Kendrick Lamar DAMN tour review

DAMN Kung Fu Kenny was on fire.

*Spoilers*

I was lucky enough to get two tickets to go and see Kendrick Lamar play on the third night of his European leg of the DAMN tour at Manchester Arena (10th Feb 2018) having kicking off the tour in Dublin three days prior.

Before the show kicked off I had a short look at the merchandise stall which I found to be overly expensive which baseball caps costing £25 and hoodies at £50. Despite this fans were still queuing up as far as the eye could see to get their hands on Kendrick's latest merchandise and many in the crowd were seen wearing it.

James Blake is the guest star for the European leg which I felt was slightly underwhelming due to Travis Scott and DRAM starring on the Northern American leg of the tour. However, he did succeed in getting the crowd pumped up during in 45 minute set. Sadly, we then had to wait around an hour until Kendrick came on at 9PM.

The show mainly consisted of songs off his new 2017 album DAMN which recently won 5 Grammys including Rap Album of the Year. Having said that, devoted fans of the Compton star were treated to songs off Untitled Unmastered (2016), To Pimp A Butterfly (2015) and Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012). Sadly, no songs off his first studio album Section. 80 (2011) were performed.

To start proceedings, Kendrick started in his signature 'waiting to pounce' squat position as he launched into DNA whilst bounced energetically across the stage as flames whipped behind him. By the time of the third song King Kunta the crowd were going wild singing whole verses at a time. Half way through the show Kendrick gave a short speech thanking the fans for coming and their outstanding devotion before dedicating his song LOYALTY to them with the crowd filling in for Rihanna.

Shortly after this Kendrick reappeared on a second, smaller stage similar to an elevated cage which was in the middle of the standing section. As he slowly rose up to the top of the cage he formed LUST. Once at the top he rapped fan-favourite Money Trees which was for most a highlight of the show if judging by applause. Later, whilst on the main stage again he performed a remix of Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe by performing a new second verse and encouraging everyone to sing it to the friends and loved ones.

By the time he's performing HUMBLE the final song of the show the crowd is singing nearly the whole song allowing Kendrick to restart it and perform it again. On leaving the stage the crowd roared into chants of Kendrick as they demanded an encore. Kendrick of course duly obliged by performing GOD which is an undeniably excellent track but was a slightly underwhelming encore compared to more energetic tracks he performed earlier.

These tour is still nevertheless a masterpiece and really shows Kendrick's confidence as no surprise guest stars appeared and the live band played in the wings so couldn't be seen. For much of the show Kendrick was alone which really showed off his stage presence which he probably developed from touring with rap veteran Kanye West on his Yeezus tour. The show is incredibly entertaining with occasional moments of awe-inspiring magic such as the 'ninjas' who dancing with samurai swords in time to the music as well as the moment when Kendrick appeared to hover horizontally whilst being supported by a dancer. During the whole show, the two screens behind Kendrick showed short clips of eye surgery, police brutality and other shocking acts. Later Kendrick's Kung Fu Kenny persona was developed via clips of him dressed in traditional Asian clothing and later have a Street Fighter style battle as 'The Black Turtle'.

Set list:

1. DNA

2. ELEMENT

3. King Kunta

4. Untitled 07 (Levitate)

5. New Freezer (Rich the Kid cover)

6. Collard Greens (ScHoolboy Q cover)

7. Swimming Pools (Drank)

8. Backseat Freestyle

9. Loyalty

10. Feel (Intro played whilst dancers on stage)

11. LUST (Secondary stage)