Two powerhouse performers got to share the limelight.
When Kendrick Lamar lit up the Super Bowl LIX halftime show earlier this year, the message was loud and clear: he's still one of hip-hop's most compelling voices. But the Grand National Tour, co-headlined with fellow Top Dawg alumnus SZA, takes that declaration global. And as it touched down in London for two shows at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this week, it felt less like a concert and more like a generational showdown.
Having seen Kendrick at his early Good Kid, M.A.A.D City show in Brixton in 2013 and again as a headliner at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2022, I thought I had the measure of him. But nothing prepares you for the scale and ambition of these stadium shows. With elaborate choreography, towering pyrotechnics and Kendrick's razor-sharp delivery, it's clear this is a tour that mirrors his ascent into superstardom.
From the jump, Kendrick came out swinging. A blistering three-track run—Wacced Out Murals, Squabble Up and King Kunta, set the tone, playing to a cross-section of fans as he switched between new material and older classics, while offering a reminder of his lyricism and his refusal to play safe. Element and TV Off followed, serving as both a transition and provocation, hinting at Kendrick's commentary on media saturation and modern disconnection.
Then came the shift. Like a changing tide, Kendrick exited, and SZA took the stage, ushering in a new energy. Dressed in nature-inspired couture and framed by bioluminescent visuals, her portion of the show was ethereal, seductive, and entirely her own. 30 for 30, Broken Clocks, and The Weekend washed over the crowd like waves, her vocals floating above the trap-heavy production.
If Kendrick is asphalt and concrete, mixing urban grit and intellectual weight, SZA is forest and stardust, emotive and unpredictable. The show moved between them like the ebb and flow of the tide, with R&B melting into rap, in a co-headline concert that made sense.
Midway through, Kendrick returned with a vengeance. This was the "for the day ones" section, complete with reworked versions of M.A.A.d City and Poetic Justice. The latter hit harder than usual, Kendrick rapping his verse of the Drake collaboration with added venom, an apparent nod to the ongoing Drake beef. SZA later cheekily teased her own loyalties with a rendition of Rich Baby Daddy, sending the stadium into twerk mode.
And then came Not Like Us. As the crowd erupted into a unified bounce, flames erupted, Kendrick broke into a rare smirk, and the whole arena felt like it had been waiting for this exact moment. It was defiant, visceral, and an undisputed flex as the most awarded song in Grammy history reverberated throughout the stadium.
Still, it wasn't all flawless. SZA's performance atop an animatronic spider during I Hate U might've looked spectacular front-on, but for fans in side seats and standing areas, visibility was poor. Similarly, moments where she performed kneeling, particularly during Blind and Garden, were lost to large portions of the crowd. A minor wardrobe malfunction also saw her fur skirt disintegrate mid-song, though she brushed it off like a pro. Yet these were fleeting issues. Her soaring delivery on Kitchen, performed atop a giant ant, felt operatic. And during Nobody Gets Me, she metamorphosed into a butterfly-like silhouette, suspended high above the crowd, before being enveloped in fireflies for Good Days.
By the time the duo united for All the Stars, they were literally elevated above the crowd, performing mid-air. Their interplay, a push and pull between grit and grace, epitomised the show's core theme of duality.
The finale saw Luther and Gloria played out as 62,000 fans sang word for word, a communal exhale after two and a half hours of audio-visual assault. There was no encore needed.
The Grand National Tour offered a cultural statement. Kendrick, 15 years post-Section.80, remains as potent as ever. SZA, meanwhile, proves she's not just a featured act, but a headliner with her own mythos, bending genre and visuals into her own unique love language.
Both Kendrick Lamar and SZA are top of their game right now, and The Grand National Tour shows why.
GO: Visit www.livenation.co.uk for tickets and more information.