Childish Gambino electrifies PPG Paints Arena on final tour

Donald Glover is the definition of multitalented. He is a renowned writer, actor and director who has written for NBC’s “30 Rock,” starred in “Community” and wrote and starred in the FX series “Atlanta,” among many other projects.

When he works under his stage name — Childish Gambino — it’s all about the music.

Starting in 2008, he has rapped, sang and bent genres under that pseudonym.

On Tuesday night, Pittsburgh saw Childish Gambino perform, for what he says is the final time, at PPG Paints Arena.

The opener was another famous face. Going by only her first name, 23-year-old Willow Smith is the daughter of A-listers Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith, but Willow distinguished herself from her superstar family — and her childhood forays into acting and music — in her 40-minute set of spacey, good-vibes alt-pop.

That included popular songs like “Wait A Minute!” and “Meet Me At Our Spot,” both of which blend indie rock and jazzy R&B in a chill groove perfect for opening the show. She thanked Childish Gambino for bringing her along on this tour. “He’s a visionary and a once-in-a-generation talent.”

Between sets, an array of large light rigs appeared over the audience, where they remained to cast bright white lights over the assembling crowd, until they started to flicker, appear to short out and strobe as thrumming noise rang out from the PA system. The lights pulsed faster and faster along with the humming bass until finally they went out and, on a B-stage toward the back of the floor crowd, Childish Gambino appeared, launching into the set’s first song, “Hearts Were Meant To Fly.”

The song opens his latest — and apparently final — album, which serves as the soundtrack to the film “Bando Stone and the New World,” in which Glover stars and makes his film directorial debut. He welcomed everyone to the New World Tour as red lights shone from the small stage and the industrial beat vibrated through the crowd.

“This is the last Childish Gambino tour, so I need y’all to act like it’s the last Childish Gambino tour,” he said as the crowd cheered.

He made sure it was memorable, and not just with music. The show featured innovative and jaw-dropping technical feats like lasers, pyrotechnics, and an undulating, up-and-down-moving set of light strands that cast many colors and shapes over the thrust stage. At times, they shimmered in rainbow shades like a swimming fish’s scales, like during “Survive,” and during “Got To Be,” they formed a huge red skull.

Gambino, for his part, was a ball of energy in a futuristic, lit outfit, bouncing and strutting over the thrust stage. For many songs, he was accompanied by three dancers, combining some really fun moves with a fluid, interpretive dance style.

“You still with me, Pittsburgh? This song is for people who have been in love or are in love,” he said. “If you wanna turn on your phone lights and hold them up in the air, you can. Like stars.”

The audience obliged while he slowed things down with the lovely “Steps Beach,” and the hanging lights shone in a pulse of pastel colors while the arena was lit with thousands of points of white light. It was a decidedly romantic moment.

He followed that by saying “Here’s the real test” before booming into “I. Crawl,” a scorching song with a massive chorus. When he yelled “Go!” the crowd … well, went, and the energy was palpable through the floor as thousands of fans all jumped in time to the beat.

The switches between sultry R&B tunes including “No Excuses” where Gambino channeled ’80s icons with his impressive falsetto and the brash, beat-heavy rap songs such as “Do Ya Like” were surprisingly seamless.

“This is the point in the night where I need to know if you’re a real fan or not,” he said in what must have been some dry humor, because he followed it up by booming into his biggest song to date, “This Is America.” He performed the controversial hit with just as much enthusiasm as in its iconic music video.

He once again said, “Y’all aren’t real fans, though. Do you know this one?” before “IV. Sweatpants,” a fan favorite from 2013’s “Because The Internet,” which included some impressively fast rapping, hilarious bars and great shout-along moments for the crowd to enjoy.

After that was a rapid-fire showcase of his beloved tracks, from “Sober” to “Heartbeat” to the absolutely incendiary “Bonfire.”

“Y’all are real fans! Pittsburgh! I didn’t know you had game like that!” he said as the crowd cheered.

After the rarely performed “Telegraph Ave.,” he glowed with another early career favorite, “3005,” which showed off his rapping and singing skills. The lights shimmered in every color in the midst of what would have felt like a perfect sendoff if he’d ended the night there — a timeless song that’s a little happy and a little bittersweet.

Instead, he went with the very-old-school R&B hit “Redbone,” featuring some Otis Redding-esque vocals with a modern twist, ending with a keyboard-and-drums bonanza from his band. Then all the lights went out and he ended with a simple “Thank you.”

The screens behind the stage played an actual film credits sequence, giving thanks to everyone who made the tour possible. And as all modern moviegoers know, everything has a post-credits sequence these days. His was one word on the black screen: “Lithonia?”

The crowd answered in the affirmative.

He returned to show off the latest trick he has up his sleeve. While rock elements snuck into many songs on the setlist, “Lithonia,” also from “Bando Stone and the New World,” is a straight-up burning-down-the-house rock song — and it did, in fact, do just that.

The man has range.

As the words “THE END” appeared on the screens, Childish Gambino left the stage for the last time, simply saying, “Thank you. We love you.”