Kendrick Lamar and SZA bring Grand National tour to SoFi Stadium

By Zachary Steinman
Staff Writer

On May 21st, 23rd and 24th, Kendrick Lamar and SZA took their Grand National tour Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium. The joint-artist tour first began on April 19th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The duo plans to take their tour nationwide before branching out to multiple European cities, before wrapping up the tour on August 9th in Stockholm, Sweden.
The opening act for the Grand National Tour is DJ Mustard, who played an hour-long set before making way for the headliners of the tour. The artists brought on guest performers, including Lizzo on LA Night 1 and Justin Bieber on Night 2 joining Sza on stage. Other artists such as AZ Chike and Playboi Carti performed on stage with Kendrick at previous concerts.
The two brought their own themes and ideas to the stage. Lamar’s set filled the screens with minimalistic black and white scenes, while SZA opted for a more natural look with visuals of moss and bugs everywhere. The nature theme continued with SZA on a giant model ant for her viral song “Garden (Say It Like Dat).”
Despite contrasting themes and personalities, both Kendrick and SZA shared the stage with equal amounts of love from the sold-out crowd. Each transition between the two was met with loud cheering. The crowd’s roar grew even louder when they performed their hit songs together, including “luther” and “30 for 30.”
During intermission, SoFi’s screens played short skits of an anonymous, unseen man who questioned Kendrick and SZA. This unknown person asked Kendrick whether to take his “threatening” lyrics seriously, where the rapper responded to with saying to take the lyrics “however you want to.” These videos were shown periodically throughout the concert, with points of comedy including the interviewing losing his patience as Kendrick ignored his questions and ordered chicken.
The concert came to a close with an emotional duo performance of Kendrick’s “gloria” on his powerful new album GNX. The two exited the stage to a loud and positive send-off from the crowd, ending the night on a high note.