The Weeknd review – superstar showman wows on a monumental scale

Whatever lingering mystery that surrounded the Weeknd’s globally streamed one-night-only concert on Saturday night was put to rest a few hours before showtime, when representatives officially presented the pre-order details of his upcoming album Hurry Up Tomorrow.

What came soon after was a riveting infomercial from the Canadian R&B-pop singer and mystique merchant – real name Abel Tesfaye – that held the more than 70,000 fans that packed into the 64-year-old home of S?o Paulo FC in his thrall and served as a proof of concept for the tour that’s surely to follow. The 34-year-old Toronto native managed to cram 27 songs into an hour-and-a-half-long set that featured a least a half-dozen new cuts, not confirmed but almost certainly from the upcoming record, roaming the huge stage that spanned the length of the pitch and clad in a black robe with gold trim, like a boxer making the lonely walk to the squared circle.

While the official track list has yet to be revealed – much less the release date – the working titles of Dancing in the Flames and Run Away built off the moody vibes of 2020’s After Hours and 2022’s Dawn FM while showcasing his impressive vocals, stamina and musical versatility. Another crowd-pleasing debut track, S?o Paulo, took in a pair of songs by the funk singer Tati Quebra Barraco (Abre as Pernas, Mete a Língua and Kabo Kaki) and featured a surprise appearance by Brazilian pop megastar Anitta, who had taken the stage disguised as a backup dancer, that prompted deafening roars from the capacity audience. Same for Atlanta rapper Playboi Carti, who came on for a pair of covers: Travis Scott’s FE!N and his own Timeless, an unreleased track that is expected to be included on his own forthcoming LP. Whether it’s the idiosyncratic light-tenor range or liberal use of falsetto, songs such as Out of Time are the closest thing to Michael Jackson since the man himself and wouldn’t feel out of place on Off the Wall. That’s easier said than done; many have tried!

Not surprisingly the most cathartic moments were reserved for a 15-minute screamer of set-closing bangers: the melodic synthpop virtuosity of Save Your Tears; the wildly catchy neon-hued climbing synths of Less Than Zero; the delicious Tony Scott/80s vibes of Blinding Lights, teased to perfection with an extended intro that toyed with the moment and transformed the room into a fist-pumping mass of humanity. That it gave way to an obscure cover – the Peter Ivers-David Lynch collab In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song) from the 1977 film Eraserhead – offered a worthy hat-tip to Tesfaye’s off-kilter origins. Amid the final strains, a fleet of 150 drones appeared in the sky, spelling out the name of the new record, which publicity materials say “represents the creative apex” of a triptych that started with After Hours and Dawn FM.

Related: Darkness, drama and Daft Punk: the Weeknd’s best songs – ranked!

Reported glitches on the global YouTube stream did appear to spill over minor wobbles in the in-house production. And the performer himself at times came off somewhat anxious, mixing in a couple of lyrical flubs. But those minor wobbles were almost entirely cancelled out by the sense of occasion and sheer scale of the spectacle. For a show that was essentially performed in the round, the sound mix was almost impossibly good.

For his all-conquering popularity and steady creative output, there are some who believe the Weeknd, simultaneously mysterious and transparent, has not managed to put out anything as genuinely fascinating as the mixtape trilogy that put him on the map over a decade ago, not long after he was releasing music gratis on Soundcloud. An imperial era that has included a laundry list of streaming records and headlining the Super Bowl half-time show did little to quell those concerns. But wherever you fall on his latter-day transition from alternative R&B to a perilously broad pop sound, this was a fully committed performer giving his all and intent on pushing the boundaries of the live stage show, setting the target high and hitting it almost perfectly.