LIVE REVIEWS
Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s Grand National tour is a strange beast. It should feel like a victory lap for the Compton king after his flawless sixth album ‘GNX’ – and a menacing win in his beef with Drake – cemented his status as the most popular rapper around. His musical sister, too, is riding high – she’s made her acting debut in the buddy comedy One Of Them Days and delivered her jam-packed ‘Lana’, a deluxe extension of her acclaimed ‘SOS’ album.
The format of the show, though, means things take on a different feel. It’s simultaneously brutal and delicate, constantly switching between the two artists and splitting the setlist into a jagged collage. One minute, you’re getting scorched by Lamar’s firestorm – hot venom flying through the air as he performs with his chest out. The next, you’re floating in SZA’s dreamy garden. The shifts are so abrupt, it’s full-on sonic whiplash – and this relentless toggling robs both artists of truly showcasing their brilliance and, instead, jolts us repeatedly between two very different universes.
Lamar immediately builds the energy to electric levels, bringing raw power to his first act. ‘Wacced Out Murals’ hits like acid spit, ‘Squabble Up’ snarls, and ‘King Kunta’ swaggers in defiant funk. Even a half-played ‘TV Off’ has the crowd delirious. SZA enters, rising through the floor in her own leafy Buick, giving a first glimpse of her and K.Dot’s sibling chemistry on ‘30 For 30’, but some of their connection is lost due to the nature of the 62,000-capacity stadium. Vocals echo and bass wobbles, dissipating through the open roof, sometimes muffling the moments that deserved to land hardest.
When SZA takes over for Act II, she does so with a lush, kaleidoscopic set full of ‘CTRL’ nostalgia. ‘Love Galore’, ‘Broken Clocks’, and ‘The Weekend’ all are sprinkled with a soft, smoky ache as she and her dancers float with effortless grace. But these beautiful moments are brief cinematic respites for the rage core that soon bubbles up when she hands the baton back to Lamar.
Back in the spotlight, the rapper unleashes his devastating arsenal of floor-shaking hits for the third and fifth acts. He’s petty, performing his initial Drake diss ‘Euphoria’ in full, before turning to crowd favourites ‘Humble’ and ‘Family Ties’ (minus cousin Baby Keem). Shockwaves ripple through the arena, energy building like a pressure cooker until it explodes. Mosh pits erupt and frenzied bodies collide in joyous chaos, every slam feeling like a communal victory.
It’s sad that SZA’s subsequent acts then drop the pace dramatically, ushering us back into her world of creepy crawlies as she goes on a journey of metamorphosis. The stadium witnesses her turn into a beautiful butterfly – if the screen doesn’t obstruct your view, at least. The fiery momentum of Lamar’s segments might come undone in this serene space, but SZA offers a chance to breathe, even if it does feel disorienting at times.
It’s a given that ‘Not Like Us’ is the apex of the night’s energy. As soon as the beat drops, the whole stadium screams every iconic line with a roar fit for a winning Championship goal. The encore, though, provides the true highlight of the night. After the crowd thins, Lamar and SZA reappear together – no fireworks, no pyrotechnics; just two voices, raw and vulnerable.
Basked in a hazy white glow, they deliver versions of ‘Luther’ and ‘Gloria’ with breathtaking tenderness. It’s a rare moment of collective softness after a sprawling, disjointed spectacle – proof of what the show could have been if the music had been allowed to breathe, to speak for itself. In London tonight, two stars collide, but even greatness can struggle to find the perfect balance.
Act I: Kendrick Lamar
‘Wacced Out Murals’
‘Squabble Up’
‘King Kunta’
‘ELEMENT.’
‘TV Off’
Act II: SZA
‘30 for 30’
‘What Do I Do’
‘Love Galore’
‘Broken Clocks’
‘The Weekend’
Act III: Kendrick Lamar
‘Euphoria’
‘Hey Now’
‘Reincarnated’
‘Humble.’
‘Backseat Freestyle’
‘Family Ties’
‘Swimming Pools’
‘m.A.A.d city’
‘Alright’
‘Man at the Garden’
Act IV: SZA
‘Scorsese Baby Daddy’
‘F2F’
‘Garden’
‘Kitchen’
‘Blind’
‘Consideration’
‘Low’
Act V: Kendrick Lamar & SZA
‘Doves in the Wind’
‘All the Stars’
‘LOVE.’
Act VI: Kendrick Lamar
‘Dodger Blue’
‘Peekaboo’
‘Like That’
‘DNA.’
‘Good Credit’
‘Count Me Out’ / ‘Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe’
‘Money Trees’
‘Poetic Justice’
Act VII: SZA
‘I Hate U’
‘Shirt’
‘Kill Bill’
‘Snooze’
‘Crybaby’
‘Nobody Gets Me’
‘Good Days’
‘Rich Baby Daddy’
‘BMF’
‘Kiss Me More’
Act VIII: Kendrick Lamar
‘N95’
‘TV Off’
‘Not Like Us’
Act IX: Kendrick Lamar & SZA (Encore)
‘Luther’
‘Gloria’
LIVE REVIEWS
It’s unusual for Sault, the elusive group headed by Little Simz’s past collaborator InFlo, to take the stage. So when All Points East revealed that they would be leading the opening day of this year’s festival (August 15), the excitement spread immediately. Even though they hinted at a global tour in 2023, their only live appearances to date were at London’s Drumsheds, where they delivered a sold-out extravaganza. This night, then, promised an experience no one wanted to miss.
