About 600 people packed into the Cambridge on a Thursday night in 2015. It was only a few hours later that most of them wanted their money back.
You almost don't need to mention who the "headliner" was. Just putting the word in quotation marks (as a precaution) probably speaks for itself.
The memory of that October Thursday is sure to conjure up a few trauma memories - and surely some of those memories (the kind that tend to drift back into your mind like a spectre late a night, and leave you in a fit of duvee-kicking angst) are shared by the guy who caused them.
He hasn't been back since. And to be sure, there's probably a few in town who think he should stay gone.
The romance with this city at least was snuffed out in a fit of yowls and growls from the sticky floors of the Cambo, before everyone gave up and went home, disappointed by yet another rapper to have promised so much and under-delivered.
Flo Rida had famously snubbed us back in 2011 in a festival no-show, but as Topics (in another life, then under a different - some might even say more reputable - name) overheard from one disgruntled fan as they left the Cambridge in 2015, at least Flo - who never had the intention to play - had the decency to not show up at all.
The set that lives in infamy had been announced less than a fortnight before October 2, but the anticipation was palpable. One of the biggest names in modern rap was playing a surprise gig in town.
The Cambo - arguably Newcastle's most renowned live music venue - ran a competition for a pair of tickets through their Facebook page that was overwhelmed with entries.
Some fans promised to travel from Melbourne if they won. By the end of the night, they were complaining on the same page that they wished they had missed out.
The fallout that followed was huge; you were either there that night, or you weren't, and the mere mention of the name still provokes a groan.
Childish Gambino (pause for groan) seemed to be everywhere in 2015, either as his rap alter-ego, or as the actor Donald Glover who played beloved character Troy on Community, or the wildly talented comedy writer on 30 Rock and the protege of Tina Fey.
And then, all of a sudden, he was coming to Newcastle - and for a just over $60, we could see the star in the flesh. No wonder there was a queue at the door.
But the show that the crowds came for was a far cry from the one that they got. Instead of the dark and poetic lyrics of the star, they were served a silent Glover on stage while Royalty - a "creative collective" described by Rolling Stone as being behind many of Glover's endeavours - performed instead.
The act everyone came to see didn't utter a word for the first 40 minutes of the show. And when the crowd's disappointment could no longer go ignored, it seemed Glover was genuinely disappointed by their response. Childish Gambino did eventually perform that night, but the show's time of death had already been called. There was no coming back.
How could it have gone so wrong?
The artist's management blamed a "miscommunication". In a statement, they said the show was a "Childish Gambino and Royalty" set, which is "very different" from the Childish Gambino show, and sought to make amends by inviting everyone who felt let down to come to the Sydney show that weekend.
But a later statement from the Cambridge confirmed that the venue was just as let down as everyone else.
"We had the opportunity to present Childish Gambino to Newcastle in an intimate gig and we jumped at the chance as we aim to bring the best possible acts to Newcastle for music lovers.
As seen last night, unfortunately we have no control over the acts performance once on stage," they said online the following day.
"To everyone who came to see Childish Gambino show last night we are as disappointed as all of you."
There was uproar from fans as they shared promotional materials online, plastered with the artist's name, and screenshot receipts as promotional labels changed event names on social media. It was a fiasco. And Childish Gambino has never been back.
So - as Topics mused in the wake of the show almost a decade ago - why are we here? Why mention the war?
News broke this week that Childish Gambino has announced a world tour heading to New Zealand and Australia in 2025.
Could we see another pop-up show when the artist arrives in Sydney in February? Or, will the sting of bad memories keep the poet away while we nurse old wounds? I guess, we'll see.
