Review: Kendrick Lamar, O2 Academy, Birmingham
"All you in the seats – stand up. You're not in church, that's for Sunday." Kendrick Lamar is not an artist best enjoyed from the genteel confines of the upstairs balcony.
From the moment he burst onto Birmingham's O2 Academy last night, he set about working the crowd into a frenzy.
The Californian rapper had a large stage to command on his own, and a packed out audience heavy with expectation.
But with a platinum-selling album under his belt, filled with crowd-pleaser after crowd-pleaser, he never looked ill at ease.
This was not the time to perform some of the more melodic, introspective tracks from his critically-acclaimed good kid, mAAd City album.
Instead Lamar introduced bass-heavy tracks B**** Don't Kill My Vibe, mAAd City and Real to get the crowd leaping, before pulling the ace from his sleeve – single Swimming Pools, imploring a willing audience to "drank" while telling the story of a teen going off the rails.
The 26-year-old, who counts Dr Dre among the guest stars on his latest record, has long been branded one to watch, and his brash stage style was met with loud applause as he finished the night with one of his older tracks – "I'm here for all of you who were down from day one," – the dark yet mesmerising ADHD.
Kirsten Rawlins
