Childish Gambino cancels only NZ show next year as he recovers from surgery

Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, has cancelled his January show at Spark Arena, along with scheduled gigs in Australia. Photo / Kevin Winter, Getty Images for NARAS

Grammy award-winning rapper and actor Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) has cancelled his only New Zealand concert date scheduled for January next year.

Ticket holders received emails from Ticketmaster on Friday morning informing them of the cancellation.

The highly anticipated gig, which was supposed to take place on January 28 at Auckland’s Spark Arena, was set to be Glover’s last as Childish Gambino before he dropped the moniker, which he’s used for more than 10 years.

Childish Gambino performs during The New World Tour at Little Caesars Arena in August in Detroit, Michigan. Photo / Scott Legato, Getty Images

The Sober hitmaker had surgery last month for an unspecified illness, indefinitely postponing the rest of his New World Tour this year and leading to speculation about the fate of his New Zealand and Australian dates in 2025.

“Unfortunately, my path to recovery is taking longer than expected. The upcoming concerts in Australia and New Zealand are cancelled,” Glover said in a message to fans.

“One of the last things I’d ever want to do is disappoint my fans. I really appreciate the support you have shown and know that I will do what I can to give u an exceptional experience when the time is right. Thank you.”

New dates or the option of a rescheduled date were not announced.

Ticketmaster said no action was required from ticket holders and a refund would be processed via the payment method used at the time of purchase.

“If the tickets were transferred to you, the refund will go to the fan who originally purchased the tickets from Ticketmaster,” the email read.

Glover had been on the New World Tour since August, complementing his album Bando Stone & the New World and an upcoming film he’s directing with the same name.

The 41-year-old initially announced he was postponing concerts overseas to focus on his “physical health” for “a few weeks”.

“My path to recovery is something I need to confront seriously,” he wrote.

Donald Glover in June this year. He had surgery last month for an unspecified illness. Photo / PG/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Starting as a writer for Tina Fey’s 30 Rock, Glover rose to fame playing Troy Barnes in the NBC comedy series Community.

More recently, he starred in the first season of the Prime Video series Mr and Mrs Smith, voiced Simba in the 2019 remake of The Lion King and appeared as Lando Calrissian in the 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story.

His music career as Childish Gambino has been critically acclaimed for its blending of genres and thematic undertones relating to key social issues.

Glover was last in New Zealand in 2018 as part of his Pharos festival experience held at Tapapakanga Regional Park in Auckland.

The main stage of Pharos took place inside a giant inflatable dome, in which Glover performed his main set.

Attendees told the Herald that, despite long queues to enter the dome and the sound being too loud inside, the festival was a success.