Phyoe Thaung
Sep 19, 2026
A decade after its release, Chance the Rapper brought the gospel hooks, fan favorites, and a wider look at his catalog to Phoenix.
Ten years after Coloring Book became a defining release in Chance the Rapper’s career, the Chicago rapper is spending the summer revisiting the mixtape with the people who have carried it with them ever since. On September 16, the Coloring Book 10 Year Anniversary Tour made its way to Phoenix for a stop at Arizona Financial Theatre.
Released in 2016, Coloring Book arrived during a period when Chance was emerging as one of hip-hop’s biggest independent artists. The project brought together gospel, hip-hop and soul across collaborations with Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Kirk Franklin, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, T-Pain and Saba. A decade later, the anniversary tour gives those songs another run onstage while leaving room for the music Chance has made since.
La Reezy opened the Phoenix stop, continuing his run as support throughout the anniversary tour. At 21, the rapper represents a much newer generation of hip-hop than the record being celebrated, giving the night a bridge between where Chance was a decade ago and the artists coming up now.
When Chance took over Arizona Financial Theatre, the focus shifted firmly toward Coloring Book. The anniversary format gave songs that have remained fixtures of his catalog a different context: this time, they arrived as music many people in the room had spent the past 10 years growing alongside.
That history is particularly important with Coloring Book. Songs such as “No Problem” and “All Night” helped define the project, while its gospel influence gave the record an identity that extended well beyond traditional hip-hop production. Rather than approaching the anniversary as a simple front-to-back recreation, the tour also reaches elsewhere in Chance’s catalog, including material from Acid Rap and his more recent work.
The production kept Chance at the center of the performance. Lighting shifted throughout the set while his live band gave the songs more room than their recorded versions, allowing arrangements to stretch beyond what listeners have heard through headphones for the past decade.
That approach also made the anniversary feel less like a museum piece. Chance remained animated across the stage, regularly turning toward the crowd and leaving space between songs to address the room. The familiar material carried plenty of nostalgia, but the performance itself stayed rooted in what those songs sound like with another decade behind them.
There is an unusual dynamic to watching an artist celebrate a record that many listeners can probably attach to a specific period of their lives. Ten years is enough time for high-school and college memories to become adulthood, and songs once heard when they were new now arrive with years of personal history attached to them.