Tyler, the Creator Surprises Boston Fans with Halloween Show
Photo by Alan Arias // @alan.the.arias
At 9:02 am on Halloween 2024, Tyler, the Creator posted to his Twitter (@tylerthecreator), “boston show today very short.” And then radio silence. A few minutes later an update was posted to the artist’s Instagram story (@feliciathegoat): a branded green-and-black graphic announcing “30 Minutes of CHROMAKOPIA,” his recently-released eighth studio album. Tickets were set to be five dollars, and the concert was to take place at the Converse HQ on Lovejoy Wharf at 3:00 p.m. that same day.
Unfortunately, and incredibly unsurprisingly, that five-dollar promise was not the case for most fans in attendance, who bought their tickets at quite an upsell from resellers (personally, my ticket was $91 including fees, and I was only about 15 minutes late to the sale).
What fans arrived at was relatively unconventional for a performance space: the Converse store with a green logo (as opposed to their regular white one) with a shipping container on top of the building labeled CHROMAKOPIA. Down at crowd level stood a statue of St. Chroma (Tyler’s persona from the album). A crowd began to gather, and not just a ticket-holding one. Fans who were unable to secure tickets — or to afford the egregious resale prices — gathered at the end of the wharf. The construction crew working on the Bill Russell Bridge stopped their work to watch. Tenants and employees of the neighboring building gathered at their windows — including an individual in a rather elaborate Lorax getup, who Tyler called out during his set, saying, “I love that.”
Tyler emerged after about a 15-minute delay, climbing up onto the shipping container in a green suit and a half version of the mask from the album’s cover (easier to rap in!). The show opened with the album’s opener, “St. Chroma.” At the end of the song, Tyler held out his arms, conducting the audience while they sang the choral outro of Daniel Caesar’s vocals, before going straight into “Rah Tah Tah.”
Photo courtesy of Nice Kicks // @nicekicks
After a few songs, Tyler temperature-checked the crowd, asking how they were doing and thanking them for their support with the album’s rollout—as well as for their support in other, more online matters. “I got Swifties all mad at me with they racist ass,” he said, in reference to a current controversy of Taylor Swift fans pulling up older, more controversial lyrics from the rapper. It being Halloween, he also surveyed some of the costumes in the crowd, pointing out the several Igors in attendance, before jumping right back into the set.
At the end of Tyler’s seventh song, “Take Your Mask Off,” he held out the mic for the audience to sing the lyrics “And I hope you find yourself / And I hope you find yourself / And I hope you take your mask off,” to which the artist complied, throwing his half-mask off the shipping container down to a stagehand below. This was followed by an abridged acapella version of the album’s 12th track, “Thought I Was Dead.”
Before his last song, Tyler stopped to check the time, presumably with a stagehand, but the audience was quick to let him know that they had plenty of time, and he could stay as long as he wanted. Despite this, he told the audience that he was going to stay for only one more song (“Two more??” the front rows suggested.), and that he was gonna end on a “sad note.” That he did, with “I Hope You Find Your Way Home,” CHROMAKOPIA’s emotional closer also closing the setlist.
After a whirlwind of a show — which did in fact last almost exactly a half hour — the rapper exited in on-brand fashion: flipping off the audience, to which they lovingly reciprocated. A line formed to get into the Converse store to buy merch, including a pair of recently-dropped CHROMAKOPIA sneakers, and a Boston-specific T-shirt, with St. Chroma in the Celtics logo. This was the second, and likely not the last of these pop-up shows, as Tyler, the Creator rolls out this new album and new era in his music, fans across the country are keeping an eye out and seeing if he’ll come to their city in the same fashion he has been doing.
SETLIST:
Photo courtesy of Converse // @converse
St. Chroma
Rah Tah Tah
Noid
Darling, I (shortened)
Hey Jane (shortened)
Sticky (shortened)
Take Your Mask Off
Thought I Was Dead (acapella, shortened)
Like Him (shortened)
I Hope You Find Your Way Home