Four time Grammy winner, The Weeknd, graced the city of Detroit with a two night concert as part of his ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ Tour at Detroit’s Ford Field during Memorial Day weekend. Despite several other events taking place in the Motor City, it was a packed house for both nights with fans from all around out to sing and dance to his theatrical like performance.
Mike Dean, a renowned record producer, audio engineer, and guitarist opened the show. Fans filed into the 60,000 plus seat Ford Field with the music of Dean, who produces some of The Weeknd’s songs, filling the air and getting them moving and nodding their heads on beat.
After Dean’s set, it was Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti taking the stage. The rapper was a perfect opener for the headliner, as his music has many songs that would be described as “club bangers”, pumping even more energy and excitement into those in attendance. It’s also fitting that Playboi Carti and The Weeknd have a couple songs together, ‘Timeless’ being one of them, that Playboi Carti performed during his set to fill the stadium with anticipation and really get the party started for the headliner.
It wasn’t much time after Playboi Carti ended that The Weekend came out. He was wearing a mask with glowing eyes and surrounded by several other masked dancers in red robes on stage in front of a giant video screen. Performing at Ford Field on a stage with a catwalk shaped as a cross spanning almost the length of the entire field, the screen made it easy for those to watch him, wearing a black and gold cloak, as he made his way to each endpoint serenading the fans and giving them an up and close encounter in each area. At one point, he even came off the stage into the crowd shaking hands with those near him and holding the microphone for a couple fans to sing alongside him.
Under the video screen, the stage was magnificent and was made to look like an ancient city of ruins. In the center of the outstretched catwalk that formed the cross was a gold statute, easily 25 feet tall resembling someone ready to take off and fly around the stadium. The performance included pyro effects with flames shooting up 30 plus feet into the air from the stage, and laser light effects synchronized to his music, keeping the stadium crowd mesmerized and engaged. Every fan was also given a LED lighted wristband that illuminated and was controlled as part of the dazzling light show.
The Canadian singer / songwriter’s set, which was close to 40 songs, entertained a very diverse fanbase with several of his hits that included ‘Wicked Games’, ‘Starboy’, ‘Can’t Feel My Face’, ‘Cry For You’, ‘Creepin’, ‘I Feel It Coming’, and others. But it was the opening base tones of ‘The Hills’ that brought the stadium to its feet once again during the night. The entire place was singing along note for note when The Weeknd started into it, about ten songs after he initially came out on stage, that had the crowd ready to jump on stage with him. Later, everyone was treated a second time to ‘Timeless’, this time with both The Weeknd and Playboi Carti together performing the track on one of the catwalk segments.
It was not hard to tell that those at Ford Field were true fans of his, as they knew and were absorbed in every one of The Weeknd’s songs. From his voice to the creative stage to the effects, it was an electric night for all who attended. The tour commenced in 2022 and continued this year in May in Phoenix before making its way to Detroit and then to Chicago. With about 20+ more cities left, the tour is currently planned to end early September in San Antonio.
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