Over 15 years into his career, Tyler, the Creator can’t stop successfully reinventing himself. As we’ve reflected on before, he’s evolved leaps and bounds since the days that his fast-rising Odd Future group were hyped as the new Wu-Tang Clan–a comparison that comes off as a massive understatement in 2025–and he’s become a rare veteran rapper whose appeal relies on the opposite of nostalgia. When he reached back to 2011’s Goblin for his breakthrough single “Yonkers” at Madison Square Garden on Monday night (7/14), it was a footnote. “You don’t know shit about this album,” he told the crowd before playing the song. Judging by the volume of singalongs compared to all the newer stuff, he was right!
The MSG show was the first of six NYC-area arena shows on his CHROMAKOPIA tour–with one more at MSG tonight (7/15), two at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center (7/17 & 7/18), and two at Newark’s Prudential Center (7/27 & 7/28)–a massive run for an artist who still doesn’t really have any world-conquering hits, an artist who still comes off as “alternative.” And the increasing number of arenas he’s able to fill is something he addressed on stage last night. After dryly quipping, “I know I’m so fucking talented and cool,” he expressed genuine gratitude for the tens of thousands of other people who feel the same. Judging by the variety of age groups in the audience, it’s obvious that Tyler has a fanbase that’s grown with him for 15+ years as well as plenty of fans who hopped on board more recently. It’s not hard to see why, given the career-best run he’s been on lately, and in the age of new album cycles meaning new “eras,” Tyler has become a master of making each new era feel as distinct and compelling as the last.
Tyler introduced the world to the sounds and visuals of the CHROMAKOPIA era the minute he released the album’s first video in October of 2024. It debuted the same mask, wig, and militant march that Tyler began last night’s MSG show with, and once he started throwing album listening parties, we got introduced to the CHROMAKOPIA shipping container that’s now the main prop of his current live show. The show begins with nine of the first 10 CHROMAKOPIA songs in the same order they’re sequenced on the album, filling the first third of the night with not just new songs but an entire new performance that didn’t exist on any other Tyler, the Creator tour. It’s an impressive feat, and judging by the crowd reactions last night, it’s exactly what most of his fans want. Even if you just recently saw him on the Call Me If You Get Lost tour (like I did), Tyler has you coming back because you know it’s going to be an entirely different experience.
After starting the show on the main stage, he moved things to a bridge/catwalk that hovered above GA for a new segment that included an especially wild rendition of “Sticky” that had the crowd screaming the guest verses (especially the GloRilla and Sexyy Red ones), and he stayed in costume until getting to “Take Your Mask Off” and doing as the song says. Then he moved things to the smaller stage at the other end of the floor that was set up like a ’70s-inspired music room with a record crate, an old turntable, a couch, a rug, a coffee table, and a Rhodes keyboard. It was here that Tyler treated the crowd to other eras of his career, flipping through the vinyl crate like a rolodex and then pulling out his own older records to signal which era he’d be tackling next.
As much as Tyler is a culture-shifting superstar himself, he’s also obviously a huge music nerd and this show made that very clear. Early on in the night, he gave RIP shoutouts to Sly Stone, Roberta Flack, and Roy Ayers, all of whom have left noticeable impacts on Tyler’s own artistry. As he flipped through his record crate, he generated audible cheers not just for his own music but for his record collection, which included LPs from Solange, Black Eyed Peas, The White Stripes, and more. It also included Clipse’s 2002 debut album Lord Willin’, which Tyler took time out of his show to speak to the crowd about. He said he wouldn’t be rapping if he didn’t hear that album as an 11-year old, and he also said their Re-Up Gang mixtape series allowed him to make an album like Call Me If You Get Lost, before performing a chunk of songs from that album. He also encouraged everyone in attendance to check out the duo’s just-released reunion album Let God Sort Em Out, which he contributes a guest verse to on the song “P.O.V.,” and he gave that verse its live debut over the beat to his own “Rusty.” As he did all this, Pusha T himself was in the crowd.
After ending his crate-digging eras tour at Flower Boy, Tyler walked back across the bridge while giving a mosh-pit-inducing performance of “Who Dat Boy,” and one of the best moments of the night happened back at the CHROMKOPIA shipping crate: an extended version of late-album highlight “Thought I Was Dead” that saw Tyler slowing down, going a cappella, and getting the crowd screaming in approval of every punchline. “Like Him” and a couple big singles from other recent albums (“See You Again,” “New Magic Wand”) followed, and then he gave the CHROMAKOPIA tour the only sendoff that would be fit: album closer “I Hope You Find Your Way Home.” As we all funneled out of MSG and Tyler got ready for five more arena shows in the area, I left feeling even more wowed by Tyler than the last time I saw him. In my review of CHROMAKOPIA the album, I suggested that it felt like the album he’s been working towards for a long time. After witnessing the spirit and ambition of last night’s show, I’m left feeling like this is an artist whose magnum opus might still not be written yet.
Check out the full setlist and some videos below, and get tickets to Tyler’s upcoming shows here.
Tyler, the Creator makes live debut of his verse on Clipse’s “P.O.V.” at MSG (with Pusha T in the audience)
🎥: villainoftheweek pic.twitter.com/4kPQ1enyTI
— BrooklynVegan (@brooklynvegan) July 15, 2025
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Tyler, the Creator @ Madison Square Garden – 7/14/25 Setlist (via)
MAIN STAGE
St. Chroma
Rah Tah Tah
Noid
(Extended Outro)
Darling, I
I Killed You
Judge Judy
Momma Talk
CATWALK
Sticky
Take Your Mask Off
Tomorrow
B STAGE
Igor’s Theme
Earfquake
Are We Still Friends? (Shortened)
I Think
Yonkers
She
Tamale
Rusty
P.O.V. (Clipse song, over “Rusty” beat)
IFHY
Lumberjack
Wusyaname
Dogtooth
Sorry Not Sorry
Catwalk
Who Dat Boy
MAIN STAGE
Thought I Was Dead
Like Him
See You Again
NEW MAGIC WAND
I Hope You Find Your Way Home