Raymond James Stadium was the place to be on Thursday night as The Weeknd made his first return to the Tampa Bay area, since performing at the Super Bowl in 2021. This time he brought his sold out, ‘After Hours Til Dawn,’ tour to the Ray Jay.

After a lengthy thunderstorm that rolled through the area right as doors were scheduled to open, which delayed doors for approx. 45 minutes, the show was able to proceed as planned. The artist originally scheduled to start performing at 6:45pm, had to be cut from the show but supporting artist, Kaytranada, was able to perform and to get the crowd ready for The Weeknd. Although some of his equipment was damaged from the storm, he had the fans dancing in the seats.

The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, was scheduled to take the stage around 9pm, and the fans were ready for things to kick off. The stage was constructed of large post-apocalyptic-looking buildings, the stage setup featured what looked like ruined tops of skyscrapers, with tons of smoke and lights.

He opened the show wearing a mask ala Phantom of the Oprah and similar to the one the animated version he wears in the “How Do I Make You Love Me?” video. He had the crowd screaming at a fever pitch as he opened the show performing “Alone Again,” followed by “Gasoline.”

After removing his mask, the proceeded to perform “Sacrifice.” At this point, he stepped down the steps to a runway that spanned from one end of the stadium to the other, allowing him to entertain the whole stadium rather than at just one end. There was a huge globe at the end of the runway that was hovering over the stage.

Tesfaye performed a very entertaining 90-minute set, as he dazzled the crowd with tons of theatrics and a bunch of pyro. The flames shot out from the side of the stage and added a Dante’s “Inferno” feel to “The Hills.” A seamless transition from “Out of Time” to “I Feel It Coming,” kept the grooving nonstop and euphoric.

He performed a huge portion of his catalog that included, “How Do I Make You Love Me?”, “Can’t Feel My Face,” “Take My Breath,” “Often,” “Starboy,” “Heartless,” “After Hours,” plus several covers like “Hurricane” (Kanye West cover), “Crew Love” (Drake cover), and “Low Life” (Future cover).

From the start to the finale, Tesfaye kept his fans wanting more. Closing with huge hit song, “Blinding Lights,” as beams of light pierced the clouds and they provided wrist lights that blinked to the audience. Tesfaye embraced it all.

The production was very well done. Sometimes it is hard to keep the fans involved in such a larger venue, and The Weeknd definitely did a great job with that. Fans were still talking about what they just witnessed as they exited the stadium.