Musicians like the Weeknd know how to keep their careers interesting. He consistently
treats fans with an assortment of exciting projects year after year. In 2020 he released
his fourth studio album After Hours, which has become the most streamed R&B album
of all time. He headlined the Super Bowl LV halftime show in 2021 and dropped his fifth
studio album Dawn FM in January of this year. He’s also stepping into the TV landscape
with his upcoming HBO series “The Idol.” Adding to that, he’s currently touring through
North America for his stadium tour After Hours Til Dawn. The tour stopped by the SoFi
Stadium in Inglewood, CA for two sold-out nights on Sept. 2 and 3rd. Unfortunately, The
Weekend cut the second show short due to vocal issues but promised to make it up to
the crowd with a new date. The lucky 70,000 fans who managed to score tickets to the
first night were treated to a dazzling production and a phenomenal 29-song set.
The night opened with fun DJ sets from collaborator/musician Mike Dean and fellow
Canadian electronic act Kaytranada. An unreleased trailer for “The Idol” was also shown
which received tons of cheers from the fans and actress Lily-Rose Depp appeared
briefly to film some footage for the show.
The stadium hummed in anticipation as the lights dimmed, The Weekend wearing a
creepy flesh tone mask concealing his face dramatically rose on top of a dystopian
replica of his hometown of Toronto performing the track “Alone Again.” Veiled dancers
dressed in all red slowly appeared and danced in sync along the long runway of the
stadium towards a large prop moon giving the night an eerie apocalyptic feel. The stage
production really helped get us immersed into the dark lyricism of The Weeknd's music.
The Weeknd performed all the highlights from his career, including “The Morning" and
"Wicked Games" from his first mixtape House of Balloons, “Kiss Land” from his debut
studio album Kiss Land, and the classic hit’s like “I Feel It Coming” and “Call Out My
Name.” He kept things fresh by performing collaborations including “Crew Love” from
Drake, “Low Life” from Future, “Or Nah” from Ty Dolla Sign and “Hurricane” from Kanye
West.
The Weeknd’s charismatic persona was delightful to watch, he knows how to hype up
the crowd with his tenor vocals and never ending energy. He spent the majority of his
time performing in the middle of the huge runway close up to the fans. The audience
danced and cheered as the Weeknd ended the night with his chart record-setting single
"Blinding Lights."
Night One Setlist:
- Alone Again
- Gasoline
- Sacrifice
- How Do I Make You Love Me?
- Can't Feel My Face
- Take My Breath
- Hurricane
- The Hills
- Often
- Crew Love
- Starboy
- Heartless
- Low Life
- Or Nah
- Kiss Land
- Party Monster
- Faith
- After Hours
- Out of Time
- I Feel It Coming
- Die for You
- Is There Someone Else?
- I Was Never There
- Wicked Games
- Call Out My Name
- The Morning
- Save Your Tears
- Less Than Zero
- Blinding Lights
