Kendrick Lamar Announces New Zealand Shows

US hip hop icon Kendrick Lamar has announced he'll be returning to New Zealand for shows at Auckland's Spark Arena and Dunedin's Forsyth Bar Stadium in July, the artist's first local appearances since performing at Auckland City Limits 2016. Lamar made international headlines last week for being presented the 2018 Pulitzer Prize For Music for his landmark 2017 album DAMN., the first ever non-classical or jazz work to win the award. Widely regarded as one of the most impactful musical figures of our age, these shows will showcase the artist at the very height of his powers. Check out the info below...

Kendrick Lamar

Tuesday 17th July - Dunedin, Forsyth Barr Stadium
Thursday 19th July - Auckland, Spark Arena (sold out)
Friday 20th July - Auckland Spark Arena (UPDATE new show on sale from 1pm Monday 30th April)

Watch the video for 'DNA' from Lamar's Pulitzer Prize-winning album DAMN.

Here's Lamar's collaborative track with SZA from his soundtrack to Marvel's Black Panther...

Press release:

One of the most critically acclaimed and successful hip hop artists of our time KENDRICK LAMAR has today announced his New Zealand tour in support of fourth album DAMN.. The 2018 Pulitzer Prize and twelve-time GRAMMY Award winning artist will make his highly anticipated return to our shores for two shows in July performing at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium and Auckland’s Spark Arena, as well as to headline the sold-out Splendour in the Grass festival in Byron Bay.

Lamar is once again riding high on the New Zealand charts with his #2 smash hit soundtrack album Black Panther: The Album and collaborations with SZA (‘All the Stars’), The Weeknd (‘Pray for Me’) – both top 5 hits. As well as his chart domination, Lamar made history earlier this month to become the first ever popular music artist to take out the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for music.

Having recently taken the DAMN. tour across the UK and Europe, set lists were built from Kendrick Lamar’s multi-Platinum selling catalogue, including good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) – featuring ‘Swimming Pools (Drank)’, and ‘Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe’ – To Pimp A Butterfly (2015) – featuring ‘King Kunta’, ‘Alright’, ‘i’ – and compilation album untitled unmastered.

Kendrick Lamar’s fourth studio album DAMN. solidified his standing as one of the world’s greatest artists. Featuring the huge singles ‘Loyalty’ (feat. Rihanna), ‘Love’ (feat. Zacari) and ‘Humble’. Pitchfork called DAMN. “a widescreen masterpiece of rap”, with The Guardian saying it’s “brilliant, sharp-edged storytelling from an artist at the top of his game,” awarding it 5 stars. DAMN. became Kendrick’s third album to surpass 1 million album sales in the US (joining To Pimp A Butterfly and good kid, m.A.A.d city.) and earned him a staggering five GRAMMY Award wins from a total of seven nominations.

With 13 billion Spotify streams, 12 Grammy awards, and over 6 million album sales worldwide under his belt, Kendrick Lamar has an incredible reach that surpasses many of his peers.