Kendrick Lamar Announces 2022 ‘Big Steppers Tour’ With Baby Keem & Tanna Leone

kendrick 1
Kendrick Lamar performs on stage during the Coca-Cola Music Mix at the NCAA March Madness Music Festival Day 2 at Discovery Green on April 2, 2016, in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images for Turner)

Kendrick Lamar has unveiled details for “The Big Steppers Tour,” which will hit arenas in the U.S., Europe and Australia starting July 19 at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. The routing also includes one night in New Zealand, which will wrap up the tour Dec. 16 at Spark Arena in Auckland. Lamar will be joined on the road by Baby Keem, with Tanna Leone appearing on select dates.

Stops on the tour include Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, two nights at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, two nights at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, two nights at the Oakland Arena, Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena and two nights at London’s The O2.

The May 13 news comes a day after Lamar released Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, his fifth album and first in five years, which is already receiving rave reviews. As one of the world’s most critically and commercially acclaimed rappers, Lamar made history when his last album, DAMN, became the first non-jazz or classical recording to win the Pulitzer Prize. Lamar also picked up five Grammy wins including Best Rap Album, as well as Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song and Best Music Video for the track “Humble” and Best Rap/Sun Performance for “Loyalty” with Rihanna.

Before the tour kicks off, Lamar has a festival play at Glastonbury in the U.K. on June 26 and will make a mid-tour appearance at Rolling Loud at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on July 24.

BIg Steppers

Lamar’s last headlining tour came in 2017 in support of DAMN, and similarly toured the U.S., Europe, Oceana and Asia. The “DAMN Tour” grossed $41.4 million with 452,387 tickets sold in 36 shows in North America, according to box office reports submitted to Pollstar. From 109 shows, Lamar averaged 9,070 tickets per show and $732,035 gross – which this new run will easily surpass.

Last week, on May 9, Lamar surprised fans with the first single from the new album “The Heart Part 5.” The video (below) features a morphing technology that transforms Lamar’s face into the faces of OJ Simpson, Kanye West, Nipsey Hussle, Jessie Smollett, Will Smith and Kobe Bryant. The song also sample’s Marvin Gaye’s 1976 song “I Want You.”

The new album itself includes guest appearances by Sampha, Summer Walker, Blxst, Portisheads’ Beth Gibbons, actress Taylour Paige; and rappers Baby Keem, Ghostface Killah of Wu-Tang fame and Kodak Black. There’s also samples by Eckhart Tolle, Florence + Machine along with production by Pharrell, Duval Timothy, the Alchemist, Beach Noise, Boi-1da, Sounwave, Dahi, FNZ, J.LBS and Bekon among others.

Pre-sale tickets for the “The Big Steppers Tour,” are exclusively available to users of Cash App, a mobile cash app that will interfaces with the Ticketmaster platform beginning on May 19.

The tour is sponsored by Amazon Music, Rotation and Cash App and promoted by Live Nation.

The Big Steppers Tour Dates

Tue Jul 19 – Oklahoma City, OK – Paycom Center

Thu Jul 21 – Austin, TX – Moody Center 

Fri Jul 22 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center

Sat Jul 23 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center

Sun Jul 24 – Miami, FL – Rolling Loud

Wed Jul 27 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena

Fri Jul 29 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center

Sat Jul 30 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena

Sun Jul 31 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena

Tue Aug 02 – Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center

Thu Aug 04 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena

Fri Aug 05 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center

Sat Aug 06 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center

Sun Aug 07 – Long Island, NY – UBS Arena

Tue Aug 09 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center

Wed Aug 10 – Boston, MA – TD Garden

Fri Aug 12 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena

Sat Aug 13 – Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena

Sun Aug 14 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena

Tue Aug 16 – Columbus, OH – Schottenstein Center

Thu Aug 18 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum

Fri Aug 19 – Chicago, IL  – United Center

Sat Aug 20 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center

Sun Aug 21 – Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center

Tue Aug 23 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena

Wed Aug 24 – Salt Lake City, UT – Vivint Smart Home Arena

Fri Aug 26 – Portland, OR – Moda Center

Sat Aug 27 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena

Sun Aug 28 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena

Tue Aug 30 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center

Wed Aug 31 – Oakland, CA – Oakland Arena

Thu Sep 01 – Oakland, CA – Oakland Arena

Tue Sep 06 – San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena at San Diego State University

Wed Sep 07 – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center

Fri Sep 09 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena

Sat Sep 10 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center

Tue Sep 14 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena

Wed Sep 15 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena

Fri Oct 07 – Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome

Mon Oct 10 – Prague, CZ – O2 Arena

Tue Oct 11 – Berlin, DE – Mercedes-Benz Arena

Thu Oct 13 – Hamburg, DE – Barclays Arena

Sat Oct 15 – Copenhagen, DK – Royal Arena

Mon Oct 17 – Stockholm, SE – Avicii Arena

Wed Oct 19 – Oslo, NO – Telenor Arena

Fri Oct 21 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena

Mon Oct 24 – Stuttgart, DE – Scheleyerhalle

Tue Oct 25 – Zurich, CH – Hallenstadion

Wed Oct 26 – Laussane, CH – Vaudoise Aréna

Fri Oct 28 – Antwerp, BE – Sportpaleis

Sun Oct 30 – Cologne, DE – Lanxess Arena

Mon Oct 31 – Frankfurt, DE – Festhalle

Wed Nov 02– Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro

Thu Nov 03 – Leeds, UK – First Direct Arena

Fri Nov 04 – Newcastle, UK – Utilita Arena 

Sat Nov 05 – Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena 

Mon Nov 07 – London, UK – The O2

Tue-Nov 08 – London, UK – The O2

Sun Nov 13 – Dublin, IE – 3Arena

Wed Nov 16 – Manchester, UK – AO Arena

Thu Dec 01 – Perth, AUS – RAC Arena

Sun Dec 04 – Melbourne, AUS – Rod Laver Arena

Thu Dec 08 – Sydney, AUS – Qudos Bank Arena

Mon Dec 12 – Brisbane, AUS – Entertainment Center

Fri Dec 16 – Auckland, NZ – Spark Arena