Kendrick Lamar and SZA brought energy and perseverance to Ford Field during their nearly three-hour show Tuesday, part of the artists’ co-headlined “Grand National Tour.”

Emerging from the ground inside a Buick Grand National Experimental (GNX), Lamar stepped out of the car singing “Wacced Out Murals,” which was perfectly fitting for his show in Motor City. He sang a few more songs like “Squabble Up” and “TV Off” from “GNX,” his album that motivated the tour, before SZA rose from the stage on top of the same GNX, but this time covered in vines.

Detroit was their 18th stop on the tour, following Chicago, which makes its last stop in Stockholm in late August. While some shows have seen special guests such as Doja Cat, Lizzo, Justin Bieber, Kaytranada and Baby Keem, the duo kept the Detroit show to the setlist, with opener DJ Mustard.

The stage backdrop was a massive screen on which interview clips of Lamar and SZA were shown routinely throughout the show. Among these were clips from an imagined series of depositions with Lamar fielding a lawyer’s questions, which drew laughs from the crowd between musical segments. The screen was foregrounded by a diamond-shaped stage that wrapped around the pit, shared by both performers.

The pair is used to sharing the stage and collaborating, as they performed together at the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show and have released more than seven songs together. During the show, they performed their collaborations including “Doves in the Wind,” “All the Stars,” “30 for 30” and closed the show with “Luther” and “Gloria.” Their song “Luther” just entered its 24-week streak at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Rap Songs Chart and remains within the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 for its 14th week.

SZA and Lamar tag-teamed the stage, alternating acts and performing songs of their own, while sometimes singing songs together as they switched. Each act brought vastly different visuals from shooting flames behind the singers and entourages of background dancers to SZA being suspended from the ceiling and taking the stage alongside giant dancers in praying mantis costumes.

SZA’s most recent release, “SOS Deluxe: Lana,” was her reason behind co-headlining the tour, which follows her “SOS Tour” that began in 2023. Similarly to her last tour, she performed both songs from “SOS” and her first studio album, “Ctrl.” 

The alternating sets accompanied an impressive number of costume changes, with both artists treating each segment like a different act in a stage production. SZA appeared in everything from a jersey to fairy wings tailored to her ethereal aesthetic, while Lamar cycled through streetwear, with a leather jacket at one point and custom pieces that reflected the visual themes of each segment.

The packed crowd got especially excited when SZA performed “BMF” from her recent deluxe album, which contains lyrics that say “The boy from South Detroit.” Outside of that song and the occasional mention of Detroit from both artists when addressing the crowd, the duo kept their between-song speeches pretty short.

“You said Detroit was gonna have so much energy and you were right,” SZA said to Lamar at one point. “I did,” Lamar replied.

Though they covered 54 songs in their 160-minute performance, their frequent exits and entrances throughout the show sometimes sacrificed the deeper connection that comes with complete, uninterrupted sets. Instead of experiencing each artist’s full individual journey before witnessing their collaboration, the audience got fragments — impressive in scope, but occasionally lacking the emotional build that sustained performances would create.

Despite the format’s occasional pacing issues, both artists delivered vocally throughout the marathon show. SZA’s runs soared over the crowd during tracks like “Good Days,” while Lamar’s rapid-fire delivery on songs like “DNA” demonstrated his exceptional live performance skills. The long runtime tested endurance for both performers and the audience, but the energy rarely flagged thanks to the constantly shifting visuals and musical styles.

For both artists, the “Grand National Tour” serves as a bridge between their individual artistic identities and their collaborative future. Whether this format becomes a template for other major artists or remains a unique experiment, it certainly pushes the boundaries of what a co-headlined tour can be.

They wrapped the marathon performance together, winding down with a final act that culminated in “Gloria” before Lamar and SZA retreated to the onstage Buick Grand National, thanking Detroit and disappearing into the floor.

bdolata@detroitnews.com

• EAT Detroit draws more than a thousand diners for food sampling at select Corktown and downtown Detroit restaurants to benefit charity.

A dining frenzy tantalized the palates and taste buds of more than 1,000 patrons on Monday, June 10, with signature dishes from restaurants around downtown Detroit and Corktown.

Diners roamed the streets of Corktown and downtown at the annual EAT Detroit event, dashing into restaurants and feasting on samplings of signature dishes and drinks for the restaurant crawl-style event. A highlight of this year’s event is it began and ended with a VIP reception at the historic and renovated Michigan Central Station in Corktown.

Mitch Albom, Detroit Free Press columnist, founded and hosts EAT Detroit. The event is a fundraiser for SAY Detroit, the nonprofit Albom founded 20 years ago that helps Detroiters in need.

Albom mirrored, with permission, a José Andrés Dine-N-Dash event that he attended in Washington, D.C. The Andrés event follows a similar concept of visiting an array of restaurants and also has a charitable arm that benefits the renowned chef’s World Central Kitchen.

In its five years, Albom said the event has raised nearly $1 million.

