Grand National Tour

The Grand National Tour is an ongoing co-headlining concert tour by American rapper Kendrick Lamar and singer-songwriter SZA. It is in support of Lamar's sixth studio album, ''GNX'', and SZA's first reissue album, '' SOS Deluxe: Lana'' (2024). The first all-stadium tour for both artists, it consists of 39 dual shows across Europe and North America with an additional seven Lamar solo concerts in Australia and Latin America. It commenced on April 19, 2025, in Minneapolis, United States, and is scheduled to conclude on December 10 in Sydney, Australia. Lamar's sets include segments of Anita Baker songs, while SZA's contain segments of other artists' songs. American DJ Mustard is the tour's opening act, with Argentinian duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso replacing him for the Latin American leg. AZ Chike, Baby Keem, Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Kaytranada, Lizzo, and Playboi Carti have appeared as guest performers.

Following the tour's start, ''SOS'' and ''GNX'' charted at number one and two on the ''Billboard'' 200, respectively. The Seattle show broke the record for the highest-grossing hip hop concert, accumulating $14.811million from 60,941 tickets sold.

Background

Artists' collaborative history

Kendrick Lamar and SZA are former labelmates from Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). For over a decade, the two collaborated on musical projects, beginning with SZA's 2014 extended play '' Z''. They previously toured with other TDE artists during the Championship Tour (2018).

The pair announced the Grand National Tour on December 3, 2024. The news came 11 days after Lamar's sixth studio album ''GNX'', which included two collaborations with SZA. Like the album, the tour was named after the 1987 Buick Grand National Experimental.

Lamar headlined the Super Bowl LIX halftime show on February 9, 2025, with SZA as a guest performer. The show served as a taste of what the Grand National Tour would be, with elements of the choreography and stage design carrying over.

Tour tickets and announcements

Two pre-sale options were made available on December 4, 2024: one via the tour's sponsor Cash App, the other via Ticketmaster's Official Platinum program.

Initially planned for 21 shows across the United States and Canada, additional dates were added for Inglewood and Toronto on December 6.

European dates for the tour were announced on February 10, 2025. Tickets went on general sale on February 14, with various presales running February 12–13. Additional dates were added for Nanterre and London on February 13 and Frankfurt on February 14.

Mustard was announced as the opening act with his own DJ set on April 1.

Two Australian dates with Lamar performing solo, Melbourne and Sydney, were announced on June 11, with a presale running from June 12–13 and general sale starting June 16. Five more Lamar solo dates in Latin America were announced on June 27, with Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso as the opening act; tickets for the Argentinian and Colombian shows are expected to be available on July 1 and July 4, respectively, while HSBC holders gained access to a presale on July 1 and 2 for the Mexican show.

Concert synopsis

Overview

The Grand National Tour concerts are divided into nine acts. Most of them are solo, consisting of performances from either Lamar or SZA. The fifth and ninth acts are the exceptions; during these, the two join each other onstage to duet their collaborations. Some shows feature guest appearances who perform a particular song with Lamar or SZA.

Lamar's sets are mainly lit with a muted color palette, save for a few songs like "Not Like Us". His sets' choreography is characterized by synchronicity and soldier-like movement, incorporating moves like lockstep marching. For the costumes, Lamar and his dancers follow a sharp hip-hop fashion style.Some of Lamar's outfits incorporate beanies, Timberland shoes, and baggy jeans. At times, he is dressed in all-camouflage attire.

In contrast to Lamar, SZA has a more colorful and vibrant set. The props follow a garden and forest theme; vines, leaves, flowers, and ivy constitute some of the stage decor. Bugs are another recurring visual element. Dancers are dressed as praying mantises, and SZA herself wears butterfly wings as part of one outfit. A large ant prop with red eyes, named Anthony, is used for one of the sets. SZA is more involved with the choreography, which is more gracile and free-flowing compared to the more organized and uniform style of Lamar's dancers.

The stage screen occasionally played video interludes in the form of skits. Scenarios include an argument over a gas station drive-thru order, and a deposition with a lawyer. The latter has been called a reference to Canadian rapper Drake's lawsuit over the publication of Lamar's diss track toward Drake, "Not Like Us".

