The Weeknd has returned to Australia for his second tour with an upgrade from Arena to Stadium for ‘After Hours Til Dawn’. This production is massive. The catwalk is so long it would not fit inside the 14,000 capacity Rod Laver Arena. The length of the 55000 capacity Marvel Stadium football oval was required just to fit it in.
The Weeknd is this mysterious, cult like character and the ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ show plays up to the secrecy. The show is dark… literally. The Weeknd is rarely in the spotlight. Apart from occasionally seeing his face on the screen The Weeknd performs mainly as a silhouette to the audience. He walks the length of the catwalk wearing his culty high priest robe with his throng of followers all dressed uniformly in red robes following his every move. (technically they are the dancers but there isn’t a lot of dance action going on here).
Photo by Rick Clifford
The set is a temple with the church-like construction in the middle of the stadium regularly engulfed in flames generating a post-apocalyptic appearance.
‘After Hours Til Dawn’ is very theatrical. I’d like to think that “for tonight’s performance Abel Tesfaye is playing the part of The Weeknd”. However the misogynist, control freak, cult-like character does not play well alongside actual current news about Sean Combs or Tesfaye’s own recent controversy of a reported toxic environment during the filming of his creepy, sleazy and depraved TV drama The Idol.
So the big question. Is the show a distraction from the music or does the music enhance the show? It’s a bit of Column A/Column B actually. This audience demographic (at least from my area) seemed very narrow. They were almost exclusively 20somethings. And nowhere in this Melbourne crowd of 5 October looked like they were there to honour a cult leader. It was Saturday night in Melbourne and this audience was in party mode.
As a setlist The Weeknd certainly filters through the hits but instead of standalone songs ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ plays out more like a mixtape than a greatest hits album. While we get the must-plays like ‘Starboy’, ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ and ‘Blinding Light’ the really special thing about this show for fans is being part of the minority who will get to hear and preview the new music first and ahead of release.
The next album for The Weeknd is called ‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’. It is the last in the trilogy of albums that started in 2020 with ‘After Hours’ and continued with ‘Dawn FM’ in 2022. At this point we still don’t have a release date. I assume it will make it before the end of 2024. This audience heard seven brand new songs before the rest of the world at this show which is very special. 20 of the 32 tracks played were from the 2020-2022-2024 trilogy.
The Weeknd at Marvel Stadium, Melbourne. All photos by Rick Clifford, supplied by Live Nation
The Weeknd setlist, Melbourne, 5 October 2024
The Crowd (from Hurry Up Tomorrow, 2024)
Wake Me Up (from Hurry Up Tomorrow, 2024)
After Hours (from After Hours, 2020)
Too Late (from After Hours, 2020)
Take My Breath (from Dawn FM, 2022)
Sacrifice (from Dawn FM, 2022)
How Do I Make You Love Me? (from Dawn FM, 2022)
Can’t Feel My Face (from Beauty Behind The Madness, 2015)
House of Balloons (from Trilogy/House of Balloons, 2012)
Starboy (from Starboy, 2016)
Party Monster (from Starboy, 2016)
São Paulo (from Hurry Up Tomorrow, 2024)
Timeless (from Hurry Up Tomorrow, 2024)
Heartless (from After Hours, 2020)
Repeat After Me (Interlude) (from After Hours, 2020)
The Hills (from Beauty Behind The Madness, 2015)
Often (from Beauty Behind The Madness, 2015)
Regular (from Hurry Up Tomorrow, 2024)
Faith (from After Hours, 2020)
Take Me Back to LA (from Hurry Up Tomorrow, 2024)
Out of Time (from Dawn FM, 2022)
I Feel It Coming (from Starboy, 2016)
Die for You (from Starboy, 2016)
Is There Someone Else? (from Dawn FM, 2022)
I Was Never There (from My Dear Melancholy EP, 2018)
Wicked Games (from Trilogy/House of Balloons mixtape, 2012)
Call Out My Name (from My Dear Melancholy EP, 2018)
Save Your Tears (from After Hours, 2020)
Less Than Zero (from Dawn FM, 2022)
Dancing in the Flames (from Hurry Up Tomorrow, 2024)
Blinding Lights (from After Hours, 2020)
In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song) (Peter Ivers & David Lynch cover)
The Weeknd is performing two Australian shows for Melbourne this weekend, then taking two weeks off before returning to Australia for two Sydney show on 22 and 23 October. That’s it for 2024. There are no more dates for The Weeknd after Sydney and currently no dates for 2025 listed for anywhere in the world.
And so the After Hours Til Dawn tour comes to and end after starting on July 14, 2022 in Philadelphia.
The 2x Sydney and 2x Melbourne 2024 shows are the only Australian shows now after the 2023 dates, which included 2x Brisbane and 2x Auckland, New Zealand in November / December 2023 were cancelled.
The Weeknd Australian dates:
October 5 and 6, Melbourne, Marvel Stadium
October 22 and 23, Sydney, Accord Stadium
https://www.livenation.com.au/artist-the-weeknd-474869
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