Kendrick Lamar performed a famous show in Prague
The American Kendrick Lamar, currently one of the biggest and hottest rap names in the whole world, visited Prague in “The Big Steppers Tour”. In the almost sold-out O2, he performed a famous and captivating show with a significant genre overlap.
Live: Kendrick Lamar
place: O2 arena, Prague
date: October 10, 2022
Support, support: Baby Keem, Tanna Leone
set list: Savior (interlude), United in Grief, N95, ELEMENT., Worldwide Steppers, Backseat Freestyle, Rich Spirit, HUMBLE., Father Time, mAAd city, We Cry Together (Snippet), Purple Hearts, King Kunta, LOYALTY. (Snippet), Pools (Drink) (Snippet), Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe, Die Hard, LUST., DNA., Count Me Out, Money Trees, LOVE., Okay, Mirror, Silent Hill, Valve ( Cover Baby Keem), range brothers (Baby Keem cover), family ties (Baby Keem cover), Crown, Mr. Morale, Savior
© Greg Noire
They were hard pressed to find a more relevant name in contemporary rap than Kendrick Lamar. The American rapper from the Los Angeles suburb of Compton has made his way among the world’s top music stars, he is a fourteen-time Grammy winner and for his last record “DAMN.” received the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. released his fifth studio album this year, “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers”, which has successfully garnered positive reviews across music critics and will no doubt appear on many annual charts. As part of “The Big Steppers Tour”, Lamar visited Prague’s O2 arena on Monday, which was almost sold out, and in addition, the traditional rap performance offered the visitors a well-thought-out story in a theatrical performance spiced with dance choreography. The audience was so enthusiastic that even the people in the rows of seats stood during the entire performance and enjoyed the almost two-hour concert with everything.
© Greg Noire
Kendrick Lamar started the set rather unconventionally. During the opening song “United In Grief”, he sat with his back to the audience and played the piano, on which sat a ventriloquist puppet with his likeness. With a puppet, he then rapped the final part of the song and then unleashed a musical catharsis with the title single “N95”, in which he called for all masks to be thrown away. On his latest album, he gets rid of it the mark of the messiah and is undergoing personal therapy, which was also the central theme of the entire concert, which was accompanied by the voice of actress Helen Mirren. The stage was composed of a curtain in the shape of a cube with a bridge extending halfway up the hall. At the same time, the minimalist design was effective and dynamic. When the curtain was down, thematic projections were projected onto it using a shadow play, which complemented the rapper’s lyrics (during an excerpt from “We Cry Together” we could watch a partner fight, at other times the rapper had arrows in his back), and it also served to change the stage backdrops. For example, on the track “Father Time” Lamar rapped in a therapy chair. A distinctive element of the concert was also a series of elaborate dance choreographies, which are not exactly common in rap shows, but they were suitable here and added to the overall atmosphere.
© Greg Noire
The performance revolved mainly around the latest record “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers”, but also included older hits from other records (“King Kunta”, “LOYALTY.”, “Swimming Pools (Drank)”). However, Kendrick Lamar just skimmed through them in order to focus on the news, which may have been frozen, but conceptually it made sense. Before the very end, Kendrick’s cousin Baby Keem, who was also fronting that night, appeared on stage and helped him with three of his songs. The highlight of the entire evening was mainly a short skit in which the Los Angeles rapper, together with four dancers dressed in medical clothes, locked themselves in an isolated cube in the middle of the hall in order to undergo a covid test. This was followed by the iconic song “Alright”, which became the anthem of the American Black Lives Matter protests. Thousands of voices echoed through the arena, chanting the hard-hitting chorus uproariously “We’ll be fine!”. Kendrick Lamar presented himself to the Czech audience in the best light. With precise dramaturgy and an original stage production, a balanced ensemble of thirty without the slightest mistake.