Concert Review: The Big Steppers Tour
August 11, 2022
For my birthday, which was August 4th, my girlfriend, Jode, told me that she planned for me and some friends to go the movies, the IFC Center in particular. I was excited — I’ve always wanted to go to the IFC, they have a consistently interesting curation of films. Just a few minutes before I thought we were going to get in a Uber to go to the IFC Center, I’m told ‘we’re going to see Kendrick’ — and I said to myself, maybe aloud, can’t remember, ‘well this is certainly better than the IFC.’
We make our way over to the Barclay’s Center, and instead of going through general admission, we go to the suite entrance. Something’s off (?) Making our way up to the suite, I’m straggling behind the group like I always do. I’m told to get to the front. I’m nervous. We walk down the hallway of suites and everyone is closed but one.
Is Kendrick on the other side of this door? Spike Lee? Ben Simmons? Anyway, back to the story, Jode opens the door and it’s my wonderful and loving friends who are much more like family! I couldn’t be more grateful to them for coming, taking time out of their weekend’s to come all the way to Brooklyn! After the shock wore off — debatable if it has, still — I said to myself ‘wow, Kendrick is going to perform, too? This is a lot’ (in good way).
On Saturday, August 6th, Kendrick Lamar brought his Big Steppers Tour to Brooklyn, New York, performing the second of two consecutive sold out shows. After the show, I talked with friend of the blog, friend in real life, and resident Kendrick Lamar-ologist, Kevin, about the show, Kendrick Lamar’s progression as an artist, a fake set list we’d love to see Kendrick Lamar perform, and a bunch of other things. Here’s our conversation:
Stanley: Generally speaking, what did you think about the show?
Kevin: Generally speaking - best show I've ever been to! That's about as general (and specific) as I could get here. The main takeaway I had was that Kendrick's live performance ability has caught up to his in-studio ability. Kendrick always seemed to be pretty advanced in knowing how to produce elite studio albums, but his live shows, while good, weren't talked about like we do with other great performers in recent history (Beyonce, Kanye, etc.). I'm not here to compare, but I will say that Kendrick is now at least in the conversation for best (current) live performer. No part of the show lacked, he and his team seemed to really think through song transitions, song structure, and stage design/lighting. And as a performer, he has leveled up. Breath control, remembering all those words (!), the auntie dance moves - all of this combined made this show really special.
What do you think? Am I overstating it since I'm not entirely impartial - Kendrick is my favorite artist after all lol.
Stanley: After getting my bearings post-surprise, I can say this show is certainly up there for me! I thought the it was really, incredibly well done - the stage design and flow of the set gave new life to the album for me.
You mentioned Kendrick’s studio capabilities catching up to his live show, and I couldn’t agree more. You remember when Kendrick used to do that thing at concerts — “which side is the livest side?!” I feel like that was his way of getting crowd participation, but my goodness, he is so far away from that now. Of all music performers, rappers, on average, are the worst lol. It can get real…walk side-to-side of the stage, rap over lyrics-y. That said, his breath control and stamina were excellent — and like Jadakiss — he was not rapping over his lyrics. And I liked that he had some choreography - it wasn’t too much, but looked like something he’d do anyway (?). Anyway, I was thoroughly impressed and enjoyed the show!
Stanley: What did you think about the set list for the show? In particular, I was wondering what you thought about the songs from Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers — their performance and reception?
Kevin: Listen - a big arena set list won't always include my favorite songs. I understand that he has to include songs like HUMBLE and LOYALTY but they don't really do anything for me. With that said, I do appreciate Kendrick's ability to still sneak in a few album cuts as interludes (i.e., LUST). Like a one for me, one for you (the audience) type of thing. I also appreciated his willingness to play so many songs from Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers at the show. I was thinking back to when we went to see Raphael Saadiq at The Fillmore in Philly and he only played like 2-3 songs from the new project (Jimmy Lee). Even though I understood it, I remember feeling a little upset because I felt like he possibly relied too much on the older material that his audience knew.Kendrick, while still playing his older material from good kid, m.A.A.d city (GKMC), To Pimp A Butterfly (TPAB), and DAMN., he made sure to get his reps in with the new stuff. Also, he added some really interesting visuals to the songs on Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers during the show, which made up for any lack of song engagement from the crowd. These songs felt more like art installations while the older material were bangers and really got the crowd going. You mentioned after the show how the songs from the new album didn't really fill the room up. What did you mean by that?
