As thousands of festival-goers gathered around the American Express stage in anticipation of Kendrick Lamar’s slated 8:40 p.m. performance time, a message flashed on the screens on either side of the stage. Due to plane issues, Lamar’s performance would be delayed. Jeering from the crowd ensued almost immediately, with some frustrated audience members beginning their treks home.
At around 8:50 p.m., dozens of small floating blue lights, seemingly drones, drifted into the sky from the right side of the stage. The crowd seemed to think this a prelude to Lamar’s performance, and several people began cheering and recording. The drone show lasted around 15 minutes and ultimately seemed to serve as a way to kill some time before Lamar’s delayed start. Finally, around 9:25 p.m. , another message flashed on screen stating that Lamar’s “abbreviated set… (would) begin at 9:45 p.m.,” a little over an hour after his original start time.
As promised, Lamar’s all-hits set finally kicked off with his first song, “N95.” Dressed in blue nylon against his tour’s signature Henry Taylor murals, Lamar got right to work, hyping up the crowd instantly. Plumes of smoke erupted around him as he commanded the stage alone, backup dancers out of sight.
Lamar quickly moved from one song to the next, not taking much time to speak to the crowd in between. He acknowledged his 10 p.m. curfew, but informed the crowd, “I told them they’d have to shut off my mic” before jumping right into “DNA.” Lamar ran across the stage as his backup dancers finally emerged in dark aprons, executing well-coordinated choreography to “Humble.”
The cameramen seemed to struggle with the adjusted set, as Lamar traversed the stage in an unpracticed frenzy. The two screens on either side of the stage mirrored shaky footage, and rough cuts to Lamar interrupted the backup dancers’ most notable sequences.
Lamar’s quick-mixing made the set’s struggle to keep pace clear, and as the rapper riled up the crowd to the chorus of “Alright,” the sound of his voice began to diminish. Lamar, not realizing the festival shut off his mic, encouraged the audience to keep chanting “we gon’ be alright.” But the phrase proved futile. Around 10:15 p.m., as the last of Lamar’s voice faded, he bowed with his hands in prayer position and the crowd began their trek home.
