Donald Glover let the audience know that this is “the last Childish Gambino tour ever,” when he began his Madison Square Garden performance, exclaiming “this is not a concert, this is church.” On Friday night, as Childish Gambino moved through his performance, it was evident that the undertones of a service in a black church were present. So far, his ‘This is America’ tour has proven quite successful.

As the show began, he silently stood onstage under the intense beam of spotlight. “As we stand together, promise me that we’ll teach the children that we must be free,” were the lyrics from his voice on a backing track. Then, the the unreleased “Algorythm” began, a song about rivers, everybody wanting “to get jumped like Moses,” and moving your body.

As Gambino faced moved from the opener into the show’s first act, he appeared to be was wrestling with what the audience wanted and what he wanted to do. Songs like “Worldstar” and “Worst Guys”, both from his 2013 concept album, received the most enthusiastic reactions.

“Stand Tall” showed the range of Gambino’s falsetto, and he appeared to enjoy dancing to “Boogieman,” but neither song is meant for stadium chants. An emotional moment occurred about  halfway through, as Gambino crouched and for a moment, his religious enthusiasm and energy dissipated, giving way to personal reflection.

“I used to come to this place to see some of my favorite rap acts when I was going to NYU,” he said. “A lot of ‘em didn’t get to play stadiums this big. Y’all don’t remember these times, but rap it was like a small thing for a long time. Even when I was a kid people were like, ‘Yeah, that’s what kids do.’ Be yourself, cause dreams come true.”

As the show drew to a close, "This Is America" and "3005" represented the contrasting ideas of Gambino's present and past dreams. "This Is America" is widely considered one of the most unusual songs to go number one on the Billboard Hot 100.