By Olivia Burns
On the 5th of October, Canadian singer, The Weeknd made his very long awaited return and stadium debut in Australia with his ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ tour. Fans at Melbourne’s sold out Marvel Stadium last night were lucky to be the first to witness it. This is the first time he has played here since 2017, and Australia was more than ready to finally see him live. With Anna Lunoe, Chxrry22 and Mike Dean were to open for him on this massive tour.
People were very slow to fill out the stadium, whether it was the early start time of 5:10pm for the first opener, or the horrible weather outside. Those that got there early, were treated to openers much similar to The Weeknd’s music, keeping everyone entertained between getting drinks, food and merch.
The venue was packed as we waited patiently for the main act, the stage was set up with a large runway down to the back of the room that was in the shape of a cross, a church set was in the middle of this runway. Anticipation grew in the room as the start time approached, suddenly, figures dressed in red robes made their way from the back of the stage down onto the runway. As our attention was on them, a light shone on top of the church and The Weeknd appeared. Starting us off with ‘The Crowd’, his voice echoed throughout the large venue as fans screamed with excitement. Well known for his distinctive falsetto key, I was instantly taken back by the likeness of his studio sound and live performance, proving that he really is just that good!
He instantly brought a warmness up on stage that just radiated from him, with beaming smiles and playful interactions with fans in the front row. He has a way of continuously checking in with the crowd, making it personable and interactive without long speeches being needed. The set didn’t leave time for much talking anyway as it just flowed so easily from each song and the little time he did have to speak, he mentioned how long it had been since he was here last and that he missed us, promising that he won’t take this long to return again. His crowd work was great and had everyone in the room including in the seated sections singing along and dancing, there wasn’t one person sitting in the seated section for the duration of the concert. After spending half the show on the first half of the stage, he made his way out onto the runway which reached near the back of the GA area to spend time with the fans towards the back of the room. A member of the crowd then took this opportunity to make a mad dash up on stage, which noticably gave The Weeknd a fright to start off with, but he ended up joining the man trying to give him a hug, to which he pushed his hand away before security pulled him off stage. The Weeknd shrugged that awkward interaction off with a gracious bow and continued on.
With just under a two hour performance, the setlist was nicely put together with his biggest hits, such as ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ and ‘The Hills’, some underground favorites, and we were lucky to get a taste of a few songs off his upcoming album and going by these tracks, it is sounding like it is going to be another hit release. A personal favourite moment of mine was when he sang ‘Dancing in the Flames’, it really highlighted even more of what his voice is capable of with him holding a 16 second note so effortlessly.
The room went absolutely crazy for ‘‘Blinding Lights’ of course, and it was great to finally hear this hit song in person! Expecting another 15-20 mins of show time, from the crowd’s perspective, the end of the night came a little abruptly. There was no indication with the usual ‘this will be my last song’ so when the song ended and he thanked everyone and got off stage, everyone was waiting around a bit confused, some cheered for an encore, until the house lights turned on, signaling that was the end of it and everyone started making their way out of the venue.
The production was very well done, from the set, to the backdrops and the lighting and of course some pyro that was set off along the stage and even on top of poles towards the back of the room. The dancers were incredible, they moved with such unison, the red robes and the way they shifted about the stage added an eerie feel as they danced in a straight line down the long run way or in a circle around the church as The Weeknd was standing on top of it.
Despite the abrupt cut off, there is no doubt after witnessing this show why he is one of the biggest artists in the world. As soon as he got on stage you just felt like you were in the presence of someone incredible, and to be able to say we have seen The Weeknd on this massive stadium tour is really special. So excited for the fans lucky enough to be heading to tonight’s show or catching him in Sydney and we look forward to his upcoming release and hopefully he will return a lot sooner next time for another tour!
