The Weeknd at Ford Field in Detroit

DETROIT - We were put in a bit of hypnotic trance as we experienced The Weeknd’s huge stadium show at Ford Field in Detroit on Wednesday, July 27. The concert kind of felt like being in an episode of “Stranger Things” with a horror-like feel complete with an 80s lightshow set to music.

The “After Hours Till Dawn Tour” show started around 6:45 with openers Kaytranada and Mike Dean until about 8:15 p.m. Then, an hour of near silence with only the sounds of the crowd and a calmative, almost repeating, low, eerie instrumental you wanted badly to put a stop to like a movie villain.

The Weeknd took the stage at 9:20 p.m. accompanied by numerous people covered from head to toe in red clothing which also concealed their faces. On the stage was an apocalyptic model of Toronto. On the other end of the stadium was a large moon which didn’t move, but had the effect like it was on a collision course with the artist’s Canadian hometown.

The floor seats were different at this concert. They weren’t facing the stage, but rather turned to the left or right to face the giant catwalk which stretched the entire length of the stadium, so the large LED screen was either to your right or left respectively.

From the floor, the bass was jarring, uncomfortable and down right punishing to the point your entire body agonizingly vibrated like you were on an old wooden roller coaster.

The floor seats were premium prices, but were also inferior viewing as the star of the show spent 90% of the 90 minute concert on the catwalk which was considerably lower than the stage.

It was like playing “Where’s Waldo” to try and find The Weeknd from the floor. Many fans dangerously stood on their seats to try and get a glimpse of him as he performed while security and ushers bobbed and weaved their way through the crowd and yelled at them to get down. Fans wishing they were sitting closer don’t know how good they had it with the actual prime views.

Despite the numerous snafus, The Weeknd performed like a consummate pro with a lot of energy and strong command of the 40,000 fans.

The powerful bass tended to drown out his solid vocals for the better part of the night, but in watching many of the fans, they didn’t care. They were jumping up and down and singing every word to most of the 29 songs, many of which were condensed.

80s-style lasers and beams of light shined from all directions which really made for a stunning light show throughout the concert. Adding to that, fans were given wristbands which lit up with different colors during some of the songs giving the look of being in outer space with tens of thousands of simultaneous twinkling lights.

This concert proved The Weeknd was as big as his stadium tour stage, despite being a tiny visual part of it so much so it was difficult to track him. “Next time, we’ll do two nights in a row at Ford Field,” The Weeknd told the crowd as he promised to return in the future.

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