Stanley: Yeah, I’ve been thinking about this. I want to reframe what I was saying — it’s not that I don’t think the songs “filled the room” it’s just that there was a noticeable shift between tunes from GKMC and DAMN. I’ll try to explain.
I think all of Kendrick’s music could be defined as a personal and introspective, but Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers (MMATBS) certainly took that to a new level.
The songs on MMATBS feel less hook-driven, and sing along-y. But I enjoyed the performance of MMATBS, that’s when it seemed like Kendrick and Dave Free really got in their bag on the stage design and choreography. Maybe the MMATBS tunes become that one day.
But there’s something to be said for tunes as big as Backseat Freestyle and Money Trees (WHEW!), or Alright.
I felt this somewhat coming into the show, but I think I was there to see Family Ties. He and Baby Keem absolutely killed! And the energy from the crowd amazing.
Favorite moments from the show?
Kevin: We might be here for awhile lol. But okay, let me rein it in and try to be concise here. Some very specific moments that stand out for me are - (1) United in Grief to open the show. The way the song was structured, his rapping, the lights - it all set the tone early. (2) Money Trees! For a song that was not officially a single, it is still maybe a top 3 Kendrick song in terms of popularity. All I know is that our section essentially rapped Jay Rock's verse in its entirety after Kendrick ended the song. And (3), Family Ties. Keem and Kendrick got one with that. Crowd may have reached its peak when that jawn came on. I remember you telling me that you were waiting on Family Ties too!
Stanley: We’ve seen Kendrick now during the DAMN tour, The TDE Champions Tour, and now the Big Steppers Tour. How does this performance compare to the others for you?
Kevin: Yeah - still mad I missed the Kunta Groove Sessions. But that's a personal problem. I think this performance was his best simply due to his command of the stage, his voice coming through so clearly, and his energy (no intermission or breaks!). Of course the stage design was elite, but none of that works if Kendrick doesn't work the room like he did. He just seemed more confident in himself and what he wanted to show the audience.
Stanley: Yeah, I'd echo everything you said. Earlier, you mentioned how the live performance has caught up to the studio, and I think his singing/vocal delivery is the area that this showed the most. Like, he doesn't sound bad singing live (?). He's no Jazmine Sullivan or anything, but his thing works for him.
The stage design is obviously more elaborate and detailed than anything else he's done before. But I'll also say that the stage design really felt like it added something to the album in a way I hadn't really seen before. Kendrick, like other artists (i.e. Bowie or Prince), often take on these sort of personas with each album. So, for the DAMN tour he was leaning heavy into this sort of Kung Fu/Blaxploitation thing, and they showed a bunch of Kung Fu-inspired imagery during the show.
Maybe it's the weight of MMATBS, but the live show felt like an extension of the album in a way the other tours haven't been. For instance when he was performing Worldwide Steppers, and he has that line about watching Baby Shark with his daughter, and then a shark from a projector flashes through, performing United in Grief with the puppet, performing Count Me Out with the project image of the arrows in his back, etc. I think these all helped enhance the album in unique ways.
Stanley: After the show, Kendrick did a set at the DUMBO house, performing while sitting in a chair as if he were doing a reading from his forthcoming novel. One of the videos that came out was of him performing The Heart Part 5, but I was wondering, if you had to pick 5 songs to see Kendrick perform in a similar type of setting (*cough cough* Tiny Desk), which songs would you want to see him perform?
Kevin: Honestly, I've thought about this question ever since his performance on Colbert awhile back w/Thundercat, Anna Wise, Terrace Martin and Bilal. So rest assured that I have more than 5 songs in the tuck for this question lol. But here are my five today:
Kevin’s List
1. Untitled 05 | 09.21.2014
2. FEEL.
3. Wesley's Theory
4. For Sale? (Interlude)
5. Count Me Out
I know this is a pipe dream but I'm just thinking about songs that aren't performed often and/or would hit musically/lyrically.
What's your five?
Stanley: Yeah, I need to see him perform Untitled 05 live! Terrace Martin's incorporated it in some of his sets, but never we've seen Kendrick do it. For the sake of some diversity, I'll leave it off my list.
Stanley’s List^
1. Savior
2. Hood Politics
3. Money Trees
4. Institutionalized
5. Kush & Corinthians
^This will surely change by the time this post is published.
