Concert, choreo-poem, redemption: Kendrick Lamar lifts up Austin on Big Steppers Tour

As the lights dimmed at 8:59 p.m. on Thursday, a roar ripped through the capacity crowd at the Moody Center. The thunderous outcry morphed into a chant – “Kendrick, Kendrick, Kendrick.” Thousands of fans with skin tones of every hue, from fresh faced tweens to grown and sexy elders, raised their voices in unison to welcome the hitmaker, rap scholar, street preacher and bona fide musical genius to the stage for the second date of the Big Steppers Tour, Lamar’s first North American solo outing since 2018.

Moments later, we received the invocation: “I hope you find some peace of mind in this lifetime.” Obscured from view in a stage left orchestra pit, a live band played the opening bars from “United in Grief,” the lead track on Lamar’s 2022 release, “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers.” As they unwound the intro, an 11-piece dance team clad in black and white suits moved in a slow procession across the stage. Then the men exited. Four women in white arranged themselves on a bed as Lamar appeared at a piano near the back of the stage.

The set for the concert was laid out in three platforms connected by catwalks that spanned the length of the arena floor. As the song segued into its furious second movement, Lamar sank into the floor, then suddenly appeared on the center platform spitting soul searching bars while mirroring his flow with a ventriloquist’s dummy fashioned as a mini Kendrick. Rhyming at a frenetic pace and upping the ante on himself every few bars, Lamar whipped up a tsunami of emotion so deep that when he released his flow into the refrain, “I grieve different,” people shouted along. As the song ended, he sank into the stage and the crowd went wild.

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A disembodied voice introduced herself as our guide and promised to shake us out of our comfort zones. With pyrotechnics at his back, jewel-encrusted sunglasses on his face and a sparkling glove on his left hand, Lamar led the crowd through an explosive version of “N95.”

Over the next 90 minutes, one of the most powerful rappers of his generation delivered a stunning performance, notable for its theatricality. While he omitted a few songs, including the controversial “Auntie Diaries,” the setlist covered most of the new album. He also played a wide range of tracks from his Pulitzer Prize-winning album “DAMN,” the brilliant nu-jazz treatise “To Pimp a Butterfly” and his breakout collection “good kid, m.A.A.D. city.”

It was both a concert and a choreo-poem. Throughout the show, his dance team flanked him in militaristic formations, graceful sweeps and artistic tableaus.

It was a redemption play. When he took off his glasses and rhymed “I pray to God you actually pray when somebody dies” on “Rich Spirit,” it was a clear appeal to a higher power. When he sang “I hope I'm not too late to set my demons straight” on “Die Hard,” the aching sincerity was palpable.

It was a turn up. He prowled the catwalk and let the crowd carry the first couple verses of the 2012 breakthrough banger “Backseat Freestyle,” before jumping in to take the song home hard. A ballistic version of “m.A.A.D. city” ended with Lamar surrounded by dancers closing in on him, their sharp moves engulfing him in a barrage of high beams from handheld lights.

It was an act of love. “LOVE” soared with profound emotion, and the deep catharsis of thousands of people raising their voices to shout “We Gon’ Be Alright” felt as essential in 2022 as it has ever been.

Overall, it was a fully realized production that wove the strands of his storied career together in a cohesive statement.Around the hour mark, as Lamar rounded the corner on the show’s final movement, opener Baby Keem marched onto the stage with a cadre of dancers in hazmat suits. A clear plastic tent dropped from the ceiling, surrounding the group, and one of the dancers administered a nasal swab to Lamar. While Lamar and Keem performed “Family Ties” separated from the audience by the plastic film, on the far platform, plumes of flames exploded on the other end of the stage.

After Keem exited, leaving Kendrick alone to perform “Mirrors,” the cube took flight as a raised platform lifted it high into the air. Surrounded by an amber haze as he hovered above the audience, he performed a heartfelt version of “LOYALTY.”

Back on the ground, he took it home with a trio of tracks from the new album. Under oppressive red lights, dancers whipped their bodies in a series of freeze frames as opener Tanna Leone joined Lamar for a pyrotechnic-fueled rendition of “Mr. Morale.” Lamar was forceful and defiant on the ode to perseverance “Count Me Out.” He did not rock the $3 million, bejeweled crown of thorns he wore at Glastonbury for the set closer “Savior.” Instead, he traded the shock value of the illusion of blood for a quiet release into introspection.

T-shirts for the tour carry the song’s message “Not your savior.” And as he closed the show the way he began, sitting at the piano as he sank into the stage, it felt clear. Kendrick Lamar is not our savior, but with his wisdom, vulnerability and visionary power he left Austin lifted.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Review: Kendrick Lamar's Big Steppers Tour at Austin's Moody Center