After years of fans anxiously waiting, Kendrick Lamar broke his radio silence by releasing ‘family ties’ with Baby Keem, and later his newest album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. Fans were quick to jump on this new abundance of music with the album totaling 18 songs. Features rangee from established artists such as Kodak Black and Summer Walker, to those newer on the scene, like Tanna Leone. 

In his Boston show, Lamar plays songs spanning his entire discography, starting as early good kid, m.A.A.d city. Starting the show strong with “United in Grief,” Lamar is illuminated sitting at his piano, with dancers strewn around him. He plays the intro to this song, and keeps the crowd’s energy up with an appearance from his look-alike ventriloquist doll, who mouths the words alongside him. Later on, Lamar travels out to the middle stage, and after only a few songs from the Big Steppers, he starts his throwback with “ELEMENT.”, from his 2017 album DAMN. He continues to switch back and forth between Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, DAMN., and good kid, m.A.A.d city. His piano makes another important appearance in the intro to one of Lamar’s most recognizable songs, ‘HUMBLE.’ He takes a cool down, cleverly using the intro from “We Cry Together” to start “Purple Hearts.” 

After playing a few more songs, notably “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe,” Lamar pulls another classic from DAMN. out, “DNA.,” bringing instant energy to the crowd. Throughout all of this, Lamar’s backup dancers are performing interactive, expressive numbers, only driving the crowd’s enthusiasm higher. Lamar takes another trip down memory lane with “Love.” and “Alright,” and shortly after, brings out the first of his two guests, his younger cousin, Baby Keem. Together, they perform “family ties,” which was Lamar’s first appearance on the music scene since DAMN. Shortly after, Lamar brings out his second guest, Tanna Leone, to perform “Mr. Morale” together. To close, Lamar stands alone onstage to perform “Savior,”  his 28th and final song of the night.

After a whopping 3 hours of performance from Tanna Leone, Baby Keem, and the main event, Lamar himself, he ends the show by being lowered into the stage, slowly sinking below view until the stage closes up and the lights turn on. The show and album as a whole represents Lamar’s abundance of creativity and artistic vision, which together create a beautiful performance.