Kendrick Lamar and SZA's Glendale concert was a masterpiece

We saw a couple of young fans at the Grand National Tour wearing shirts or carrying signs that read, "It's my first concert."

We regret to say it's all downhill from here, kids, because there's not much in the live performance world that can top what Kendrick Lamar and SZA did at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on May 27.

Newbies and seasoned concertgoers alike were blown away by the three-hour show, which featured the pair of superstars taking turns thrilling the crowd with a setlist that stretched to more than 50 songs.


Frequent Lamar collaborator DJ Mustard warmed up the crowd with an early-evening set that begs the question: What's with DJs only playing, like, 10 or 15 seconds of a song before switching tracks?

Mustard played hit after hit in his 40-minute set, including tracks by the likes of Big Sean, Tyga, DJ Khaled and many more, but the audience barely had time to settle into the rhythm of one before he switched to another. Are audiences this attention-challenged that they can't bear to listen to an entire song, or even a verse?

A little past 8 p.m., Lamar kicked off the show by emerging from a black Buick GNX that rose out of the center of the stage and breaking into 2024's "wacced out murals" amid pyrotechnics that sent giant fireballs to the roof of the stadium.


Lamar's segments of the concert were visually dark (other than the pyro), exuding strength and seriousness; a projection of the artist in front of a newspaper-style graphic that simply read "POWER" was one of the most striking images of the evening.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning artist treated the audience to tracks ranging from 2012's "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" to last November's "GNX." "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe," "Poetic Justice," "Alright," "DNA," "Humble," "euphoria," "peekaboo" and many more made the setlist.

And then there's SZA.

Not many artists can stand toe to toe with Lamar in terms of stage presence and creativity, but in SZA, the rapper has an ideal co-headliner.


Where Lamar's sections of the show were rooted in urban iconography such as cars, neighborhoods and graffiti, SZA's segments reflected the beauty of nature. Flowers and forests were common sights when SZA took the stage, as were a whimsical assortment of insects; two dancers performed on stilts in mantis costumes, and SZA herself sang atop a giant ant and floated in the air as a butterfly.

The R&B singer-songwriter touched on her biggest hits, including "The Weekend," "Kill Bill," "Broken Clocks," "I Hate U" and more.


Several times during the show, both artists took the stage to perform songs they recorded together. Songs such as "All the Stars" and "Luther" showed the pair's creative and performative chemistry and provided some of the most magical moments of the concert.

The Grand National Tour was one of the most anticipated Phoenix concerts of 2025, and it lived up to every inch of the hype. Whether it was your first concert or your hundredth, it was a night to remember.