The Weeknd breaks London Stadium attendance record on ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ tour
The Weeknd‘s recent gigs at the London Stadium broke an all-time attendance record for the Stratford venue.
As part of his ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ stadium tour, Abel Tesfaye played two gigs at the stadium, built for the London 2012 Olympics, on July 7 and 8.
Over the two nights, he played to a huge 160,000 people, breaking the attendance record for both a two-night stand and a single-night event at the stadium.
Reviewing the tour’s stop in Manchester, NME wrote: “The Weeknd’s knack for dominating the charts with hit-after-hit-after-hit means that there might’ve been some debate over which track should end his main set tonight, but ‘Blinding Lights’, off 2020’s ‘After Hours’, is the obvious choice: a stadium-uniting force that prompts the kind of mass singalong you’d probably be able to hear over at Old Trafford on the other side of Manchester.”
Elsewhere, The Weeknd has confirmed that he’s currently “finishing” up his new album. The singer, who recently announced his plan to retire the moniker and record under his birth name Abel Tesfaye, has long teased a trilogy of albums that has so far featured the LPs ‘After Hours’ and ‘Dawn FM’.
“I’m finishing the third part of this saga, of this trilogy,” he revealed in a new interview. “The name of it will come out soon, but it’s not called what some fans think it’s called… what they think it’s called is actually a song on the album, but that’s not what the actual album is called. So I’m just gonna say that.”
The Weeknd also stars in new HBO show The Idol, which he’s also written music for. The Idol is made by Euphoria-creator Sam Levinson and follows the plot of a pop star (Lily-Rose Depp) who develops a controversial relationship with self-help guru and cult leader Tedros (Tesfaye).
His ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ tour also carries on for the rest of summer, with an extra London date at Wembley Stadium set for next month.
See the remaining dates below.
JULY 2023
18 – Madrid, Cívitas Metropolitano
20 – Barcelona, Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys
22 – Nice, Allianz Riviera
23 – Nice, Allianz Riviera
26 – Milan, Ippodromo La Maura
29 – Paris, Stade de France
30 – Paris, Stade de France
AUGUST 2023
1 – Bordeaux, Matmut Atlantique
4 – Munich, Olympiastadion
6 – Prague, Letnany Airport
9 – Warsaw, PGE Narodowy
12 – Tallinn, Tallinn Song Festival Grounds
18 – London, Wembley Stadium
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Will Richards
NME
