Eight years is a long time between visits. For The Weeknd, it was enough to turn a Singapore Indoor Stadium audience of 7,000 into two sold-out nights at the National Stadium, with a catalogue of new sing-alongs to match.
On 2 October, the opening night of his Singapore After Hours Til Dawn Tour shows, Abel Tesfaye performed to 55,000 fans across a two-hour, 39-song set. Giant sculptures, lasers, and fire gave his songs a suitably outsized setting, while his frequent shout-outs and trips towards the crowd made room for more personal exchanges.
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Before the main event, Japanese hip-hop duo Creepy Nuts warmed up the stadium with a set that included ‘Otonoke’, their theme song for DAN DA DAN. The anime favourite helped get the audience moving ahead of a night that would cover much of Tesfaye’s musical history.
He arrived in black, his face concealed by a glittering mask that projected green laser beams, opening with ‘Baptized In Fear’ from Hurry Up Tomorrow. It was an introduction that established the show’s visual language immediately: an imposing, futuristic world with a recognisable voice at its centre.
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That world stretched across the stadium. A backdrop of ruined buildings framed the main stage, with long runways connecting separate performance areas. At the middle stood a rotating, 12-metre golden robot sculpture by Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama. Dancers in red robes and gold masks moved through the space, keeping the production in motion as Tesfaye travelled between stages.
Out in the audience, synchronised LED wristbands extended the light show into the stands. Lasers swept overhead, strobes punctuated the music, and bursts of flame added heat to the spectacle. The staging gave fans several places to look, even as the songs kept their attention fixed on the singer.
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The set moved through the different sounds that have brought The Weeknd this far: the darker R&B of ‘House Of Balloons’, the pop immediacy of ‘Can’t Feel My Face’, and the synth-driven rush of ‘Blinding Lights’. With nearly 40 songs packed into two hours, the pace left little room for pauses or a conventional encore.
There was plenty of space for his voice, though. ‘The Hills’ and ‘Call Out My Name’ called for forceful delivery, while ‘Take My Breath’ and ‘Sacrifice’ pushed into his upper register. On ‘Out Of Time’, which he introduced as a personal favourite, the focus shifted to the phrasing and vibrato that give his R&B performances their character.
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The crowd met the hits with dancing and full-volume choruses. ‘Starboy’ and ‘Blinding Lights’ brought fans in the seated sections to their feet, while ‘One Of The Girls’, originally recorded with JENNIE and Lily-Rose Depp, became a particularly loud audience showcase. As the accompaniment gave way, thousands of voices carried its chorus across the stadium.
For all the ominous imagery surrounding him, Tesfaye spent much of the evening showing Singapore affection. Around 20 minutes into the set, he removed his mask, smiled, and greeted the audience with an air hug. He repeatedly worked the city’s name into his songs, including ‘Faith’ and ‘Save Your Tears’, turning familiar lyrics into greetings for the crowd in front of him.
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He also headed down towards fans on the floor several times, offering the microphone for sing-alongs. Those exchanges gave the concert a different kind of scale: a show built for tens of thousands could still make someone at the barricade part of the performance.
By the time the set finished, Singapore had heard how much The Weeknd’s catalogue had expanded since his last visit and seen how confidently he could carry it into a stadium. The towering robot and laser-eyed mask supplied the imagery, but the unaccompanied roar of ‘One Of The Girls’ supplied something the production could never programme.
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