Giant robot, masks, flames: The Weeknd returns to S’pore with a bigger, grander show

The Weeknd: After Hours Til Dawn Tour National Stadium Oct 2 Eight years after his first Singapore show, Canadian pop titan Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, returned to the city state with a performance vastly bigger, grander and more visually impressive. Kicking off the first of two back-to-back sold-out nights at the National Stadium on Oct 2, the 36-year-old commanded a sold-out crowd of 55,000, a big jump from his 2018 gig at Singapore Indoor Stadium next door which drew 7,000 people. One of the most successful pop artistes of the streaming era, The Weeknd’s concert was part of the Asian leg of his global After Hours Til Dawn tour. A day earlier on Oct 1, the singer was spotted visiting Universal Studios Singapore (USS), taking rides such as Revenge of the Mummy and exploring the theme park’s Halloween Horror Nights 14. In 2023, he collaborated with USS for a haunted house called The Weeknd: After Hours Til Dawn Nightmare. Here are the highlights from the concert: A 39-song setlist showcasing his varied artistry For casual listeners familiar only with his radio singles, the two-hour show that started at 8.20pm was a revelation of the singer’s musical range. Traversing almost 40 songs across his 15-year discography without any breaks or encore, the setlist showcased how effortlessly he moves between dark, alternative R&B, synth-pop, trap, disco and high-energy house. The two-hour show featured close to 40 songs. PHOTO: SEBASTIEN NAGY Dressed in black, he came on stage in a sparkling mask with green laser eyes and opened with the moody Baptized In Fear from his most recent album, 2025’s Hurry Up Tomorrow. While mainstream hits such as Can’t Feel My Face (2015), Blinding Lights (2019) and Starboy (2016) had most of the crowd on their feet singing and dancing, he also rewarded long-time fans with House Of Balloons, an early career breakthrough from 2011. Songs like Sacrifice (2022) and Take My Breath (2021) brought his soaring, Michael Jackson-like high register to the fore, while his distinct vibrato anchored R&B tracks like Out Of Time (2022). A dystopian, sci-fi party Designed around a post-apocalyptic cityscape backdrop of ruined buildings, the main stage extended into long runways. The highlight was surely the rotating colossal 12m-tall golden “sexy robot” sculpture by Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama on the middle stage. The singer occasionally performed on a third stage at the end of one of the runways. A large group of dancers clad mysteriously in red robes and gold masks gyrated and moved solemnly across the runways as the entire venue was swept up in light. The set featured a giant robot and mysterious masked dancers. PHOTO: SEBASTIEN NAGY Colour-changing LED wristbands worn by the audience synced to the beats, while laser and strobe lights, as well as intense blasts of stage flames, shot high into the air. The heat from the fire was so strong that it could even be felt by the fans sitting in the stands, farther from the stage. The Weeknd’s warm demeanour For an artiste whose promotional image and lyrics are notoriously dark, enigmatic and at times daunting, the singer was surprisingly smiley on stage and visibly thrilled to be performing. 20 minutes into the show, he removed his mask and flashed his pearly whites, greeting the audience with an air hug. “You know I’m up here, standing here, trying to figure out if you love me just as much as I love you tonight,” he would later say. The singer often incorporated the word “Singapore” into his lyrics. PHOTO: SEBASTIEN NAGY Throughout the show, he showered the local audience with affection, repeatedly weaving the word “Singapore” into his lyrics. “Is Singapore the one I love?” he crooned on Faith (2020), and ad libbed “Singapore I don’t want to see you cry no more” on 2020 hit Save Your Tears. He descended from the stage to the audience on the floor multiple times to get closer to his fans, handing over the microphone so they could scream along to songs such as Out Of Time (2022), a track he referred to as his personal favourite. During the hit One Of The Girls (2023), which originally featured Jennie from South Korean K-pop group Blackpink and French-American actress and singer Lily-Rose Depp, the stadium roared as the audience sang a capella to the track’s hypnotic chorus. By the time the show ended at 10.20pm, The Weeknd had not just delivered a grand pop spectacle, he had proved that beyond the blinding lights and masks is a showman who can hold an entire stadium in the palm of his hand.