Aug 29

Aug 29 Show Review: The Weeknd Brings One of the Year's Best Shows to Santa Clara

The Weeknd
w/ Snoh Aalegra, Mike Dean
Levi’s Stadium
Santa Clara, CA
August 27th, 2022

Photos and Review by Jared Stossel

There’s no doubt in my mind; this was the biggest show of the year. I was a little apprehensive when I saw The Weeknd pull his arena tour from the touring schedule and move it entirely to stadiums. It’s one thing to perform in arenas, and it’s another thing in entirely to perform in a stadium. I didn’t know if he could pull it off. I completely underestimated him. The Weeknd, the stage name of singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye, brought the spectacular “After Hours ‘Til Dawn” tour to a sold-out crowd at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Tesfaye isn’t just another musician that has found his way up on stage at a stadium; he was born for these kinds of shows.

After opening sets from renowned record producer Mike Dean and singer-songwriter Snoh Aalegra, night had fallen and a moon found its way over the stadium. Blade Runner-esque synthesizer music poured out of the sound system as a blood red hue was cast over the moon. This didn’t just feel like a show; it felt like a movie. In one of the coolest uses of stage design I’ve seen in recent years, a dystopian-like city towered over the audience, backed with a massive LED backdrop that continuously evolved throughout the show. The lights went down, and the roar of the crowd was deafening. Chants of “Abel! Abel! Abel!” filled the stadium as the sun began to rise over the city on the stage. Nearly twenty dancers, donned in red dresses that hid any semblance of facial features, walked in formation to the stage. Suddenly, The Weeknd rises out from the top of one of the skyscrapers and launches into “Alone Again”, the first track on After Hours. He’s wearing a mask that looks like his own face, almost like something out of a sci-fi/horror film. He descends from the top of the skyscraper and appears in an entirely new location, launching into Dawn FM’s first track, “Gasoline”. He removes the mask, the crowd cheers, and he hypes up the crowd with a smile on his face. There’s clearly no place in the world that he’d rather be.

“How Do I Make You Love Me?” and “Take My Breath” are two certifiable anthems from Dawn FM, and both of them are performed in spectacular fashion. Sandwiched in the middle is “Can’t Feel My Face” from 2015’s Beauty Behind the Madness. Hearing that song was my first introduction to The Weeknd’s music back all those years ago, and it was a full circle moment to see it performed at this scale. A chill-inducing moment came during the performance of “The Hills”, one of Tesfaye’s best songs and a song which found him commanding the entire stadium to dance with him as the chorus dropped. Lightning filled the electronic sky behind him as one of the largest displays of pyrotechnics I’ve ever seen in my life were let off.

When looking at the stage from my seat, The Weeknd is just a dot running across the stage, yet he feels larger than life, and larger than the grandiose set pieces that he runs between. I found myself realizing that I know so many more of his songs that I thought I did, like “Party Monster”, “After Hours”, “Die For You”, and “Starboy”. He transitioned between song after song with ease, and he’s a natural showman. At no moment during this entire performance did a feel like I needed a break; he packed nearly thirty songs into an expansive set list, and I honestly could have watched him do thirty more.

The show’s finale was “Blinding Lights”, one of the best pop songs I’ve heard in years and the only logical way to close out a show like this. As the synth line from the song kicked in, thousands of lights on the bracelets that fans were provided upon entering the stadium began to sparkle, turning this one space in a small Bay Area city into a temporary galaxy. There was no encore that followed “Blinding Lights”; he doesn’t need to give one. It’s succinct and perfect. He leaves the stage, and we all agree: The Weeknd is a fucking superstar. This may be the best show of the year.

The Weeknd Set List

After Hours
Gasoline
How Do I Make You Love Me?
Can’t Feel My Face
Take My Breath
Hurricane (Kanye West cover)
The Hills
Often
Crew Love (Drake cover)
Starboy
Heartless
Low Life (Future cover)
Or Nah (Ty Dolla $ign cover)
Kiss Land
Party Monster
Faith
After Hours
Out of Time
I Feel It Coming
Die For You
Is There Someone Else?
I Was Never There
Wicked Games
Call Out My Name
The Morning
Save Your Tears
Less Than Zero
Blinding Lights