Tyler, the Creator rocked a sold-out Kia Center with songs and theatrics to spare

By mid-afternoon Friday, there was a block- (or two)long line of people waiting to get in the Kia Center to see Tyler, the Creator. Some hardy folks had been waiting in line for several hours. Unlike most shows at the Kia Center, the floor area would be general admission for this one, and people were primed to get wild.

The crowd for Tyler, the Creator’s Orlando return  was of all ages, primarily Gen Z and Gen Alpha (more than a few with a parent in tow). The majority of the hardcore were dressed in some shade of green and/or cosplaying as the rapper’s past personas by emulating his ever-mutating style: lots of wigs, furry earflap hats, golf clothing, preppy attire, socks and sandals, etc. The crowd was the unbilled co-star of the night, for certain. The lines for merch and the opportunity to snap a pic with a tall cartoon statue of TTC were impressively long all night.

Openers Paris Texas were received well by the crowd — “Girls Like Drugs,” “Heavy Metal” and “Force of Habit” especially got the crowd bouncing and doing a little moshing during heavier moments. There was a young person dressed as a banana that was particularly animated, earning them a shout-out from the performers: “Yo, Orlando … you all crazy, that one n***a in the banana suit is wilding.”

Next up was Lil Yachty, who performed a well-received 45-minute set all by his lonesome. The crowd were very familiar with his songs and duly sang along, especially to “Sorry Not Sorry,” “Hate Me,” “iSpy,” “Broccoli” and “We Saw the Sun.”

At one point Yachty shouted out Tyler for giving him the opportunity to be on this tour. During a couple of songs, the crowd in the seated bowl sections of the arena all waved their cellphone flashlights, which made for a “beautiful” sight, per Lil Yachty. Yachty gave us something to think about beyond the next hook when he said: “Everyone is valuable, there’s a lot of hatred in this world, so you’ve got to make sure that you spread love.”

Then Tyler, the Creator took the stage to deafening cheers and screams from the sold-out house. The immersive staging had the main stage kitted out to look like a stack of shipping crates, with one crate turned out sideways toward the crowd, which TTC used as a platform to perform on.

TTC is an undeniably great showman, beyond animated with intentionally humorous dance moves that captivated a crowd already singing along to every lyric. During the first five songs Tyler performed, the stage lighting was a vivid shade of green, occasionally accented by blasts of pyrotechnics. For the Chromakopia track “Judge Judy,” Tyler sat on the edge of the crate looking out over the crowd as he sang the emotional song. From above, a walkway began descending from the rafters. He jumped up on the suspended walkway and performed Chromakopia crowd-favorites “Sticky” (tossing stacks of what looked like dollar bills into the crowd below) and “Take Your Mask Off” as he slowly made his way towards a smaller second stage at the other side of the arena — which had risen up from the floor to meet the walkway.

He sneaked off the stage for a brief costume change into casual attire, appropriate for the smaller stage which was set-designed to look like a house. The walls eventually floated up to the rafters to reveal what looked like a living room, complete with a couch, bookshelf, desk, electric piano and record player, with a small crate of records that Tyler flipped through to select the next songs. As he flipped through the crate of LPs featuring all his releases, we caught glimpses of albums by Erykah Badu and Al Jarreau.

At one point addressing the crowd, Tyler said, “Shoutout to all the parents that came tonight with their kids, I see some 10-year-old kids singing the words … I saw a girl that had a sign that said she spent her scholarship money to come to the show. Half of me wants to say, ‘Thank you so much for doing that to come here,’ the other half is saying, ‘You’re a f***ing idiot, girl, go get your education! Why would you do that?!'”

The walkway began lowering again from the wings as Tyler rocked the crowd favorite “Who Dat Boy” from 2017 album Flower Boy. Once back on the main stage, he tore through seven more tracks, with a finale featuring lots more pyro and a video cameo from Doechii on “Balloon,” before ending in a shower of sparks falling to the stage.

The show wrapped up with the appropriate reading of slow jam “I Hope You Find Your Way Home.”

Better find a mop, it’s getting sticky in this bitch … indeed!

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This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2025.