Kendrick Lamar and SZA at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London Review

Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s smash-hit Grand National tour hit London on Tuesday and Wednesday night (July 22) as part of their three-part UK leg. The co-headliners have already made their way around the US – where they received critical acclaim – before stopping in Cardiff on their way to the capital’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for two sold-out shows.

With the tour heading to mainland Europe next, fans can look forward to a visual feast as well as an electrifying musical spectacle. And it was no mean feat pulling together a cohesive show, either. With Lamar’s intense sixth studio album GNX and SZA’s introspective, dreamscapy SOS re-release, Lana, both in the spotlight on tour, the long-time collaborators had to grapple with two staggeringly different concepts – and had just a three-hour show to do it.

The result: effectively, two shows in one which, at times, appeared to have nothing to do with each other. Lamar and SZA only occasionally performed together, instead opting to swap in and out – with the stage receiving a total makeover each time. Weaving together the otherwise totally separate performances were a handful of duets and more aesthetically cohesive interview recordings of each performer played before they respectively took to the stage.

Lamar’s gigs are known for their visuals, but this time around the black-and-white sets invited audiences to watch the master at work. Aside from some rather impressive pyrotechnics, there were no gimmicks here. Choreography was pared back and the visuals served to tell a story – which, after all, is perhaps what he does best. The Compton rapper immediately came out all guns blazing, kicking off with an electrifying rendition of Squabble Up and maintaining palpable energy and fire throughout. 

But if Lamar was all about letting the music do the talking, SZA’s time on stage was a different story altogether. The Drew Barrymore singer catapulted us into her magical land of make-believe – complete with car-sized ants, lush emerald tones and fairies. Performing a mix of SOS hits, familiar favourites from her 2017 album Ctrl and some tracks she featured on – including, perhaps controversially, Rich Baby Daddy by Lamar’s public nemesis, Drake – SZA made it clear she knows how to win over an audience. Perhaps most crucially, her vocal performance didn’t miss once.

The format hasn’t been a hit with everyone – NME described the show as “full-on sonic whiplash.” Sure, it’s not every day that two artists with such vastly different styles co-headline a show, and it felt forced at times to mix and match with as much frequency as they did. But switching between the two shows kept the show fresh for me, and the few times they did appear onstage together – performing luther, All The Stars and Love., for example – was enough to make it work. The contrast between Kendrick’s more pared-back sets and SZA’s conceptual explosion also allowed the spotlight to shine more brightly on the latter – arguably the smaller artist in the UK, and not the selling point for many attendees.