Kendrick Lamar kicked off the Australian leg of his ‘Grand National Tour’ at Melbourne’s AAMI Park on Wednesday night (December 3rd), delivering a memorable live show full of infectious energy.
Kendrick has a loyal fanbase in Australia, with his fiery Drake diss track, “Not Like Us”, spending consecutive weeks atop the ARIA Singles Chart earlier this year. The rapper even held three spots in the Top 10 at one point in February, when “Luther” and “All the Stars” joined “Not Like Us”.
And that fanbase pulled through at the first show of the tour in Melbourne, with reports of up to 40,000 fans packing out AAMI Park.
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Rolling Stone AU/NZ was at the show, and gave it a positive five-star review.
“With the opening notes of GNX’s ‘wacced out murals’, Kendrick introduced us to his current creative playground. Visually, this tour is slick and calculated, in a similar way to his 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show,” the review read.
“Minimal stage design was met with maximum impact performances from Kendrick and his incredibly talented dancers, a crew of stunning individuals who were allowed to bring their own personality to different moments of the night. The girls, who were given prominence during songs like ‘HUMBLE’ and ‘m.A.A.d city’, for instance, stood out on such a massive stage – standing in their beauty and effortless presence.”
The review pointed out that like previous arena tours, Kendrick didn’t spend much time conversing with the crowd, adding “but at this point in his career, I’m not sure he’s expected to”.
The rap icon is also headlining Spilt Milk festival, kicking off this weekend in Ballarat. There, he’ll be joined by the likes of ScHoolboy Q and Doechii – who are supporting him on tour – as well as Sara Landry, Dominic Fike, Chance Peña, The Rions, d4vd, Mia Wray, Ninajirachi, and more.
Kendrick enjoyed a hot start to the year, with a huge haul at the Grammy Awards in his hometown, where he collected the night’s best five wins including Record and Song of the Year for “Not Like Us”. He also unleashed a high-octane performance at the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Ticket information for Kendrick’s remaining Australian tour dates can be found here.
