The Weeknd by no means does something by halves, and he featured visitor appearances by Anitta and Playboi Carti throughout his “One Night time Solely” live performance Saturday night time at MorumBIS Enviornment in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a large backlit stage full with An enormous video display that will need to have been 100 ft tall, dozens of (in fact) dazzling lights, a worldwide YouTube reside broadcast, and the premiere of a number of new songs, presumably from his upcoming album “Hurry Up Tomorrow.”
The night’s present was primarily an evolution of the “After Hours Til Daybreak” live shows he dropped at North America in 2022 and to Europe final 12 months in an up to date kind: a large, virtually airport runway-like illuminated walkway extending from one finish. The stadium went from one stage to a different, however within the center there was an enormous, temple-like two-story constructing with a glowing cross-shaped stage on the finish of the walkway reverse the video display.
A gaggle of shrouded feminine dancers stay from the tour’s early levels, as do the stadium-filling gentle reveals and state-of-the-art gentle reveals that forged massive beams of sunshine from a number of elevated areas of the stadium in addition to Partial white and purple lighting. He makes full use of the towering video screens, filling them with the whole lot from clouds to cityscapes, waterfalls to explosions, enormous cathedral-like home windows and even enormous close-ups of his personal eyes.
Whereas the staging and results had been dazzling and crowd-pleasing, the setlist advised a distinct story: this wasn’t a hit-fest, however a remix-style present targeted virtually completely on the After Hours trilogy. materials, there’s a variety of songs from the 2023 album Daybreak. music inside a couple of minutes of the music – a protracted cameo. (The brand new music they carried out collectively is Apparently a new single prohdyouced Secondy phosphorusHouronerreII wattIIIIonericesridiculed on the Internet It is a daring transfer for an artist who performs reside in entrance of round 75,000 individuals, if not tens of millions.
Equally audacious is the extent of confidence required to drag off a stage virtually completely by oneself. The Weeknd isn’t a classy dancer, and his costume didn’t change a lot — he wore a hooded black gown with intricate embroidery all through the efficiency — however his high-pitched, highly effective voice , songs and performances dominated the night. He impressed the group in virtually each music, with loads of his signature “Hey!” and plenty of shout-outs to St. Paul, altering one of many lyrics to “I feel I discovered me in St. Paul The viewers was singing alongside loudly for a lot of the present—a well-known music, anyway—and he led them in refrain a number of instances in the course of the present.
Unsurprisingly, Brazilian Anitta confirmed up, dancing atop the temple in a vibrant purple gown to a brand new music apparently titled “Saint Paulo,” to loud cheers from the group.
He closed the present with a downtempo R&B mini-mix of “Out of Time” and “Is There One thing Else?” Then it’s into a piece of “After Hours,” which incorporates the reside debut of the drum-and-bass model “Hardest to Love” (he navigates the music’s tough groove with out lacking a beat), the ballad “Scared to Stay” and at last “Save Your Tears” earlier than crusing into “Much less Than Zero” and naturally ending with an explosive model of “Blinding Lights”.
The present ended simply over 90 minutes after it began, however the ending was a bit anticlimactic, with the viewers anticipating it to be an encore, however in truth, a fleet of glowing drones flew over the stadium, first making a swath of lights, then flashing , and at last spelled out the title of the brand new album “Hurry Up Tomorrow”.
He’s additionally the model face of The Weeknd – having donated tens of millions of {dollars} to charity over the previous 5 years – and he has partnered with the United Nations World Meals Program to donate present funds to the XO Humanitarian Fund, which helps the group Responding to the worldwide pandemic starvation disaster. An area equal of $1 might be donated for every ticket offered.
Regardless of the dimensions of Saturday’s live performance, it is simply the primary present to launch the brand new album – it stays to be seen what comes subsequent as he heads to Australia subsequent month for the ultimate leg of his ‘After Hours’ tour.
Setlist (from setlist.fm)
Fades to Black/Run Away (unreleased music, reside premiere)
Wake Me Up (unreleased music, reside premiere)
after get off work
Too Late (reside debut; sang “It is Too Late to Save My Soul” a number of instances)
Ready with bated breath
Sacrifice (Swedish Home Mafia remix)
How can I make you’re keen on me?
Escape from L.A. (sung in the course of the closing credit of “How Do I Make You Love Me?”)
Take Me Again to Los Angeles (Unreleased Music)
Dancing within the Flames (unreleased music, reside debut)
Till I Bleed Out (reside debut; he solely sings a number of traces of the music after which transitions to the subsequent music)
FE!N (Travis Scott cowl) (with Playboi Carti)
Till I Bleed Out (with Playboi Carti)
TIMELESS (Playboi Carti cowl) (that includes Playboi Carti) (unreleased music, reside premiere)
São Paulo (with Anitta) (unreleased music, reside premiere)
heartless
Repeat After Me (interlude) (reside debut; sung on the finish of “Heartless”)
Let’s Finish It All (unreleased music, reside debut)
Perception
lonely once more
Run away (unreleased music)
Outdated
Is there anybody else?
The Hardest to Love (Stay Premiere)
afraid of life
save your tears
lower than zero
Dazzling lights
Hurry Up Tomorrow (unreleased music, reside debut)
