{"id":1919,"date":"2025-07-01T22:49:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T22:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/07\/01\/the-weeknd-gives-a-lasting-performance-at-ford-field\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T22:49:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T22:49:25","slug":"the-weeknd-gives-a-lasting-performance-at-ford-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/07\/01\/the-weeknd-gives-a-lasting-performance-at-ford-field\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weeknd gives a lasting performance at Ford Field"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On the night of May 25, crowds of people engulfed the sidewalks and roads surrounding Ford Field. Seas of red, black and silver flooded into the domed stadium, with girls matching their leather jackets to their knee-high boots and guys sporting the merchandise they just bought. The floor audience gathered under a large reflective female statue, gawking with excitement as they anticipated the last night of The Weeknd\u2019s After Hours til Dawn Tour in downtown Detroit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Although my friends and I missed the opening acts of Playboi Carti and Mike Dean\u2019s openings, we got to our lower bowl seats just in time (enough time that one of my fanatic friends, who went to the concert the previous night as well, confirmed we would have a proper view from our section). The lights dimmed and a brief moment of silence followed before the group of red-cloaked dancers fluidly moved across the stage in a row. They soon revealed The Weeknd dressed in a black shimmering cloak, with his face covered by a shiny reflective black mask.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With six studio albums, many mixtapes and EP\u2019s, The Weeknd\u2019s popularity has shot up exponentially from his debut record <em>House of Balloons<\/em> in 2011. On this tour, Abel Tesfaye gave a brief rundown of his discography; Tesfaye\u2019s meticulous attention to each song elevated his performance. He opened with \u201cThe Abyss,\u201d and the delicate yet powerful piano arpeggios immediately stirred a loud wave of support from the audience. Though not as hyper and energetic as the tracks that followed, the song set a gentler tone to open the night. The crowd, however, was quick to welcome him as he charmingly sang the night\u2019s first lyrics, \u201cI tried my best to not let you go \/ I don\u2019t like the view \/ From halfway down.\u201d Lana Del Rey\u2019s vocals served as a heavenly accompaniment to his passionate singing, seamlessly blending with his vocals to match Detroit\u2019s roaring appreciation and exhilaration. He sang, jumped and threw himself into the rhythms of older fan favorites as well as various tracks from his new album, <em>Hurry Up Tomorrow<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cS\u00e3o Paulo,\u201d the fourth track from <em>Hurry Up Tomorrow<\/em>, featuring Anitta, brought a whole new wave of surprises that Tesfaye had reserved for Detroit. Known for its Brazilian funk beats and heavy yet energetic bass, the track boasts 350 million streams on Spotify, being the second most played track on the album. As soon as the song thundered through the loudspeakers, bursts of fire erupted from the sides of the stage, lighting up the arena. With the blazes came a renewed surge of energy, both from the audience and Tesfaye himself. His head-banging choreography, paired with Anitta\u2019s powerful verses, reflected the intensity he drew from the fiery spectacle \u2014 an energy he carried through the rest of the concert.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Tesfaye\u2019s passion and enthusiasm were clear from the beginning. During each track\u2019s performance, he included the audience by pointing out each section of the stadium, encouraging them to sing as loudly as they could. At multiple times between tracks, Tesfaye paused to personally thank the audience for their never-ending support of his work as The Weeknd. These quick yet precious moments of vulnerability and openness, especially in the middle of a tightly packed concert, stood out, making The Weeknd shine as both a person and a performer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fans particularly lost it when the first two reverbed beats of \u201cHouse of Balloons \/ Glass Table Girls\u201d started playing over the loudspeaker. The track is one of The Weeknd\u2019s older gems, being the most popular track off the 2011 album <em>House of Balloons<\/em>. Detroit marked the first time he had performed this track during the tour, so describing this as a surprise is a huge understatement. The stage lights flickered dark and light blue, all while Tesfaye mirrored the audience\u2019s delight with his smooth yet freestyle choreography. Despite jumping around, kneeling eye-to-eye with the front row of the floor audience and traveling back and forth across the stage, his vocals remained crisp and steady, cementing this moment in the concert as a memory I will forever cherish.<\/p>\n<p>Even after the echoes of the last song faded into the darkness, fans continued to mingle in their seats and blow kisses to The Weeknd, given it was their last chance to do so. Tesfaye did something remarkable with his career: painting a second yet genuine identity to produce music while highlighting both the darkest and most hopeful moments of his life. His final performance made a lasting and heartfelt impression on the seats of Ford field, a testament to the persona he has decided to leave behind.<\/p>\n<p><em>Daily Arts Writer Emily Kim can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/arts\/music\/the-weeknd-says-hurry-up-detroit\/mailto:kimemily@umich.edu\"><em>kimemily@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the night of May 25, crowds of people engulfed the sidewalks and roads surrounding Ford Field. Seas of red, black and silver flooded into the domed stadium, with girls matching their leather jackets to their knee-high boots and guys sporting the merchandise they just bought. The floor audience gathered under a large reflective female [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2135,774,2150,1478,2149],"class_list":{"0":"post-1919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-field","9":"tag-ford","10":"tag-lasting","11":"tag-performance","12":"tag-weeknd"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1921,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919\/revisions\/1921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}