The Weeknd's Phoenix concert was an epic, post-apocalyptic hellscape. Why that was awesome

It’s been five years since the Weeknd last appeared in metro Phoenix when the Starboy: Legend of the Fall Tour made its way to what was then called Talking Stick Resort Arena.

He’s dropped two albums, headlined the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show and graduated to a bigger room since then, bringing the After Hours Til Dawn Tour to an extremely crowded State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Tuesday, Aug. 30.

And the man born Abel Tesfaye rose to the occasion, doubling down on the dizzying expectations raised by that halftime performance when it came to spectacle while reminding fans that he could just as easily have entertained the back rows of the stadium on the strength of his magnetic presence and the power of his music.

He's the fourth-most-streamed artist on Spotify, a star whose time to headline stadiums has clearly come.

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The Weeknd goes heavy on songs from 'Dawn FM' and 'After Hours'

Arriving less than a week after a caravan of ‘80s rockers packed that same room for the Stadium Tour, the Weeknd put the focus squarely on the here and now, performing seven songs from this year’s “Dawn FM” and six from 2020’s “After Hours.”

As the title of the tour suggests, he’s touring on both albums, having canceled the arena trek originally planned for “After Hours” due to health concerns regarding the pandemic.

Giving those albums a turn in the spotlight still allowed plenty of time in a 29-song set that ran 90-some minutes to cycle through crowd-pleasing highlights from across his career, reaching back to his first mixtape, 2011’s “House of Balloons,” for “The Morning" and a song that felt like the concert's emotional zenith, "Wicked Games."

He also dusted off his features on songs he recorded with Drake (“Crew Love”), Future (“Low Life”) and Ty Dolla Sign (“Or Nah”) and the organ-driven Kanye West collaboration “Hurricane.”

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A conceptual extension of the Super Bowl halftime show

In announcing the tour, the Weeknd promised it would “see his most ambitious production to date reflecting the creative journey that continues to unfold for both these albums, creating worlds within worlds as we have all been watching unfold in various television performances, music videos and short films."

La Mar Taylor, the concert's creative director, further explained what that might look like in a conversation with Variety.

“The entire show is conceptual,” Taylor said. “There is a linear story between ‘After Hours’ and ‘Dawn FM,’ and I think the audience will walk away with different interpretations of the show.”

Taylor also said they’d taken inspiration from the Super Bowl performance “and expanded it,” adding, “There were so many restrictions and constraints around that performance that we could not fully realize the vision we had for it. Now we can.”

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The Weeknd's stage show was a post-apocalyptic hellscape

The concert began on an ominous note as a swarm of veiled and hooded dancers in flowing red garments trudged across a war-torn hellscape of bombed-out buildings backlit by an eerie post-apocalyptic glow on a video screen that filled in the rest of the ever-changing skyline.

Dressed in black from head to toe, including a trench coat and gloves, the Weeknd made his entrance from beneath the dystopian ruins on a slow-rising hydraulic lift, setting the tone with his trembling delivery of “Alone Again,” the track that opens “After Hours."

It proved a suitably dramatic point of entry to what followed as he recontextualized his catalog to suit the existential thread that runs through both those recent albums, which are said to be the first two chapters in a trilogy.

By the time "Alone Again" was ending, those dancers were slogging single file along the catwalk that led from the main stage to a platform in the middle of the stadium and a circular stage at the opposite end of the venue under a giant inflatable moon as the Weeknd segued into “Gasoline” from “Dawn FM.”

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A night at the club with the Weeknd

The quasi-operatic darkness of the staging didn’t stop the Weeknd from making the stadium feel more like a dance club on tracks that grooved as hard as the throbbing club beat of “Sacrifice” and “How Do I Make You Love Me?,” the Weeknd dividing the crowd down the middle and leading fans in chanting "right side” or “left side” accordingly.

He paced the concert like a DJ, most songs segueing into the next for maximum momentum as he started offsetting those newer tracks with the earlier classics that got him to the level where the Super Bowl starts calling, from “Can’t Feel My Face,” much of it done as a spirited call and response with the audience, to “The Hills” and “Starboy.”

Other highlights included "Often," "Party Monster," "I Feel It Coming" and "Die for You."

It all blended together, in a way, but the end result was more seamless than sameness.

An extremely energetic presence, he underscored a number of the concert's more electrifying peaks by hopping up and down, pumping his fists in the air.

His vocals sounded great throughout, from the vulnerability he displayed on the opening song to the full-throated pleading of "Call Out My Name," although his vocals did get swallowed on occasion in the bass-heavy sludge of the mix combined with stadium acoustics.

If there were musicians in the building, they were nowhere to be seen. The entire performance hinged on the Weeknd and, to a lesser extent, those dancers (22 in all), who rarely called attention to themselves.

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After Hours Til Dawn Tour was as off the hook as promised

It was the Weeknd's spotlight and he owned it.

The production was as off the hook as promised, with a laser light show, plenty of pyro and a stage show as elaborate as anything this side of Lady Gaga or Madonna. Fans' synchronized wristbands added to the light show.

Billowing black smoke engulfed the city set as Hendrixian guitar gave way to church organ on a moody version of his West collaboration, "Hurricane." As that song morphed into "The Hills," the city was in flames as columns of fire burst from the floor at the edge of the runway and buildings crumbled on the skyline.

It was epic, as they say.

And yet, it wouldn’t have been nearly as effective if he hadn’t done his best to back up those theatrical ambitions with performances that underscored the strength of the material, from that awe-inspiring "Wicked Games" to the "After Hours" smash he wisely held back for a suitably triumphant finish, “Blinding Lights."

Most stars who headline stadiums will never have a calling card as undeniable as "Blinding Lights," the first song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to spend a full year in the Top 10 (in the course of a record-breaking 90-week run on the charts). And it sounded especially great coming out of the synth-pop-revival vibe of "Less Than Zero."

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Mike Dean and Kaytranada open the Weeknd concert in style

The concert started with a set by DJ Mike Dean, who has a history of working with the Weeknd in the studio.

Manning his laptop and assorted synth from a spot on the runway, he greeted the early arrivals with a set that punctuated cinematic soundscapes with speaker-rattling bass and occasional outbursts of block-rocking beats.

At one point, he switched to electric guitar for a crowd-pleasing version of "Where You Belong," a Weeknd track he produced for "Fifty Shades of Grey."

Kaytranada followed with a highly entertaining set that felt more like a really good night at the club. Highlights ranged from "10%," which was accompanied by its classic music video, to his remix of the Janet Jackson single "If."

It was a perfect way to set the tone for the heavy club vibe of the Weeknd's own performance.

The Weeknd setlist 2022 in Phoenix

Alone Again

Gasoline

Sacrifice

How Do I Make You Love Me?

Can't Feel My Face

Take My Breath

Hurricane

The Hills

Often

Crew Love

Starboy

Heartless

Low Life

Or Nah

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

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The Weeknd concert proves he's ready to headline stadium tour: Review