Monday 21st March 2016 at Rod Laver Arena Melbourne, Australia.
Reviewed By: Suren Jayemanne
I’m a stand up comic. I’m not telling you that as a means of subtly promoting an upcoming festival show (I would do that blatantly, rather than subtly (Please see me at the Enmore theatre this upcoming Sydney Comedy Festival)). I just think it provides context for the lens through which I experienced Kendrick Lamar at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena last Monday. You see, through performing comedy, I have an appreciation for what it takes to engage and entertain an audience, but also I am slightly envious of the ease with which musicians exude cool. All of this to say, I have never seen any performer live that had as much effortless cool and command over his audience as Kendrick Lamar.
First things first, Melbourne was treated to a surprise guest at the top of the night. Kamasi Washington (pictured below) would be joining Kendrick at Bluesfest later in the week, and although their side shows in Sydney clashed, Kendrick seized upon the opportunity to invite Washington along for the Melbourne concert. Washington, who’s sprawling three disc jazz odyssey was one of the stand out musical offerings of 2015, was an integral force behind the scenes of Kendrick’s much celebrated To Pimp a Butterfly (TPaB). Washington, with his band the Next Step, in tow wowed an all ages audience who had most likely never seen jazz live before let alone on an arena scale.
By the time Kendrick was due on stage, the anticipation in the air was palpable. If you could distill the excitement around the world in the lead up to Episode 7 of the Star Wars franchise, and then store it in an arena in the middle of Melbourne, then this would have come close to that. As he made his first steps on stage, the crowd erupted. Camera phones flew out the heaving mass in the general admission section started to roar. But Kendrick, as much a showman as a wordsmith, just waited at centre stage. The microphone remained in its stand, as Kendrick surveyed the crowd, essentially conveying that he was summing them up, to determine their worthiness. It was this “baiting of the hand that feeds you” that blew me away as a comedian. You really have to believe you’ve got the goods to toy with an audience like that. One he finally uttered his opening words “this dick ain’t free”, from TPaB’s second track “For Free?”, the crowd was in the palm of his hand.
Kendrick may have been playing an arena, but all of the show biz gimmicks one might be accustomed to seeing in stadium shows were pared back. Kendrick took all the showmanship upon himself (of course his instrumental band was an added treat for a rap gig – and all the players were exceptional) bounding around the stage with energy and style.
‘To Pimp a Butterly’ was skilfully abridged for a live audience, Kendrick thanking the crowd for allowing him to produce an album with no radio friendly singles. The album discusses heavy topics, depression, celebrity, substance abuse, police brutality, family and temptation. None of which are typical fodder for the early 100’s on the FM dial. Here Kendrick was essentially demonstrating to the audience that he was grateful that if you’re talented enough, and have confidence that your audience understands just how talented you are, you can free yourself of the traps and games that most pop music artists must navigate.
To test the audience’s loyalty, Kendrick performed songs from the albums that started all the buzz years ago, ‘Section 80’ and ‘Good Kid MAAD City’. And through it all, Kendrick even found a way to reassure each individual that he was speaking directly to them, and that if they ever felt the emotional depths that can trouble us all, they only need listen to ‘U’ from TPaB and remember that Kendrick was there with them.
It was nearly 100 minutes of crisply delivered rhymes supported only by incredible musicianship and charisma. It was also a masterclass in believing in your audience and believing in yourself to take them anywhere.
