Arabella Fracisco

Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s performance of All The Stars from the Grand National Tour at US Bank Stadium. A breathtaking duet.

Have you ever cried at a concert before? I never thought I would until I saw Kendrick Lamar step foot on stage. On April 19th, 2025, Kendrick Lamar and SZA performed at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota as a part of their Grand National Tour. Ever since the tour dates were released, I knew I had to go. What I didn’t know was that it would end up being one of the best nights of my life.

Before the tour, Kendrick Lamar and SZA both released new albums, GNX and SOS Deluxe: LANA. Even with all of this new music, much more than just these two new albums were performed by Kendrick and SZA, including King Kunta from Kendrick’s album To Pimp A Butterfly and ELEMENT. from his album DAMN. Kendrick also featured songs from good kid, m.A.A.d city, including one point when he did a callout to the album and played a few songs consecutively. good kid, m.A.A.d city is one of my favorite albums, and Kendrick Lamar is my all-time favorite artist, so seeing this in person made me very emotional. For SZA’s part of the show, she performed many songs from SOS and Ctrl. These two artists have a lot of songs together and performed those throughout the concert. All the Stars was a very notable duet, and the concert ended with luther and gloria. The concert ran longer than any other concert I’ve been to, with a set list over 3 hours long, though it never felt like it was being dragged on.

Along with his musicality, his set design was so wonderfully thought through, with imagery relating to the personal stories of black culture, growing up in Compton, self discovery, and west coast pride told within his lyrics. The color palette was mostly black and white, much like the cover of the GNX album. In contrast, SZA’s performance was way more colorful with the theme of bugs and nature. Her set design was gorgeously crafted with so much creativity; it all left me in awe. In between these lovely set designs there were well-crafted videos acted out by Kendrick Lamar and SZA along with other actors that kept the crowd engaged. These videos added more imagery to stories told within these two artists lyrics, heightening the experience.

I never thought I would be experiencing seeing my favorite artist live, yet there I was. Not only seeing my favorite artist, Kendrick Lamar, but another artist I love dearly, SZA, all at the same concert. The loud music, yelling fans, and sounds of live music are things I’ve always enjoyed, but this was paramount. Seeing this concert has given me even more appreciation for these two artists that I already had so much love for. This double-headliner was such a surreal and emotional experience that will forever be one of the best of my life. If you ever get the chance to see Kendrick Lamar or SZA in concert, don’t pass up the opportunity.