by Jon Bauer
Like a greek god, towering high above a city in ruins, The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) wowed a Bay Area crowd with his massive Levi’s Stadium After Hours Til Dawn tour stop. The main set-piece in his beautiful apocalyptic stage is a shimmering golden god of a woman – naked, with eyes aglow, poised to launch, slowly turning, surrounded by occasional shooting fire. The statue, to me, represents a golden future after the destruction of the city laying in shambles on the main stage. She stands like a greek god, flanked sometimes by his main disciple at her feet – a benevolent, graceful, confident, golden tongued pop-star looking up reverently as if to pray and to revere her. Dancers dressed in Handmade’s Tale-ish red gowns adorned the stage and punctuated the feel of the night – Vestal Virgins that dotted the cross-like stage.
Singing songs from his entire catalog and sometimes also joined by Playboi Carti – who was one of the two openers – the young audience sung along and chanted “Abel” between each track.
The show felt much like a celebration of the phoenix, The Weekend’s music, love, and life.
The 1st opener and key collaborator for the Weeknd – Mike Dean – played the saxophone and a circle of keyboards as he prepped the crowd for what was to come.
The Weeknd
Mike Dean
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