Childish Gambino Hits Headliner Contender With Buoyant ACL Set

October 4, 2014

Hitting the stage at Austin City Limits for a late-afternoon Friday performance, Childish Gambino was clearly in high gear for his first live appearance since the arrival of last week’s STN MTN mixtape and Kauai EP. Bounding across the stage in shorts and – for a short time – a Hawaiian shirt, the former Troy pulled the biggest bouncers from both his albums, and dabbled in the new as he gestured wildly and threw maniac faces.

He may have acted a bit like a goofball on ecstasy, but his rhyme game was razor-sharp, edging him closer to headliner contender status.

Check out a Crave-exclusive gallery of pics from the performance below.

Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
7 Childish Gambino

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud
Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014

by Johnny Firecloud

Senior Writer

A senior writer at CraveOnline since 2006, Johnny has reported on music culture around the world for over a decade while setting a higher standard of reviews, editorials, photography and interviews with the industry's biggest names. Johnny has conceptualized and produced a wide range of original Crave features such as the long-running Band of The Month series, the CraveOnstage performance feature, the Music History video series and the Passport travel colum, among others. His Crave coverage spectrum has included Lifestyle, Travel, Film & TV, Politics, Sports, Fashion and Food writing.

A jack of all journalistic trades & master of several, you can also find his work on Antiquiet, Filter, Food Republic, Media Roots, The Owl Mag and beyond. His music photos can be seen on Instagram. Keep up with Johnny on Twitter at @JohnnyFirecloud, and on Facebook.