Grand National Tour
The Grand National Tour was a co-headlining concert tour by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, in support of his sixth studio album, GNX. It consisted of 47 shows, spanning Europe, North America, Australia, and South America. The tour commenced on April 19, 2025, in Minneapolis, United States, and concluded on December 11, in Sydney, Australia. The North American and European shows were co-headlined by American singer-songwriter SZA in support of Lana, the deluxe reissue of her second studio album SOS. The Grand National Tour was the first all-stadium tour for SZA and Lamar.
Lamar's sets included segments of Anita Baker songs, while SZA's contained segments of other artists' songs. The tour's opening acts were American DJ Mustard for the first stretch of shows in the United States, Canada, and Europe; Argentinian duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso for the Latin American shows; and American rappers Doechii and Schoolboy Q for alternate Australian shows. AZ Chike, Baby Keem, Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Kaytranada, Lizzo, and Playboi Carti had appeared as guest performers.
Many reviewers praised the Grand National Tour for the stage design, Lamar and SZA's showmanship, and their synergy as a duo. Reviewers called the shows a visual spectacle and said that, despite the creative differences between the pair, they were able to show how well they fit together. Some criticism was aimed at the nine-act structure, with reviewers saying that it made the concerts feel disjointed. 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. 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.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 South 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 4, respectively, while HSBC holders gained access to a presale on July 1 and 2 for the Mexican show.
Schoolboy Q was announced as the opening act for the Australian shows on August 1. Two more Australian dates in the same two venues, with Doechii as the opener instead of Schoolboy Q, were announced on August 5.
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 : "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 " 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 " 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 edges and coax out 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", 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. The video was a reference to the song's lyrics about killing a former romantic partner. After a performance of "Snooze", a harness carried SZA above the stage while wearing two butterfly wings and a long gown. The gown was long enough such that, as she further ascended, it began to resemble a cocoon. Once SZA was suspended high enough, the gown was removed and she switched to the butterfly costume for the next song.
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 funk band 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.