Mystery of Pharos

Fans have shelled out for tickets to Donald Glover's Pharos Festival but they still don't know the what, where, who and why. Siena Yates investigates.

THREE MONTHS after it was first announced, Donald Glover’s mysterious Pharos Festival is asking the big questions: “Who are we?” “Where are we from?” “Why are we here?”

We’re asking some pretty big questions too, like: What is Pharos? Where is it? Who’s going to be there and why should we pay $200 to go?

Pharos’ impending arrival in New Zealand was announced at the beginning of March and Glover fans have already been shelling out for tickets — the only problem is, they still don’t know what they’ve paid for.

Among them is The Hits’ Breakfast co-host Sarah Gandy, who is heading along simply because: “I love Childish Gambino, and I love a good music festival.”

That, and it seems the sheer mystery of the event is enough to grab people’s attention — and their cash.

“We’re all really intrigued to see what the event actually is like — it’s the first time I’ve ever been asked to wear a wavelength to a show,” says Gandy.

Ticketholders are assigned a “frequency” or a “wavelength”, which is essentially a colour they are supposed to wear to the event. It’s a rule. Previously, other rules have included: “Be helpful”, “Do not disturb anyone’s vibration”, “No irony” and “Small talk is discouraged — Real talk when possible.”

The Pharos app describes the event as “a holy place, a shared vibration for human progress” and “a gathering of the five intuitives of the human experience”: tribe, ritual, experience abstraction, architecture and language.

Which is all well and good, but what does any of that actually mean? We know when Pharos is — November 23 to 25 — but we don’t know where, except that the “closest airport is Auckland”.

Worst of all, we don’t even really know what it is.

It’s billed as “a series of live shows” at which Childish Gambino (Glover’s stage name) will headline and debut new material. He will be joined by “special guests”, there’s camping available (somewhere), and that’s about it.

The last Pharos took place at Joshua Tree, California in September 2016 and punters were asked to keep their phones in electro-magnetically sealed bags and keep details of the event to themselves when they left.

In that spirit, critical reviews were light on details but many hailed the live musicians and improvisation aspect of the performances, as well as the “alien” visuals.

HipHopDX conceded, “It was fairly difficult to hear song lyrics”, but despite that, called it “the most revolutionary audio/visual experience all year”.

Pigeons and Planes said: “Although overwhelming, the combination of music and visuals created an out-ofbody experience.”

Pharos follows Glover’s Grammynominated 2017 album Awaken, My Love, a critically acclaimed second season of his TV show, Atlanta, and his record-breaking, politically charged single and video, This Is America.

While we know little about Pharos, what we do know is 2018 is Glover’s year and fans are probably in for something big . . . if they get there.