The Weeknd: After Hours Til Dawn TourNational StadiumOct 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.