“If I wanted to start a cult, I could.” That’s how The Weeknd – aka Abel Tesfaye – famously convinced director Sam Levinson to co-create the endlessly controversy-generating HBO show The Idol. Although his proclamation didn’t translate well into television, on stage is where it rings true.
As the masked Canadian musician walked out to the roaring 80,000-strong crowd during his first London show last Friday – with white cloaked backing dances pulsated around an extra large chrome model of the Hajime Sorayama-designed robot (the same one from his Echoes of Silence video) – he looked every inch the modern day messiah. Immediately whipping the devoted crowd into a frenzy while opening with Take My Breath Away against the vast post-apocalyptic cityscape backdrop, complete with silver 3D replicas of The Empire State Building, St Paul’s Cathedral and Toronto’s CN Tower.
The sense of release was palpable. Having postponed the show multiple times due to Covid, the original arena tour was canned in favour of a global 64-date stadium conquest to accommodate his escalating fame to Spotify’s number one streaming artist in the world. Of course, it was worth the wait. His mega, billion-stream hits, including Die For You, Starboy and Save Your Tears belong in equally inflated settings and to be sung in union by his faithful followers – which they did non-stop throughout the two hour set.
Performing with a live three-piece band that – although at times drowned out his vocals at times (not that anyone seemed to mind) – together they delighted fans with a 33-track setlist, with songs seamlessly merging into each other at whiplash speed.
Transitions from Hurricane to The Hills elicited near-orgasmic responses from the crowd, so did Crew Love to Starday. There were minimal talking interludes, making the performance feel almost like a DJ set. In fact, he first addressed the crowd halfway through to tease OG fans with the added addition of House Of Balloons and The Morning to his UK set list – a move that has caused outrage among his US fans who missed out.
However, considering he built his name as the seedy overlord of the after-hours scene, it’s no surprise that the show truly came into its own at nighttime. While performing Blinding Lights, vertical laserbeams shot out from the runway to form a blue walled curtain that matched the Coldplay-esque colour-changing wristbands that were handed out as fans entered the London Stadium. As the lighting oscillated to the beat it was nothing short of a trancy spectacle.
ââ”I’m going through a cathartic path right now… It’s getting to a place and time where I’m getting ready to close The Weeknd chapter,” he told W Magazine earlier this year. If this is Tesfaye’s last tour as The Weeknd, then at least he undoutedly paid ample respect to his decade-long persona that has forever changed the pop landscape.
