It’s been almost 12 years since The Weeknd performed in Orlando, but he seemed elated to be back — and so did his fans.
The Canadian superstar, who is touring in support of his sixth studio album, “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” paused in between songs to take in the crowd of more than 50,000 during his more than two-hour set at Camping World Stadium — a much bigger venue than his Hard Rock Live performance in 2013.
“I could never leave you again, Orlando,” he said, at one point vowing to play three nights next time he visits the City Beautiful. “It’s officially a sin to skip Orlando on any tour.”
The Weeknd performs at Camping World Stadium in Orlando surrounded by red-clad dancers during his “After Hours Til Dawn” tour on Sunday night. The performer has built a visual world through his music videos and cinematic work. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
The performer came onto the stage just before 9 p.m. clad in a black and gold robe, a mask and black gloves on his hands, resembling a dark sorcerer commanding a spell-bound audience.
It’s hard to pick one thing to elevate as the best part of the Weeknd’s Orlando stadium set. Perhaps it was the backdrop that resembled decaying cities in front of a towering LED video screen. A stage jutted out in four directions far into the audience with a giant “sexy robot” statue in the middle. Dancers clad in red robes and headdresses added to the mystique and allure of the visual presentation, as did the lights, bursts of fire and pyrotechnics throughout the night.
It’s these same kind of visual worlds The Weeknd has built through his music videos and cinematic work that brought to life a Halloween Horror Nights house inspired by the artist in 2022.
Red-clad dancers walk along the stage as The Weeknd performs at Camping World Stadium in Orlando during his “After Hours Til Dawn” tour on Aug. 24, 2025. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
The stadium concert spectacle extended into the audience with wristbands that pulsed to the music. Each song had a different hue that matched the song’s tone, whether it was red, green or blue.
While the huge production added greatly to the performance, the most impressive part of the evening was hearing the command that The Weeknd, Abel Tesfaye, has over his voice. His tenor range and falsetto never wavered as he delivered his lyrics that touch on desire, love and heartbreak.
The themes are universal but conveyed in a darker, more cynical artistic light compared to traditional pop music. With his genre-bending sound combining R&B, dance-pop, new wave and hip-hop, The Weeknd has carved out a prominent place for himself in the world of music.
The Weeknd performs at Camping World Stadium in Orlando during his “After Hours Til Dawn” tour on Aug. 24, 2025. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
His setlist tallied more than 40 songs, according to setlist.fm, and touched on his entire discography — from 2011 mixtape “House of Balloons” to 2020’s “After Hours” and his latest release.
Some songs got the entire audience singing along, including “Can’t Feel My Face” and modern-day power ballad “Die For You.” With booming bass, arena-filling synthesizers and danceable drumbeats, the concert felt like a two-hour party with divergent soulful interludes that had fans more in their feels.
The height of the hype came with the chart-topping hit “Blinding Lights,” the most-streamed song of all time on Spotify with nearly 5 billion plays.
The energy from the stage captured attention and interest from every corner of the stadium.
“Is this a crazier crowd than Miami?” the performer asked at one point, eliciting many cheers. “Do you think they can hear us in Miami right now?”
The Weeknd performs at Camping World Stadium in Orlando during his “After Hours Til Dawn” tour on Aug. 24, 2025. (Patrick Connolly/Orlando Sentinel)
If not Miami, at least the surrounding neighborhoods certainly could. While The Weeknd helped many Central Floridians cap their weekends with a high-energy show, the performer made it clear the impact the state has left on him.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time in Florida in the last few weeks. This state has inspired me,” he said. “I haven’t felt musical inspiration like this in a very long time.”
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