Grand National Tour: Kendrick & SZA

A high school freshman recounts her first concert experience, with a complete rundown of outfit dilemmas, favorite lyrics, and the magic in MetLife Stadium

Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Grand National Tour” was my first concert, so of course I played the three hour setlist on repeat for a month and panicked about my outfit last-minute despite weeks of carefully curating a “concert looks” Pinterest board After quelling my anxious, indecisive heart, I finally landed a cheap leather jacket–delivered last minute via Amazon Prime,  paired with a  blue tank small side slits. I paired all of this with a PacSun black mini skirts and my  go-to black Sambas.

With the concert outfit dilemma behind me, all that was left was surviving a six-and-a-half-hour school day. Somehow, it all passed in a blur, and before I knew it, I was clutching my friend’s hand as we carefully climbed the stadium stairs on the way to ourseats. I could feel the vibrations of the music blasting through my feet–it felt surreal to be there. DJ Mustard opened with a set of upbeat songs to get the crowd excited before Act 1.

At 8:17 PM on May 8th at MetLife Stadium, the big screen began flashing short, cinematic clips as the waiting crowd went silent in anticipation. Finally, the first lyrics of “wacced out murals” boomed through the stadium, but Kendrick Lamar was nowhere to be seen. As his disembodied voice rapped, the smoke parted to reveal a 1987 Buick GNX on stage. When Kendrick finally emerged, accompanied by bursts of fire exploding on stage, the entire stadium erupted in screams and maintained the same until Kendrick segued into “tv off,” rousing the crowd to an even higher fever pitch. When the song cut off right before the big beat drop, I knew I was in the presence of a genius. 

Kendrick went through a few more tracks from GNX and Just as my voice grew hoarse, the vibe on stage shifted and I just knew–it was finally time for SZA’s entrance.

She rose from below the stage on the same GNX, except this time, the car  was covered with vines to match the nature aesthetics of her newest album, “Lana”. Together, Kendrick and SZA  performed “30 for 30,” and everyone was screaming-singing along.   everyone scream-sang the lyricsg. After “What Do I Do”, SZA took it back to Ctrl, her debut studio album, as the millennial and elder Gen Z audience in attendance buzzed with nostalgic excitement.  

Orange and yellow lights strobed across the stadium as SZA made her graceful and discreet exit and once again, flames erupted. But this time, it was so fierce it felt like the stage might actually burn. . Act 3 featured our first Drake diss track of the night, the  “euphoria.”  The remainder of the lineup settled into his signature style with the iconic bars that made the whole stadium nod along. You could tell who the real Kendrick fans were—not everyone around me knew the words, but I did notice this white guy with glasses and skinny jeans beside me who could rap every single word of “reincarnated”. By this point, my voice was already half gone. The orange lights came back once again, but this time it was glowing in a steady rhythm. SZA performed some of her best songs from “SOS”, “F2F” and “Blind”, but nothing topped “Low”. When the lights turned deep red, the whole atmosphere changed. The energy was intense and the lighting made the experience feel even more intense.

Then, came “All the Stars”. I had been waiting for this moment forever—it’s one hundred percent the best song of Kendrick and SZA. It’s cinematic, it’s beautiful, and hearing it live gave me goosebumps. Everyone had their phone flash on, lighting up the stadium like stars in the night sky. And when SZA hit a note change toward the end, it felt magical. Right after was “LOVE.”, my absolute favorite from Kendrick. Pairing those two songs back-to-back felt perfect. The way they flowed into each other made me feel so complete, like everything aligned for a second. It was one of those moments you wish you could bottle up forever.

Act 7 was easily my favorite. It featured all the best songs from SZA’s SOS album and wrapped up with a cover of “Kiss Me More” by Doja Cat. The most dramatic song in this act had to be “Kill Bill”. It’s SZA’s biggest hit of all time and marked her first number-one on both the Billboard Global 200 and the US Hot 100, so everyone knew the words. Midway through, she paused to introduce a song about the pain that comes from a relationship that didn’t work out the way she had hoped. I immediately thought, It has to be “Saturn”, but to my surprise, it was “Another Life”. I couldn’t have been happier. The stage lit up in soft waves of turquoise, and I felt like I was drifting through the sky, completely lost in the music.

And finally, the last act. This brought the heat with not only the long-awaited second half of “tv off” but also a Drake diss. Ending right where we left off, everyone shouted, “Mustard!” while the red and orange pyrotechnics launched into the air. I didn’t think the crowd could grow even more wild until “Not Like Us”. Everyone in the stadium was nodding along and shouting “wop, wop, wop, wop, wop”. We already got a taste of how crazy it would be during the Super Bowl half-time show, but nothing compared to the full energy of Kendrick-supporters live. Fire shot up into the sky after the audience screamed, “a minor”. If you looked closely enough, you could even see Kendrick laughing a little during this song. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

Kendrick waited for a moment after the last song before finally kicking off Encore. The stadium exploded once again as he brought the night home with the final two songs, ”luther” and “gloria”. Everyone knew “luther” was coming up the second “Not Like Us” ended, and the excitement was real. It’s no surprise, since this song has been dominating the charts, holding the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 straight weeks. Hearing it live was unforgettable—I never knew I could be so energetic at 11 PM. And finally, they closed out the night with “gloria”, a smooth and laid-back beat that felt like the perfect way to wind down the coolest school night ever.

Even though I was running on four hours of sleep the next morning and looked like I hadn’t seen the sunlight in days, the excitement from the night before practically carried me through Friday. I strolled through the school hallways in a post-concert daze, still hearing the beat drop for “tv off” in my head. My voice was raspy, my legs sore, and my eyes barely open, but none of that mattered. What kept me awake was replaying every moment from the night before over and over again. My friends asked me, “Was it good?” And I got to say yes. It felt unreal to finally talk about the concert of my dreams after months of waiting.