Canadian singer The Weeknd moved from blog darling to pop superstar with a Taylor Swift-like determination, and in his first New Zealand show last night, he delivered a polished, energising performance.
‘Unforgettable’ rapper French Montana opened the show, delivering a performance so messy I wondered if it was the final night of the tour and he was just completely over it. Turns out it was the very first.
He rapped about three out of every five words, often pointing the microphone at the crowd to do the work for him. It felt like an odd choice of opening act, given how slick The Weeknd is.
Luckily we didn’t have to wait long for Abel, whose arrival was teased with the lowering of a pulsating blue triangular lighting rig to the opening refrain of ‘Starboy’. He stepped onstage to deafening screams, his distinctive falsetto voice carrying the Daft Punk collab across Spark Arena.
‘Party Monster’ came next and my ears pricked at the lyric referencing his ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez (“ass shaped like Selena”), which apparently didn’t go unnoticed by the crowd either, who roared in response.
‘Crew Love’ his collaboration with Drake, and ‘Often’ were early highlights, and on ‘Angel’ his voice was most reminiscent of Michael Jackson, an artist he is often compared to.
Midway through his set he announced the next couple of songs were “for the O.G. XO New Zealand fans”, and played ‘The Morning’ and ‘Wicked Games’ from his Trilogy mixtapes.
I was disappointed we only got to hear two songs from that era, since to me those mixtapes are the most interesting of his releases, but there’s no denying its dark RnB sound does not fit in with his current pop bounce.
While he has shed the downbeat tempo and moodiness from his earlier work, his music still has a dark edge to it that last night was emphasised by the lighting which often illuminated him from the side or behind.
The stage production felt like it was taken straight from the set of Tron, with pulsing lines of light framing his silhouette. The triangular lighting rig changed position with each song, sometimes suspended at 45° across the stage.
The Weeknd saved his most popular songs for last, beginning with ‘Earned It’, from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack, which was followed by ‘Can’t Feel My Face’, then ‘I Feel It Coming’, another Daft Punk collab that came out of the same session as ‘Starboy’.
He closed the night with ‘The Hills’ the song that earned him his first number one spot on the Billboard charts, and if anyone was left wondering how he made the jump from indie favourite to chart-topper, one only had to see his professionalism and pure talent that was on display during last night’s concert.
