It’s a fairly elite group of artists that could headline Parc Jean-Drapeau all by themselves; 45,000 people, all there just for you. So how huge is The Weeknd at this point, that he could do two nights back-to-back? To put it into perspective, the Bell Centre is 21,273. Unreal.
Perhaps it’s the thunderstorm warnings (scheduled for around 11 p.m.) that prompt a slightly earlier start time of 8:35 p.m. compared to the rest of the tour, but when it does start… wow. A cultish-looking group of masked, ghostly figures in red robes appears on the enormous stage, and as they disperse, one figure clad all in black is revealed – the man himself, Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd. He spends the first few songs masked too, throwing shapes on the Justice-infused Wake Me Up as the figures in red file down an enormous cross-shaped runway running deep into the crowd, before the first of many enormous singalongs arrives on After Hours, as 45,000 ask, “Where are you now when I need you most?!” at the top of their lungs. The sun is almost down as the classic Starboy arrives, and it’s truly electric.
The biggest cheer of the night thus far arrives after Heartless, when Abel finally removes his mask; honestly, it’s ear-splitting. Abel basks in the adoration for a few moments, before declaring, “Merci, Montréal, it’s been too long; I missed that Quebec accent!” Cue more screams.
Those wristbands we were given on arrival explode into flashes of light on the dance-floor anthem Take My Breath, bodies jumping around as far as I can see (OK, maybe not the cool people in the VIP viewing areas at the back), before fireworks start exploding off to the right of the arena, thanks to Montréal’s summer-long international fireworks competition, and just add to the magic.
Somehow, the 2¼-hour set manages to cram in 40 songs, so a play-by-play review here will take way too long; indeed, some of the songs are trimmed down from their original format to the point that this reviewer would struggle to keep up the note-taking! Needless to say, the highlights are abundant. Kiss Land sees a chunk of the song sung in French, much to the delight of the locals. Abel is a master at making a 45,000-capacity show somehow feel intimate, roaming the length of the enormous runway to an additional stage deep into the crowd for a few songs at a time, such as a 4-song stretch from I Feel It Coming to Wicked Games. He even leaves the runway altogether and heads right to the front row on Out of Time, pointing his mic into the face of anyone singing along. They each sound absolutely awful, but it certainly adds to the party atmosphere; we even get bad karaoke included in the ticket price!
Whilst the individual voices sound pretty horrendous in that moment, our collective voices sound absolutely incredible on One of the Girls. Abel cuts all of the music entirely and lets the whole crowd sing a cappella, with spectacular results.
The visuals are phenomenal throughout the set too. There are pyrotechnics around the stage, as well as further back in the grounds, and they blast out flames at regular intervals on The Hills, the heat hitting your face with each eruption. The biggest LCD screen I’ve ever seen on a stage is the backdrop to a lot of the visuals too, with an enormous blood-red waterfall cascading on Niagara Falls, dwarfing Abel below, and a huge projection of the northern lights beaming on Stargirl. Main-set closer Without a Warning ends with Abel walking towards a closing set of double doors that spans the height of the screen, and it’s as if he passes through it as the doors close shut and the lights go out.
After the briefest of pauses, Abel returns for the encore with a smile: “Did you think I was gonna leave you like that?” Another 4 songs culminate in the mammoth Moth to a Flame, and a massive firework display of his own explodes from behind the stage as the song winds down. Abel had confidently proclaimed towards the end of the set, “This is the greatest night of your life right now!” Looking out at the 45,000 beaming smiles at the end of the show, he’s probably not wrong.
Setlist
Setlist
1. The Abyss
2. Wake Me Up
3. After Hours
4. Starboy
5. Heartless
6. Faith
7. Take My Breath
8. Sacrifice
9. How Do I Make You Love Me?
10. Can’t Feel My Face
11. Lost in the Fire
12. Kiss Land
13. Often
14. Given Up on Me
15. I Was Never There
16. The Hills
17. Baptized in Fear
18. Open Hearts
19. Cry for Me
20. São Paulo
21. Timeless
22. Creepin’ (Metro Boomin cover)
23. Niagara Falls
24. One of the Girls
25. Stargirl Interlude
26. Out of Time
27. I Feel It Coming
28. Die for You
29. Is There Someone Else?
30. Wicked Games
31. Call Out My Name
32. The Morning
33. Save Your Tears
34. Less Than Zero
35. Blinding Lights
36. Without a Warning
Encore
37. Reflections Laughing
38. High for This
39. House of Balloons
40. Moth to a Flame
Review – Simon Williams
Photos – Nic Cantin
