Concert Review: Kendrick Lamar’s Big Steppers tour- OVO Hydro, Glasgow 2nd November 2022

Kendrick Lamar performing on-stage at the OVO Hydro, Glasgow. Picture source: Regan Parsons

King Kenny is back! The 14- time Grammy award winner, hip-hop elitist and legendary rapper, Kendrick Lamar, touched down in Glasgow on Wednesday to continue his famous Big Steppers tour. Safe to say the Compton rapper has been a busy man over the past year. Releasing the long-awaited ‘Mr Morale & the Big Steppers’ album in early May. K-dot has received critical acclaim for this masterpiece of work after a long 1,855-day hiatus. He then announced a world tour in a matter of days later in the process. Spanning a whopping 77 shows across the globe throughout its duration. Not only on the road himself, but with up-and-comer, Tanna Leone and with his family-tied cousin, Baby Keem.

The night began with a short but sweet opener by Leone. The new signee for Kendrick's ‘pgLang’ label displayed music from his first studio album, ‘Sleepy Solider.’ With warming up the crowd, the LA rapper understood his position with his current underground stature by commenting: “you don’t have to sing along, just vibe with me.” He came across as very likeable and humble throughout, while also giving us a stellar performance prior to the main course.

Next up, two-phone, Baby Keem, who’s good enough to sell out concerts himself. The 22-year-old brought out the hype from the get-go. Opening with his studio debut album (Melodic Blue) intro track ‘Trademark USA’, the crowd went wild. Although Keem's set felt short, the LA rapper displayed banger after banger with no time to rest. Highlights included the melodic ‘16’ and his smash hit ‘Orange Soda.’ However, the best track on the night needs no explanation once you hear the title of the song, ‘Moshpit.’

Now time for the main event. K-dot put on a hell of a performance here. Over the hour-and-a-half-long runtime, he put in the same amount of effort on every song with no signs of slowing down. This not only would be thanks to how remarkable of a performer he is, but also thanks to how he ordered his setlist by smartly spreading his songs from hype songs to slower moments. This also gave the crowd a chance to take a breather as well due to the nature of those hyper tracks.

Also, Kenny had to cut some tunes short early to fit a whopping 31 songs in the show's runtime. This worked for most tracks, like M.A.A.D city, where the runtime is a little under six minutes. However, the only disappointment of the night came during ‘DNA.’ with the song known for its killer beat switch, the crowd was ready, and the mosh pit circle was in motion, but the song ended abruptly, leaving a few groans from in the crowd. With the song only sitting at three minutes, it felt like the song should've been played throughout.

The overall presence of the show was simply beautiful to watch. From choreographed dancers to a catwalk stage and even a mini-Kenny puppet. When he asked: “Are you entertained?”, we’d be lying to say we weren’t. The effort displayed here really shows what Kendrick is all about. There is a reason why the rapper is up there as one of the greatest to ever do it.

Kendrick singing with his puppet lookalike at the OVO Hydro, Glasgow. Picture source: Regan Parsons

During the latter stages of the night, both Leone and Keem came back out. Leone sang his hook on Kendrick's gritty ‘Mr Morale’ and Keem came back out to perform the most anticipated song of the night. The lights went out and the music stopped, a dark and lengthy wait occurred until those infamous ‘Family Ties’ horns struck, pure hype. The duo also performed an exclusive new banger on the night as well. With the cousins touring the world and presenting unreleased songs together, who's to say there won’t be a collaboration album on the way...

As the curtain closed after a mesmerising night of hip-hop, Kendrick's final words were “I will be back!” with a brilliant reaction of loud cheers. If you sadly missed out on the special night, another opportunity may arise again, let’s just hope it won't be another 1,855 days until then once again.

★★★★★