Earl Sweatshirt & MIKE @ The Complex 10.4.2026

Concert

In the first episode of Breaking Bad, Walter White said that chemistry is technically “the study of matter,” even though he sees it as “the study of change.” I’d disagree with both because I personally see chemistry as the best descriptor of the connection between Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE, and what they create whenever they’re making music together.

People who are into either of their music enough know that this isn’t necessarily a new pairing. If you were an Earl fan, you may have found out about MIKE by seeing Earl drop his feature on MIKE’s “allstar” on his 2020 project weight of the world. But if you were a MIKE fan, you probably already loved Earl Sweatshirt and his iconic 2015-2018 run, and this 2020 feature was an awesome moment for you as fans of both. My point is that these two have probably more or less shared fanbases in recent years.

So it only made sense that a few years and a few fantastic collaborations later, we got the announcement for a collaboration album titled POMPEII // UTILITY. This isn’t your average collaboration album but rather two separate solo projects with the same mood, production and goals as each other put onto one project. MIKE would take over the POMPEII side, while Earl closed it out with UTILITY. Surprisingly though, fans did not exactly react the way you would expect them to, following such an announcement.

For a good overall chunk of both artists’ discographies, there was a broad but still very focused sound for their music. Moody and murky, but nonetheless very musical and soulful, they both pulled influence and samples from all over music history. With this new album, though, they were making it clear from the moment the first two singles dropped that the entirety of both of their projects would be produced by SURF GANG. This caught fans by surprise, with a lot of them being pretty wary, but I was all for it. SURF GANG is a group that has grown a considerable amount in recent years because of their unique but very well-intentioned sound, and I was really just interested to see how this would play out.

The album came out in April, and I liked it quite a bit. My standouts would have to be MIKE’s “Minty” and Earl’s “Home on the Range.” Overall, I thought the production worked really well for the two, and this album showed that their chemistry was stronger than ever. Every interview and music video that came out during the cycle made it (intentionally or not) clear that they really connected on a level deeper than music and genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. That includes members of SURF GANG too, notably Harrison, who is the co-founder and is the member who opened up the Home on the Range Tour.

That’s right! As usual, it took me a minute to get to the main course, but the group, of course, announced a pretty sizable tour to go along with this nice, beefy supper of an album. It got delayed from the original dates that were about a month out from the original release, but I didn’t mind because it gave me an excuse to dive back into this album recently, and upon re-listening, I appreciate so many more aspects of the album. Songs like “Leadbelly,” “Chicago,” “Back LA” and “NOT 4TW” hit so much harder on the rerun. All this to say, I was more than ready for the show, even if just to see them interact on stage.

This is my fourth consecutive year seeing MIKE in concert. My first time seeing him after being referred by my friend Tim was on the Ipari Park Tour in 2023; there were maybe 20 people in that venue. This was by far the most energy he’d had out of the four shows, and it’s easy to see why: he’s probably living out dreams he’s been working towards since he started making tunes. My barber (shoutout Dennis Magaña down at The Salt Lake Barber Company) said that seeing Earl and Mike together was like seeing the student and the master, and I completely agree. MIKE constantly referred to Earl on stage as his big brother, and it was clear that they meant a lot to each other on a level that goes beyond the whole album cycle.