Chronology

The shows opened with " Wacced Out Murals" as part of Lamar's first solo set. He made his entrance inside a tinted GNX, rising from beneath the stage. Upon his exit from the car, clips of old home videos and nature videos played on the screen, and the pyrotechnics started. Lamar continued the set with "Squabble Up", "King Kunta", and "Element". He followed the three with "TV Off", which was co-produced by Mustard. However, the performance stopped right before the anticipated, drawn-out "Mustaaaaard" scream.

SZA entered the stage to begin the concert's second act with "30 for 30". The returning GNX was overgrown with greenery, surrounded by several vine and leaf props. A forest-themed setting was used onstage, featuring various flowers and ivy. Following "30 for 30", which was a duet with Lamar, SZA performed three songs from her debut studio album '' Ctrl'' (2017): "Love Galore", " Broken Clocks", and " The Weekend".

Lamar returned for the concert's third act. He started with "Euphoria", one of the Drake diss tracks included on the set list, as he traversed a circular catwalk. The text "lies about me, truth about you" appeared in red font on the screen. Lamar then accompanied " Hey Now" with a synchronized, marching-style choreography from his dancers; for " Reincarnated", he moved towards a streetlamp prop and performed underneath it. During the song, the dancers were lined up on a staircase and arranged in a diagonal formation. Reimagining and remixing the next few tracks, Lamar added a new verse to "Family Ties", performed "Swimming Pools (Drank)" a cappella, and combined "M.A.A.D City" with Anita Baker's " Sweet Love". For "Man at the Garden", footage of a city that resembled his birthplace of Compton, California, played as he crouched on the GNX's hood.

The fourth act, SZA's second set, began with the rock-infused tracks " Scorsese Baby Daddy" and " F2F". SZA whipped her hair, thrashed, and belted during the performances, similar to how a rock singer would act onstage. The next songs further reinforced the concerts' forest and insect visuals. Dancers dressed as praying mantises flanked SZA during " Garden (Say It like Dat)" as she moved across the stage with a large money note on her back. For "Kitchen", SZA performed while riding Anthony the ant.

Following the fourth act was the concerts' first joint set list. The ''Houston Chronicle'' Joey Guerra wrote that when they were together, SZA "soften d amar'sedges and coax dout more of his playful side". The act included two of the pair's previous collaborations, " Doves in the Wind" and "All the Stars". For the latter, Lamar and SZA stood on opposite ends of the circular runway before being lifted into the air by the platforms below them. SZA also joined Lamar for "Love" (not a collaboration between the two), covering Zacari's verses.

Lamar's reimagining and remixing of songs continued into the sixth act, where " Count Me Out" was merged with elements of "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe". Guerra also noted the Last Supper-esque imagery of the " Dodger Blue" performance and the "marvel of technology and timing" of the "DNA" performance. The seventh act saw SZA's return; during this, she performed "Kill Bill" while the screen showed a clip of a female mantis eating her mate's head after intercourse, an allusion to the song's lyrics about killing a former romantic partner. While performing " Crybaby", SZA floated above the stage donning a long gown and two butterfly wings. The dress was long enough such that, as she ascended further from the floor, it began to resemble a cocoon. Once SZA was suspended high enough, the gown was removed and she switched to the butterfly costume for "Saturn".

Lamar started the eighth act with an unreleased song nicknamed "Bodies". Mustard returned to the stage for the reprise of "TV Off", and "Not Like Us" closed the set with a transformation from the muted palette of Lamar's performances for the rest of the night into a colorful montage showcasing a variety of black art pieces across time and space, including ancient Egyptian artwork and visuals by Funkadelic. " Luther" and "Gloria" served as the ninth and final act, another duo set, after which they entered the GNX parked atop the stage and descended beneath as the lights dimmed.

Marketing

Grand National Tour concerts included a pop-up store for Not Beauty, a line of lip products launched by SZA in 2025. The line consisted of lip glosses, creams, liners, and stains, which she had made available exclusively on the tour. To further promote the tour, SZA began a series of behind-the-scenes vlogs documenting her experiences with each concert. In each video, she commented on the energy of the concertgoers; showed some interactions with fans; and chronicled some unusual things she had to do because of the tour's demanding nature, like urinating on a bucket. After the second East Rutherford concert, a Not Beauty afterparty DJed by Kaytranada was thrown.

