Kendrick Lamar @ OVO Hydro, Glasgow, 2 Nov
Kendrick Lamar is undoubtedly a master of his craft, and his high-production show dazzles at the Hydro tonight
It’s hard to know where to begin when it comes to reviewing tonight’s Kendrick Lamar show. From start to finish, the performance refuses to relent; pyrotechnics, creative choreography, and bold set design all come together to provide this rap master with the remarkable backdrop he deserves.
Scotland is feverish as it fills the almost obscenely large venue this evening. Hosting a Pulitzer Prize-winning, Los Angeles-hailing rap artist with 14 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and six Billboard Music Awards in rainy Glasgow feels like a rare treat. This American artist has had an innovative influence on the hip-hop genre; fresh from headlining Glastonbury this summer, the Kendrick fans filling the Hydro tonight have seen firsthand what he can do when it comes to live performance.
Opening the show with evocative strings, a line of dancers dressed in black and white make use of a long platform reaching into the middle of the standing crowd. This is crescendo-building at its finest. Lamar eventually arrives. A small figure, wearing a black hoodie and playing a piano, he begins proper by performing United in Grief – building up to the moreish drums which open his latest album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
Image: Kendrick Lamar by Greg Noire
What follows is masterful: a seamless onslaught of hits, originality and reflective lyricism. N95 brings the first on-stage fireworks (literally and metaphorically), and the crowd set up their mosh pits. After more from the new album, and the use of a performing ventriloquist Kendrick doll (!!), Lamar gives the audience their first semi-nostalgic moment, with Backseat Freestyle from 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city.
Lamar plays with contrast constantly, dropping into softer confessional moments after edging the energy into overload. The choreography contributes massively to the boundary-pushing nature of the performance. He also uses an on-stage cameraman effectively to face the crowd on the big screens, alongside sepia black and white visuals, torches, shadow dancers, and a COVID-referencing quarantine tent.
A medley of tracks from To Pimp a Butterfly and DAMN. is received joyously – it moves through King Kunta, LOYALTY., Swimming Pools (Drank) and Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe, with the crowd rapping their hearts out. Baby Keem (whose earlier support slot went down well), returns, proving further more that he’s worth the attention Lamar has given him. Collaborating on a number of tracks, there’s a chemistry between the cousins that's perfect for the stage.
Crown, Father Time and LOVE. all demonstrate Lamar’s vocal versatility. A flow unphased by his impressive movement on stage, he is a hypnotising figure. At times, he looks particularly vulnerable – standing in the middle of his adoring fans, offering up his harrowing and brutal self-analysis.
‘With great power comes great responsibility’, we are reminded. It feels like Lamar is taking his own words seriously. When does a live show become real art? Possibly tonight.