It was warm on Sunday.  Almost 40 degrees, birds singing, sun beaming; for one brief day, it felt like spring was coming back.  I was feeling very optimistic on my morning walk — and excited, because that night I was going to see Tyler, The Creator perform.  

In September, I convinced some of my friends to buy tickets with me to go to Tyler’s tour promoting his newest album, “Call Me If You Get Lost,” at Target Center in Minneapolis on Feb 20.

I’m not a die-hard Tyler fanatic, but I do really like his music; he’s made his way into my top five artists on Spotify for a couple years now. 

“Call Me If You Get Lost” is my favorite album of his, the jazz, soul and R&B that tie into his hip hop are just too cool.  He’s always done a fair amount of genre blending, but this album, especially, is sick.

Opening for Tyler were Teezo Touchdown, Vince Staples and Kali Uchis.  As is the inevitable nature of openers, they felt a little lackluster in comparison to the big show, but still performed well — especially Uchis, who I loved even though I only knew 3 of her songs. 

After an hour and a half of openers and a lot of set changes (Tyler had wood flooring installed on stage, and a Grand Budapest-esque facade took over the back), we finally got to the main show.

Perched atop a turquoise Rolls-Royce (of course he was), Tyler, The Creator rose through the floor of the stage —  and just killed it.  

Most of the show was a tour through “Call Me If You Get Lost,” but he performed some of his most popular pieces from other albums too, even doing a few throwback tracks from “Goblin” and “Wolf.”

A b-stage (he got there via boat, boosted by hydraulics on the floor, of course he did) hosted some of his older music, including picks from “Flower Boy”: “Boredom” and “See You Again”, which were beautiful, emotional and nostalgic, even though that album only came out in 2017.  

Ah, us kids. We grow up so fast. 

My favorites were the exhilarating “Who Dat Boy” — all out with spooky green lights and fireball-pyrotechnics, “EARFQUAKE” — the music cut more often in this number to let the audience sing (yell) along, and “NEW MAGIC WAND”, which was just loud and awesome.  

The live performance made me appreciate “I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE” and “RUNITUP”, from the newest album a lot more than I had previously.  Listening to them now, they stand out as two of the best tracks on the record.  

Tyler ended with “RUNITUP”, a sincerely assertive piece about following dreams, “even if it takes you 10 years,” he said. As cheesy as that is, looking at how far Tyler has come in the past 10 years, why not?  It was a delightful closer.  

“Call Me If You Get Lost”, released last June, screams the aesthetically pleasing pastel vibes of summertime and driving with your windows down. Ironically, at the show, Tyler said he forgot how cold Minnesota was. 

“I’m from California,” he said. “I brought all shorts and one hoodie.”

Tyler, The Creator might have been chilly, but for us, that Sunday was the warmest in months — there couldn’t have been a more perfect setting for the show. Like “Call Me If You Get Lost” itself, Sunday was invigorating, warm and inviting.  

So, although it’s now blizzarding again and we have a forecast full of negative degrees, I have hope again for summer.  

DeLapp can be reached at [email protected]