Lamar announces ‘The Big Steppers’ tour

Kendrick Lamar won’t be waiting long to promote his first album in five years, “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers,” which will be released today and is one of the most anticipated albums of 2022 for many fans.

The Los Angeles native — who won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 album, “DAMN.” — will kick off his “The Big Steppers Tour” July 19 at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.

The 37-concert trek will include a Sept. 6 show at San Diego State University’s Viejas Arena. It will conclude its North American leg in Los Angeles with Sept. 15 and 16 performances at Crypto.com Arena (the venue formerly known as Staples Center). A European tour will follow.

Lamar has not toured since 2019. His most recent San Diego area performance was in 2018 at what is now North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista.

The opening acts for all the dates on “The Big Steppers Tour” will be Baby Keem and Tanna Leone.

Keem, a 2022 Grammy Award winner, is the 21-yearold cousin of Lamar. Leone and Keem both record for pgLang, Lamar’s record label and multimedia company.

Both are also featured on Lamar’s new album, which is, in fact, a double-album. Other guests on “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers” range from Pharrell Williams and Ghostface Killah to The Alchemist and Beth Gibbons of Portishead.

Tickets for “The Big Steppers Tour” go on sale to the general public May 20 at noon local time on Lamar’s website, oklama.com, and at ticketmaster.com and livenation.com. A presale will

be held on the same websites beginning at 10 a.m. local time Thursday and is open to all.