‘Grand National Tour’ Melbourne Review: Kendrick, Doechii & ScHoolboy Q Bring Their A-Game

Kendrick Lamar has been one of the hottest artists of the last few years, having defeated Drake in a beef, headlined the Superbowl, and swept at the Grammy’s all while promoting his latest album through a tour. A few weeks ago I flew to Melbourne to go to the Grand National Tour to see what all the hype was about.

Headlined by Kendrick Lamar, the artist largely performed his latest album, GNX, with a wide range of his classics, as well as victory lapping with his Drake diss tracks. I attended both nights in Melbourne meaning I got to witness both ScHoolboy Q (Night 1) and Doechii (Night 2) as well Kendrick Lamar.

The turnout at AAMI Park was insane, especially on Night 1. Opening for KDot on Night 1, ScHoolboy Q hit the stage. He definitely was not the wildest pre-show I’ve been to, but the artistry on display was amazing. He performed a lot of his catalogue, with graphic design focusing on his album Blue Lips. Like Kendrick, he did play many of his classics, including the ever amazing “Collard Greens” and “Break The Bank” which to me were the highlight of his performance. It should be noted, due to Melbourne’s daylight savings time Q had to perform at daytime, despite starting at around 8 PM.

As for Doechii on Night 2, she had the crowd going despite having a small catalogue by comparison to Q. She also performed at daytime, but she used a lot of production design by comparison too. She had a whole giant stereo, a slide, a desk on a remote controlled cart, and back up dancers. Her set list was not as good as Q’s but you got to give the lady respect for not playing her popular, yet somewhat hated, track “Anxiety”. Her performance of “Denial is a River” was especially cool.

The main event on both nights was quite similar, but it was so good I really had to watch it twice. Some concert’s I’ve been to (namely Travis Scott’s CIRCUS MAXIMUS Tour and Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia World Tour) prioritize their new songs from their latest album earlier in the set list before moving into the classics but Kendrick blends them really well here. The artistry is great here, Kendrick really knows what the crowd wants, and this especially can be seen in his splitting of verses in “TV Off ft. Lefty Gunplay” where he played the first half of the song and then waited for the “MUSTARD” drop before cutting into “Not Like Us”.

I think where the performance really shines though is with the production design. From some amazing pyrotechnics to a giant ’87 Buick GNX, and a giant pair of fuzzy die, this performance has it all. In his performance of Playboi Carti’s “GOOD CREDIT”, a giant sheet drops from the ceiling and Kendrick, along with backup dancers go crazy with a red light under the sheet. It made for some provoking imagery.

I think the most puzzling part of the performance was definitely his rendition of “M.A.A.D. City” which took on a more melodical R&B vibe than the usual rap performance the song would induce. I think a lot of the audience was confused when he first began playing it because of this.

I would have also liked for some of Kendrick’s earlier songs, particularly from Section.80 and Overly Dedicated, to make it into the setlist, as well as “All The Stars”, but given the absence of SZA on the Australian leg of the tour I understand why he opted to not perform it.

Overall, both nights of the Melbourne leg of Kendrick Lamar’s Grand National Tour were a blast. It brought unity amongst the audience, giving an amazing experience amongst hard times, but also an opportunity to really enjoy myself. Due to a variety of great performances, it really was a must watch and I look forward to his next album and tour very much.

The Grand National Tour was masterminded by Kendrick Lamar, and featured SZA on most legs of the tour, with Top Dawg Entertainment artists ScHoolboy Q and Doechii joining for the Australian leg.

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