“I think in our fifth year, this sort of cements the event as a permanent red letter, you know, charity day on the calendar,” Albom said.

Various diners said the excitement and highlight of this year’s event was its beginning and ending receptions at Detroit’s stunning Michigan Central Station.

It was the first time the opening and closing of the event happened at the same place. Albom said they are going to try and make the train station a permanent part of the event.

“You can kind of feel being in here (Michigan Central Station) that it’s (EAT Detroit) grown, and this would have been inappropriate in its first year. We weren’t big enough to do it here, and we weren’t organized enough to do it here.”

More than 1,200 people purchased tickets to the event, which sold out within a week, Albom said, plus an additional 300 to 400 bought VIP tickets.

Before heading out to restaurants, a VIP reception took place at the beautifully restored and renovated train station. VIP guests dined on appetizers from Detroit’s West Village award-winning Marrow restaurant and Leña, Brush Park’s Spanish-influenced eatery. Both restaurants have been named Detroit Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Top 10 Best New Restaurants in the past. Albom, Mayor Mike Duggan and Detroit Free Press restaurant critic Lyndsay C. Green spoke to the crowd, highlighting the event, Albom’s charity, cheering on Detroit and its restaurant scene.

Around Corktown and downtown Detroit, diners feasted on everything from fried catfish bites to roasted lamb shoulder, filet mignon au Poivre, fried lobster, chopped cheeseburger and Maurice salad and meatballs the size of golf balls served with marinara and whipped ricotta and pecorino cheese. Diners could also sip on various summery cocktails and mocktails.

It was the first time for friends Anna Sinagoga of Berkley and Diana Gomez of Rochester.

“It’s a great way to get people to come downtown and showcase the restaurants in an accessible way,” Sinagoga said.

Gomez added that they check out the menus in advance and would “try to get to as many as we can.”

For the roaming feast, diners boarded shuttle buses or walked to participating restaurants, sampling offerings from preset menus of food and drink.

More than two dozen restaurants participated in this year’s event.

This year, Julie Wallace of Eastpointe bought VIP tickets to get inside the renovated train station, which she called “impressive.”

“Last year we did seven restaurants and are hoping to get to a few more this year,” Wallace said.

The evening ended back at Michigan Central Station with a VIP reception featuring a beautiful and delightful array of desserts, including lemon tarts, cannoli, mango passionfruit tart and hand fruit pies. Providing desserts were MK Cannelle, Mad Nice, Prime + Proper, Sister Pie and Townhouse Detroit.

Scott and Melissa Ringlein of Ann Arbor have attended every EAT Detroit event and make sure they view the menus in advance

“We like just being able to go to a lot of these restaurants,” Scott Ringlein said. On of the favorite restaurant stops, Ringlein said was Le Suprême, which featured filet mignon au poivre.

The Ringleins said they always do VIP and make a weekend out of the event. This year, Scott Ringlein said, they took in a Detroit Tigers game, visited Pewabic Pottery and Detroit’s RiverWalk.

Michigan Central Station was also a highlight of the event.

“It was the first time I got to come here,” Ringlein said. “It’s beyond miraculous what they did.”

EAT Detroit 2026 is already on the website, taking emails to join a waitlist for advance ticket sales.

“You never know how big something is going to get, but I knew when you mixed food and walking and nice weather. You’re going to get some kind of crowd.”

Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.

DETROIT – A citizen of the People’s Republic of China accused of smuggling goods into the United States was arrested at Detroit Metro Airport.

It’s unrelated to the University of Michigan scholar accused of bringing crop fungus through the airport days prior.

According to the complaint, Chengxuan Han is currently pursuing a Ph.D. from the College of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan, PRC. She is accused of sending four packages from China containing concealed biological material to two individuals who work in a laboratory at the University of Michigan.

All four packages reportedly were manifested improperly and did not contain the correct documentation for them to be imported.

All four packages reportedly were manifested improperly and lacked the correct documentation for importation. One package was listed during shipping as plastic plates but allegedly contained eight petri dishes with biological materials. Another package reportedly had an envelope with a handwritten note hidden within the pages of a book.

Authorities indicated that hiding biological samples inside a book and shipping them is a common method of smuggling into the country.

According to authorities, Han arrived at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a J1 visa on Sunday, June 8, where Customs and Border Protection officers conducted an inspection.

Through the use of a translator, she allegedly made false statements regarding the packages and the biological materials reportedly shipped to the United States. Additionally, authorities said the contents of her phone were wiped days before her arrival.

After providing several conflicting statements to officers, Han reportedly told Customs and Border Protection that she was a doctoral student coming to the University of Michigan to complete her research project and admitted to sending her research materials ahead of her arrival.

According to an affidavit, Han could not recall how many packages she had sent, estimating between five and ten, but mentioned that several were lost in transit according to Chinese couriers. Her professors at the University of Michigan and at HUST reportedly did not know the packages and did not instruct her to send them.

Han was taken into custody and is facing federal charges of smuggling and making false statements.