The line-up throughout the day was stacked with strong names like Kirk Franklin, Sasha Keable, Nao, Ms Dynamite, and others. Sadly, every one of these sets was squeezed into a messy three-hour stretch, creating painful overlaps all across the park. After 6 pm, only Main Stage East stayed active, leaving festival-goers with a single option: to watch the headline run of Sault, Cleo Sol, and Chronixx. The latter two, both tied to the mysterious group, each had their slots as well as time performing with the collective.
Nothing quite sets us up for Sault’s epic five-hour showing, which proves both overwhelming and tangled. Dancers and a choir appeared cloaked in burnt ochre robes, resembling travelers from a fictional desert world, surrounded by sand, dunes, and golden-lined rocks. The production had serious funding – a full orchestra with piano, strings, harp, and guitars filled the soundscape, and in the middle of the crowd sat a dusty pyramid that most people ignored. Whispers carried through the audience about the spectacle’s grandeur, with one nearby voice remarking, “Doesn’t InFlo still owe Little Simz £1million?”
The pyramid stage design during Sault’s All Points East 2025 set. Photo credit: Jennifer McCord
Whatever meaning this grand production was meant to communicate was hard to grasp. The leading figures, who looked like InFlo and Sol, seemed to be chasing something, yet it was never clear exactly what. Perhaps it was freedom, since the lead vocalist echoed the refrain of ‘Free’, with additional nods to self-discovery and healing, but the storyline stayed muddy and difficult to follow.
Energy picked up once Sol and Chronixx emerged early in the performance, both in beige suits and reflective shades, slipping into the first act. Alongside the cloaked ensemble, they played through a range of Sault songs that stretched across all twelve albums. Fans were treated to hidden treasures like the mesmerizing ‘S.O.T.H.’ and emotional ‘Pray For Me’, alongside more recognizable tracks such as ‘I Just Want to Dance’ and ‘Why Why Why Why Why’. For many in the crowd, though, the event played more like a quirky encounter than the immersive artistic showcase Sault seemed to be aiming for.
It took nearly two hours for the night to loosen up, and that turning point came courtesy of Chronixx. His uplifting reggae and radiant spirit shifted the whole space, people skanked along to ‘Smile’ and swayed to ‘Likes’, and suddenly the atmosphere felt celebratory again. Once he exited, Yasiin Bey (fka Mos Def) appeared out of nowhere in a strange yet brilliant surprise. Over chirping bird sounds and glitchy electronic noise, he reshaped ‘Umi Says’, spinning across the stage in a checkered drape, embodying the song’s spirit of liberation with almost comic exaggeration.
Chronixx performing at All Points East on Friday, August 15. Photo credit: The pyramid stage design during Sault’s All Points East 2025 set. Photo credit: Jennifer McCord
After four relentless hours of spectacle, Cleo Sol finally claimed the spotlight for her whole performance. The shift was instant, her gentle voice floated across Victoria Park, drawing hips to sway and couples to curl into each other, the entire air easing at once. She shone in glittering silver cocktail wear, moving gracefully with the poise of someone fully aware of how badly we needed this release. ‘Rose In The Dark’ carried an almost ironic weight as she sang “Hold on a little longer / It’ll be alright”, mirroring exactly what the crowd had been doing throughout the marathon. Closing with ‘Know That You Are Loved’, she stood atop the glowing pyramid while voices from the crowd echoed every lyric back to her, delivering the emotional peak of the evening.
She tried to squeeze in ‘Why Don’t You’ as an encore, but curfew struck, the lights snapped on, and the moment ended abruptly. The intention was clear, to unveil the breadth of Sault’s world through an unconventional showcase, yet the finale, like the beginning, left more questions than answers. For a group as rare on stage as Sault, a little less mystery and a little more music might have made their All Points East appearance truly measure up to the highs of Drumsheds.
Sault played:
‘Glory’
‘Free’
‘Let Me Go’
‘Over’
‘I Just Wanna Dance’
‘Warrior’
‘Faith’
‘Up All Night’
‘Son Shine’
‘Masterpiece’
‘Why Why Why Why Why’
‘Stop Dem’
‘Black Is’
‘Pray For Me’
‘S.O.T.H.’
‘T.H.’
‘W.A.I.’
‘Wildfires’
‘This Generation’
Chronixx played:
‘Big Bad Sound’
‘Here Comes Trouble’
‘Exile’
‘Survivor’
‘Market’
‘Captureland’
‘They Don’t Know’
‘Don’t Be Afraid’
‘Family First’
‘Spanish Town Rockin”
‘Skankin Sweet’
‘Majesty’
‘Sweet Argument’
‘Way You Make Me Feel’
‘Resilient’
‘Eternal Light’
‘Tenement Yard’
‘Saviour’
‘Love Is On A Mountain’
‘Smile Jamaica’
Cleo Sol played:
‘Love Yourself’
‘Rose In The Dark’
‘When I’m In Your Arms’
‘There Will Be No Crying’
‘Things Will Get Better’
‘Reason’
‘Don’t Let Me Fall + Outro’
‘Promises’
‘Sunshine’
‘Don’t Let It Go To Your Head’
‘Blue’ (Unreleased)
‘Know That You Are Loved’
‘Why Don’t You’