Reception

Critical reception

The opening night show in Minneapolis, United States at the U.S. Bank Stadium was met with critical acclaim. ''Minnesota Star Tribunes Chris Riemenschneider wrote that "no other rapper has commanded so many fans here… almost 50,000… with as much intensity and ingenuity as Lamar did in Minneapolis for the kick off date of his ambitious Grand National Tour. Minneapolis' NFL stadium hasn't seen a better tag-team duo than Lamar and his touring partner, SZA".

Commercial performance

Following the tour's start, ''SOS'' and ''GNX'' charted at number one and two on the ''Billboard'' 200, respectively.

The Grand National Tour's Seattle show broke the record for the highest-grossing hip hop concert. It accumulated $14.811million from 60,941 tickets sold.

After the Landover concert, the final show in the tour's twenty-three concert North American leg, the tour was declared the highest-grossing co-headlining tour of all time by ''Billboard'', with 1.1 million tickets sold and $256.4 million United States dollars in revenue.

Set list

This is the set list from the show in Minneapolis on April 19, 2025. It is not representative of all concerts for the duration of the tour.

Kendrick Lamar
#" Wacced Out Murals"
#"Squabble Up"
#"King Kunta"
#"Element"
#"TV Off"

SZA
#

"30 for 30"
#"Love Galore"
#" Broken Clocks"
#" The Weekend"

Kendrick Lamar
#

"Euphoria"
#" Hey Now"
#" Reincarnated"
#" Humble"
#"Backseat Freestyle"
#"Family Ties"
#"Swimming Pools (Drank)"
#"M.A.A.D City"
#"Alright"
#"Man at the Garden"

SZA
#

" Scorsese Baby Daddy"
#" F2F"
#" Garden (Say It Like Dat)"
#"Kitchen"
#" Blind"
#" Forgiveless"
#"Low"

Kendrick Lamar and SZA
#

" Doves in the Wind"
#"All the Stars"
#"Love"

Kendrick Lamar
#

" Dodger Blue"
#"Peekaboo"
#" Like That"
#"DNA"
#" Good Credit"
#" Count Me Out"
#" Money Trees"
#"Poetic Justice"

SZA
#

"Diamond Boy (DTM)"
#"Shirt"
#"Kill Bill"
#" Snooze"
#" Crybaby"
#"Saturn"
#" Good Days"
#" Rich Baby Daddy"
#" BMF"
#"Kiss Me More"

Kendrick Lamar
#

"Bodies"
#"TV Off"
#"Not Like Us"

Kendrick Lamar and SZA
#

" Luther"
#"Gloria"

Set list additions

The tour's set list is flexible. The following are the first times every additional song not listed above was performed:
* At the Houston concert, SZA performed " I Hate U".
* At the Atlanta concert, Lamar performed "N95"; SZA performed " Nobody Gets Me" and " What Do I Do".
* At the first East Rutherford concert, SZA performed "Consideration" and " Another Life".
* At the Glendale concert, SZA performed " Open Arms".
* At the St. Louis concert, SZA performed "Go Gina".
* At the second Toronto concert, SZA performed "Drew Barrymore".
* At the Hershey concert, SZA performed "Drive".
* At the Landover concert, SZA performed "20 Something".

Guest performers

* At the Atlanta concert, Lamar and Playboi Carti performed "Good Credit".
* At the second East Rutherford concert, Lamar and Baby Keem performed "Family Ties".
* At the second East Rutherford concert, SZA and Kaytranada performed "Be Your Girl".
* At the first Inglewood concert, SZA and Lizzo performed "Special".
* At the second Inglewood concert, SZA and Justin Bieber performed " Snooze".
* At the final Inglewood concert, Lamar and AZ Chike performed "Peekaboo".
* At the Paradise concert, SZA and Doja Cat performed "Kiss Me More".

Tour dates

Notes

Place names

General notes

References

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Co-headlining concert tours
2025 concert tours
Kendrick Lamar
SZA
Concert tours of Argentina
Concert tours of Australia
Concert tours of Brazil
Concert tours of Canada
Concert tours of Chile
Concert tours of Colombia
Concert tours of France
Concert tours of Germany
Concert tours of Italy
Concert tours of Mexico
Concert tours of the Netherlands
Concert tours of Poland
Concert tours of Portugal
Concert tours of the United Kingdom
Concert tours of the United States
Concert tours of Spain
Concert tours of Sweden
All-stadium concert tours
Drake–Kendrick Lamar feud