This past Saturday, Kendrick Lamar made his triumphant return to St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center. His last visit was 2017’s tour for his Pulitzer Prize-winning album, DAMN. Known for his clever, poetic, and sometimes acerbic lyricism, the rapper returned to Minnesota on the heels of his fifth album release, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. He brought to the stage composed vulnerability, a wealth of symbolism, and a wildly impressive light show. Additionally, he brought along opening acts that garnered nearly as much enthusiasm from the crowd.

The first act of the night was 24-year-old Avante Ramone Santana, who performs under the name Tanna Leone. Leone was signed in March to Lamar’s pgLang, a multimedia, multi-disciplinary artist collective. After witnessing the way he commanded the large, t-shaped stage alone and whipped the crowd into a frenzy during his brief 15-minute set, there’s no wondering why Lamar scooped him up. The rapper drew an especially big reaction from the crowd to his song “Lucky” from his pgLang debut album, Sleepy Soldier. His moody melodies over a trap beat had the crowd bouncing along as he bounded onstage in a Dickies jumpsuit, neck draped in a thick gold chain while slot machine symbols like lucky 7’s, diamonds, and doves flashed behind him.

Following Leone was Baby Keem, Lamar’s cousin. Born Hykeem Jamaal Carter Jr., Keem is a well-recognized rapper in his own right, as was evidenced by the crowd's reaction when he appeared onstage. At the beginning of his roughly half-hour set, there were parallels in Keem’s voice and cadence to his cousin Lamar, but as the set wore on, he settled into his groove.

Although many of his songs from the set were about women he used to date or wanted to sleep with, there were also moments of vulnerability. These were the songs that allowed Keem to emerge from behind the wall of expectation of hyper-masculine bravado perpetuated by pop culture, rap music, and often society as a whole. One such song he proclaimed his favorite off of his 2021 album, The Melodic Blue, called “Issues,” demonstrated this. The screen behind him featured the image of a wistful-looking woman looking out of a rainy window while he was spitting bars about the troubled relationship he has with his mother, abandonment, and his struggle to not repeat the same patterns in his own life with friends. He sang over a stark, clicking beat and delicate keys, “How could I resent you? Demons, they test you,” perhaps as much to his mother as himself. Not to be too sentimental, Keem closed his set with this breakout hit with a tinkling earworm rhythm, “Orange Soda,” a raunchy and playful track about his desire for his girlfriend — and distaste for her best friend.

Thick, heady clouds of weed smoke perfumed the air before Lamar took the stage. Young adults and parents with teens made up most of the attendees on the floor, and the crowd grew antsy as a curtain dropped around the main part of the stage before Lamar’s set. The lights dimmed, and the crowd quieted as the nearly hymnal-sounding singing of the opening of “United in Grief” played. Strings were plucked while men dressed in black and women in white pinstriped suits emerged onstage, shoulders bobbing and synchronizing their claps while the curtain rose to show the stage set like the opening act of a play, alluding to the theatric, moody, and artistic performance we were about to see. 

The stage was stark and open with Kendrick seated at the piano with his back to the audience with a ventriloquist dummy perched atop looking out into the crowd. He mimed playing the keys to “United in Grief” while spitting rapid-fire lines as four dancers draped over a sofa watched nearby. They departed shortly before he walked the dummy to center stage to perform “N95,” its mouth moving, reiterating that the night ahead would be full of surreal, emotive displays while frenetic drums carried the Kid A-reminiscent electronic tones. 

It seems everything Kendrick Lamar puts out for fans to enjoy is with much thought and intention, and the Big Steppers tour attested to this, from the dancers and the lights, to the voiceover of Helen Mirren acting as his subconscious, narrator, ego-checker, or all of the above, to even his outfit. Lamar was decked out and dapper in a black suit and a sequined glove on his left-hand ala one of his musical idols Michael Jackson. He sported jewel-encrusted sunglasses and had a gold earring dripping with diamonds firmly attached to his right ear. Although a lavish look, he kept a navy blue bandanna knotted around his neck, an acknowledgment that he keeps his Compton roots close to his heart.

Throughout the night, dancers added another layer of drama. Sometimes they were merely employed to bear witness, at others, their movements were used as tools to convey emotion. During “Mr. Morale,” they ran in place while the bass blasted, sometimes ducking or covering their faces in defensive positions. Women in drapey red mesh dresses surrounded Lamar during “Die Hard” and led him around the stage while he sang about setting his demons straight and seemed to act as personifications of his complicated feelings about love, temptation, and desire when they encircled him around a bed during “Lust.” 

Other portions of the show were equally as visually arresting as the dancers. Images on the screen behind Lamar were used to show his dreams and nightmares: angel wings, spiders, chains of bondage. Later, as Lamar crouched on stage to perform “Count Me Out,” behind him on the screen cleverly showed his shadow with arrows in his back, seemingly to convey the not-so-subtle feeling that even when he looks like he’s managing just fine externally, his shadow-self still absorbs each blow he’s dealt.

The song lineup brilliantly addressed both his internal and external struggles with “Father Time,” where he sang about his daddy issues. Immediately following, images of Compton, cars, and piles of money flashed on the screen during“m.A.A.d. city,” a throwback to the chaotic environment in which he was raised. During “Money Trees,” the shadow of palms fell across the stadium onto the crowd while live guitar added an additional gritty groove. Later, Lamar was issued a simulated COVID test by HAZMAT-suited people before performing “Alright,” then was lifted into the air on a column with reflective panels while he sang “Mirror” in the quarantine box piped full of smoke. 

The Big Steppers album showcases Kendrick Lamar’s deep self-reflection during the pandemic. It explores themes of intergenerational trauma and misogyny, and it pulled out thorny, intimate songs. The astounding visual storytelling and introspection presented for Saturday night’s show proved that Lamar is far from losing creative steam. At the same time, the tour certified his equal commitment to continue diving deeper into his creative self, much to the benefit of all of his fans. 

Setlist

United in Grief

N95

ELEMENT.

Worldwide Steppers

Backseat Freestyle

Rich Spirit

HUMBLE. 

Rich (Interlude)

Father Time

m.A.A.d. city

We Cry Together (Snippet)

Purple Hearts

King Kunta

LOYALTY. 

Swimming Pools (Drank)

Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe

Die Hard

LUST. (Snippet)

DNA.

Count Me Out

Money Trees

LOVE.

Alright

Mirror

Silent Hill

vent (w/Baby Keem)

range brothers (w/Baby Keem)

family ties (w/Baby Keem)

Crown

Mr. Morale (w/Tanna Leone)

Savior