NEWS
Kendrick Lamar's Grand National Tour does more than break stadium records, he is gifting fans up-close-and-personal moments backstage as well. The rap star took a moment to provide a woman, who goes by @obenewow on Tiktok, with a viral "bestie" moment behind-the-scenes after he noticed her energy during the show. The woman captioned the clip of her and Lamar as "besties now."
Kendrick Lamar could be seen posing for a photo. After the woman informed him it was a video, the rap star relaxed and complimented the woman on her energy during the show while saying what's up everyone watching the clip. "You did your stuff, you were rocking out there," Kendrick said to the fan as he exited the frame.
The woman captioned the clip, "POV: Kendrick notices you from the crowd. 2. Lets you come backstage to get this video. 3. Tells you 'you did your stuff'. 4. You are now besties."
The comments ranged from hilarious requests for a collaboration between the fan and rap star to complimenting the fan's energy. "So basically yall got a track together on the next album now," commented a Tiktok user.
Congratulating the lucky fan, a user commented, "Congratulations *tyrese voice* ! I wouldn’t have been able to hold the camera still lol this is my fan fiction dream lol. Omg were you in the pit or somewhere else?"
The U.S. leg of the Grand National Tour concluded on Wednesday (June 18) in Washington D.C. at the Northwest Stadium. Ari Lennox, a frequent collaborator of SZA, was in attendance.
The tour goes international in July after announcing an Australian leg of the tour last month. Kendrick and company will head to Germany, Scotland, U.K., Italy, and more. It will in on August 9 in Stockholm, Sweden. The tour is expected to achieve more milestones overseas.
Kendrick Lamar’s GNX has become a unstoppable in 2025, stacking accolades and breaking records across every major platform. At the 2025 BET Awards, the album earned Album of the Year, contributing to Lamar’s five wins, including Best Male Hip Hop Artist, Best Collaboration for “Luther” with SZA, Music Video of the Year, and Video Director of the Year.
June 19 marks the one-year anniversary of Kendrick Lamar's legendary Pop Out concert in Los Angeles. The lineup featured all L.A. rapper. Tyler the Creator, Roddy Ricch, and DJ Mustard were among the performers.
NEWS
Placebo have kicked off their 30th anniversary tour by dusting off some tracks for the first time in over 20 years, and also playing new single ‘Helen Keller’ live for the first time.
The new dates come as the band are celebrating the 30 years since they dropped their 1996 debut album. To mark the occasion, they have announced a huge UK and European arena tour, where they have vowed to predominantly play material from their first album and their sophomore record ‘Without You I’m Nothing’.
At the opening night at Krakatoa in Mérignac, France, Brian Molko and co. delivered a stacked 19-song set, which began with ‘Pure Morning’, and immediately went into the first rendition of ‘Come Home’ in 20 years.
Another rarity came straight after, with the first live performance of ‘You Don’t Care About Us’ since 2001, as well as ‘Without You I’m Nothing’ and ‘Allergic (To Thoughts Of Mother Earth)’ which were played for the first time since 2018 and 2014 respectively.
‘Drowning by Numbers’, ‘Bruise Pristine’ and ‘My Sweet Prince’ were all introduced into the setlist for the first time since 2001, ‘Brick Shithouse’ was aired out for the first time since 2003, ‘Scared Of Girls’ was played for the first time since 2010, and both ‘Lady Of The Flowers’ and ‘36 Degrees’ were broken out for the first time in nine years.
The rest of the set was made up of ‘Teenage Angst’, ‘Bionic’, ‘I Know’ and ‘Every You Every Me’, and the band wrapped up the performance with two covers: Depeche Mode’s ‘I Feel You’, and Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’.
It wasn’t until a later show at the Super Bock Arena in Porto, Portugal, that Placebo broke out their new song ‘Helen Keller’ for the first time – playing it 13 songs into the setlist.
Check out more footage from the tour so far below, as well as the setlist from night one.
‘Pure Morning’
‘Come Home’ (First time since 2006)
‘You Don’t Care About Us'(First Time Since 2001)
‘Teenage Angst’
‘Bionic’
‘Without You I’m Nothing” (First Time Since 2018)
‘Allergic (to Thoughts of Mother Earth)” (First Time Since 2014)
‘Drowning by Numbers” (First Time Since 2001)
’36 Degrees” (Alternate Version – First Time Since 2017)
‘I Know’
‘Brick Shithouse’ (First Time Since 2003)
‘Scared of Girls’ (First Time Since 2010)
‘Bruise Pristine” (First Time Since 2001)
‘My Sweet Prince’ (First Time Since 2001)
‘Lady of the Flowers’ (First time since 2017)
‘Nancy Boy’
‘Every You Every Me’
‘I Feel You’ (Depeche Mode cover, live debut)
‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ (Kate Bush cover)
Placebo dropped the single ‘Helen Keller’ on September 28, and it sees them reach back to ‘H.K. Farewell’, a hidden instrumental from the era of their self-titled 1996 debut. In the track, they retain the eerie keyboard melody from the original, and push it to new dimensions with a heavier, more anguished feeling.
The title refers to the American author, who was also a disability rights advocate and political activist, who became deafblind as a young child and went on to become an internationally renowned writer and campaigner.
As well as the tour, Placebo also celebrated the 30th anniversary of their debut by releasing a reimagined version of the record. For the LP, Molko and Stefan Olsdal returned to the original master tapes and reworked all 10 songs from the 1996 record – describing it as a “director’s cut” that helped them inject the original songs with three decades more experience.
The ongoing tour will reach the UK and Ireland in late November and early December, where they will play Nottingham, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester, London and Cardiff. See all the dates here and find any remaining tickets here.
Dates will head to Latin America in 2027, beginning in São Paulo on February 20 and running through Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Colombia before wrapping up with shows in Guadalajara and Monterrey in March.
Placebo dropped their last album of new material in 2022, with ‘Never Let Me Go’. That record was given a four-star review by NME, which described it as “a renaissance rock record with an experimental edge”, adding that it found Placebo “inspired and ready for a new era”.
