lil Yachty's set was genuinely disappointing, as heavy use of a backing tracks across his vocals overpowered whatever musical prowess he might have offered. Yachty spent most of his set standing onstage without any movement.
At 9:40pm, a robotic voice announced: "Welcome. Number one. Body movement. No sitting still. Number two. Only speak in glory. Leave your baggage at home. Number three. Don't tap the glass."
From this moment, the crowd knew this show was altogether different. In a dark red leather outfit, Tyler walked out onto his shipping container-made stage and went straight to tunes from his newest record 'Don't Touch The Glass', an album dropped in a surprise release whilst Tyler was already on tour.
With previous Chromakopia: The World Tour concerts, Tyler hasn't opened the show with any of these tracks, preferring to begin with the opening track from his album 'Chromakopia'.
After performing 'Noid' off 'Chromakopia', Tyler was left in a pool of sweat, as beads of sweat rained from his face onto his red leather jacket. Tyler spoke to a chanting crowd calling for him to remove the jacket: "I would remove this jacket because it's hot up here, but I want to look cool as sh.t in all the videos you post online!"
Without the presence of any sort of accompaniment, Tyler used the giant stage to dance with a fluidity rarely seen. Tyler never misses a beat with his words, even while dancing and moving with an effortless, even passionate flow.
Tyler briefly departed from his new work to dive into his deep catalogue of music spanning 15 years, starting with the track 'EARFQUAKE' from his 2019 album 'Igor'; asking fans to "sing this one for him," the crowd exploded into the vocals of the track whilst Tyler took a moment to bask in this connected moment with the audience.
Tyler sped through much of his earlier work for the set with tracks like 'Are We Still Friends?', 'She', 'Tamale', and 'IFHY'.
With the end of his set drawing near, Tyler led the crowd into a deeply emotional moment with the track 'Like Him', a heart-wrenching song about the absence of a father in his life. The crowd met with raw and deeply personal lyrics about the struggle for a personal identity.
During this track, it felt like an invitation for the audience to share Tyler's vulnerabilities and struggles. Moments like these are rarely displayed so personally to an audience, and it felt truly refreshing. You could easily call this tour Tyler's peak of creative freedom and musicality, so far, and it would be hard to find a person who'd disagree.
Tyler seems to have creative freedom on a scale that most major artists under record labels cannot achieve; this liberty is clear in Tyler's attitude onstage and in the music he's created over the past year.
For anyone out there who's on the fence about seeing this tour, here's a word of advice: Do not miss this tour; it will change you.
Tyler, The Creator 2025 Tour Dates
Fri 22 Aug - Rod Laver Arena (Melbourne)Sat 23 Aug - Rod Laver Arena (Melbourne)
Sun 24 Aug - Rod Laver Arena (Melbourne)
Tue 26 Aug - Qudos Bank Arena (Sydney)
Wed 27 Aug - Qudos Bank Arena (Sydney)
Thu 28 Aug - Qudos Bank Arena (Sydney)
Sat 30 Aug - Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Sun 31 Aug - Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Thu 4 Sep - RAC Arena (Perth)
Fri 5 Sep - RAC Arena (Perth)
