Kendrick Lamar
AAMI Park, Melbourne, VIC
Wednesday, December 3rd
No matter what side you were on during the 2024 Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar beef, it can’t be denied that it was entertaining to see two of hip-hop’s biggest names sling bars, barbs, and accusations at one another over the course of some months.
For Kendrick fans, we commend this long-overdue showdown for ultimately leading to the creation of his sixth studio album, GNX. The record, released in November 2024, arrived as an unashamed love letter to West Coast hip-hop — its sonic and cultural lineage and, importantly, a triumphant reminder that he is a product of it.
The swag, the natural talent, and flow that is synonymous with West Coast hip-hop is in Kendrick’s DNA – GNX was the moment where he was provoked to put words on record and create a new chapter of his legacy.
Much of 2025 has seen the rapper touring the album throughout North and South America, as well as Europe and the UK, largely with collaborator SZA as a co-headliner. The GNX show, an expertly curated live music experience that showed off both catalogues as well as their collaborations, has been a success in the flesh and online, with fans hungry for each piece of content that hit social media.
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Australian fans have — as per usual — had to wait their turn, but on Wednesday night in Melbourne, the wait was finally over.
AAMI Park played host to the first of two Kendrick stadium shows, booked as headline dates to accompany his upcoming appearances on the regional Spilt Milk Festival tour.
Last in Australia with his 2022 album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Kendrick spent a string of Melbourne shows making Rod Laver Arena home. Now, in the rugby stadium setting (read: open roof), his pyro and fireworks budget went up considerably, adding literal fire to an already bombastic live show.
Supporting this first of two nights was longtime collaborator ScHoolboy Q making his long-awaited return to Melbourne. Noting at various points during his set that he doesn’t talk much during shows, that he’s only here to rap, Kendrick’s fellow LA artist performed for just over an hour – a main support performance that felt like a headline effort in its own right.
Q is one of modern hip-hop’s most formidable names; across almost two decades, his voice, stories, and presence have evolved in a captivating way that has kept new waves of artists consistently hooked. Performing cuts from albums including CrasH Talk, Oxymoron and, of course, the seminal 2024 drop Blue Lips, ScHoolboy Q was a perfect mood-setter for what was to come.
As the sun finally set on a rare 30-degree day in Melbourne, a crowd that boasted diversity in age and background gathered further into the stadium as the clock wound down to 9pm.
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.
Credit: Achraf Issami
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 chemistry shared between the crew and Kendrick himself has evidently reached a comfortable level following such a busy year of developing this show together; bodies moved in sync and not one bead of sweat was dropped without an impactful move behind it.
Kendrick himself has become a bit of an internet meme this year thanks to his own dancing, but the way he commands a stadium stage without needing to resort to stage gimmicks is testament to both his natural confidence and his complete trust in the environment and community built around him.
He was ferocious as he pummelled through acidic lines aimed at Drake on “euphoria” and “peekaboo”; he pulled back and offered moments of intimacy during pitstops at earlier chapters of his career (“Swiming Pools (Drank)” and, fittingly, his Drake collab, “Poetic Justice”).
As the set rolled out, there were moments to stop and remember songs you had forgotten were Kendrick’s, or popular cuts from previous albums (“DNA.”, “King Kunta”) that almost felt like deep album tracks, when you look at the work that has followed since.
For fans, it was a fun romp through one of hip-hop’s most entertaining and thought-provoking catalogues. For new or casual listeners, too, it’s a show that will easily entertain. And if you’re attending purely for the unifying rally call that has become “Not Like Us” – the wait is well and truly worth it.
Like with his previous arena tours, Kendrick didn’t spend much time conversing with the crowd, but at this point in his career, I’m not sure he’s expected to.
The album tour for Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers in 2022 proved that a Kendrick Lamar show wasn’t just a big ticket rap concert. The concepts and artistic nature of the production indicated he was operating on another level, creatively, to his peers.
With the GNX cycle, this aesthetic definitely has continued, but at the same time, the fans are getting to see pure joy spread across Kendrick’s face, even when he’s spitting the pettiest of rhymes. That infectious energy is shared between the artist and the crowd, making for a memorable live show experience.
Ticket information for Kendrick’s remaining Australian tour dates can be found here.
