If any two artists have embodied the term “co-headliners” more than Kendrick Lamar and SZA, I haven’t seen them. During an overcast Friday at MetLife Stadium, the two turned their Grand National Tour stop into exercise in momentum, alternating between sets of songs in a way that felt completely symbiotic. Kendrick would pop out to perform four or five tracks from GNX and DAMN. before SZA pulled up to dive into CTRL and S.O.S., and there was essentially never a lull in the show (and, on top of that: the personal pizzas at MetLife were surprisingly affordable — a pleasant surprise for a beleaguered writer who left his home office to rush to the early-ish starting show in another state).

Pulling up for the East Rutherford, New Jersey showing, Okayplayer experienced the show in all of its virtuosity. Here are our top five moments from the concert.

5. Kendrick Bringing Out Baby Keem

So, funny thing: Baby Keem is still alive. I jest, but when “Backseat Freestyle” phased into “Family Ties,” I was utterly shocked. One, because bro never posts on Instagram, doesn’t drop new music a lot, and I genuinely hadn’t seen or heard from him since seeing Kendrick at Barclays Center a few years ago. Two, because his appearance materialized so suddenly with the seamless beat switch. It felt like a moment of unexpected triumph, and the crowd was just as electrified as me. In a show filled with spectacle, Keem’s appearance made you say, “Look at that!”

4. SZA Performing “Nobody Gets Me” Dressed as Star Fairy

The atmosphere of the whole show was equal parts engrossing and meticulous. At one point home videos from Kendrick’s Compton childhood flashed across the screen as he knelt atop a GNX while performing “DNA.” The lights were lighting, the dancers were dancing. The singer was singing. The rapper was rapping. All that. But my favorite part was when SZA put on a fairy fit and hung suspended above the stage to perform “Nobody Gets Me.” During the performance, the backscreen turned from a pinkish skyline to a starry night as SZA laid bare her feelings. Spacy and ethereal AF, it played out like your fave suddenly deciding to deliver an interstellar musical. Basically, it was a quirky alt girl’s fantasy.

3. Kendrick’s Transition Sequences from Playboi Carti’s “Good Credit” to “Money Trees”

One thing about Kendrick: he won’t do the same thing twice (at least, outside of his own tours). Across his 20 or 30-something song set, he found new ways to reimagine and re-contextualize tracks from his own discog. An Anita Baker sample became the new audio canvas for “Maad City,” which suddenly melted into the super-charged “Alright.” His whole show was kind of like that, and the inventive sequences reached their peak when he flipped from Playboi Carti’s “Good Credit” (which Kung Fu Kenny features on) to “Count Me Out” to “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” and “Money Trees.” It all worked perfect tonally. For example, the pre-hook for “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” became the hook for “Count Me Out.” As inventive as it was electric, the sequence did the exact opposite of killing the vibe.

2. “Not Like Us”

This one’s not too hard, as “Not Like Us” — aka, the 2025 Grammy winner for Song and Record of the Year — remains as exhilarating now as it was when he first dropped it. Sorry Drake, but there’s just a visceral thrill in shouting, “Wop, wop, wop, wop — Dot, fuck ‘em up” with 30,000 other people in unison. People were spilling beers in the MetLife stairs, taking selfie videos and relishing every moment of the gleeful character exorcism, and Kendrick’s sharp vocal inflections carried all the weight of a fiery pastor’s sermon.

1. The Chemistry of the Performance

SZA and KDot’s interplay was every bit as smooth as you would have imagined, and it even came down to the way the show was sequenced. Whereas most co-headlining performances can feel apart from one another, Kendrick and SZA balanced their clusters of songs in a way that gave the show a sense of propulsion. Just when you were riding the wave of “TV Off,” SZA popped out to join Kendrick for “30 for 30.” When Kendrick performed “LOVE.,” SZA jumped in to perform Zacari’s hook (which, sorry Zacari, sounds a lil’ better). It didn’t feel like anyone got shafted here; if you wanted the apex Kendrick or SZA concert, you got both. More than any one instance or live track rendition, Kendrick and SZA’s total show was collectively the moment. Grand, indeed.