A live performance from Kendrick Lamar, who’s now set to embark on the Grand National Tour with SZA in 2025. Photo Credit: Kenny Sun
Why let the Super Bowl spotlight go to waste? Ahead of his performance at the big game, halftime-show headliner Kendrick Lamar has announced a 21-date stadium tour.
Kendrick Lamar and SZA took to social media this morning to unveil the Grand National Tour. The latter artist also appeared on the recently released GNX, which debuted against the backdrop of an intensifying Drake v. Lamar beef.
That showdown has hardly resolved; Drake is preparing to kick off an Oceania tour on Super Bowl Sunday, and litigation involving Universal Music Group is ongoing. Despite the dispute’s many moving parts, however, Lamar is evidently committed to capitalizing on his February performance.
Enter the Grand National Tour, which Kendrick Lamar and SZA are poised to begin in Minneapolis on April 19th – leaving fans plenty of time to buy tickets after Super Bowl LIX wraps on February 9th.
The remainder of April will then see Lamar and SZA perform in Houston (23rd), Arlington (26th), and Atlanta (29th), according to the current schedule. From there, May is expected to bring shows to Charlotte (3rd), Philadelphia (5th), East Rutherford (8th and 9th), Foxborough (12th), Seattle (17th), Los Angeles (21st and 23rd), Glendale (27th), San Francisco (29th), and Las Vegas (31st).
Then, the final six initially booked concerts are teed up for June: St. Louis on the 4th, Chicago on the 6th, Detroit on the 10th, Toronto on the 12th, Hershey on the 16th, and then D.C. on the 18th.
Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar and SZA are the latest artists to move forward with a Visa and Cash App presale. (Worth reiterating is Jay-Z’s role at the NFL and his well-documented professional relationship with Block CEO Jack Dorsey, whose company owns the payment platform.)
Cash App cardholders will score access to Grand National Tour passes at 10 AM local time tomorrow, December 4th. Before using the appropriate payment method to check out, though, prospective attendees will have to enter their cards’ first nine digits to even access the presale, per Live Nation.
Additionally, customers who use Cash App cards to complete official merch purchases “on-site” – presumably meaning at the concerts themselves – will benefit from a 20% “instant discount,” organizers indicated. For non-Cash App users, the tour’s general onsale will initiate at 10 AM local time on Friday, December 6th.
If prior Super Bowl headliners’ sales are any indication – Usher expanded his post-game concert series multiple times – Lamar could move a substantial number of tickets. But the 37-year-old isn’t alone in looking to fill stadiums in the new year; Drake, as mentioned, intends to entertain fans Down Under, and AC/DC yesterday revealed its first U.S. shows in almost a decade.