Pop Break Live: The Weekend ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ Tour at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on Friday June 6, 2025
Written by Danielle Adelaide Cairo
The Weeknd’s June 6th concert at MetLife Stadium for his After Hours Til Dawn Tour, felt like an astral projection. The feeling of consciousness detaching from our physical body, while moving into a non-physical realm was dense. The audience was often seen in moments of ecstasy, the sense of liberation burned through us all at every waking moment.
The Weeknd continuously drew at fans heartstrings and thrilled the crowd to perfection with his enigmatic persona. His performance was full of flawless transitions between tracks and intimate moments with the crowd, making you trust it was the most perfect night.
The show was full of intense cyberpunk dystopian visuals. The Weeknd created a form of art showcasing the themes of verismo, identity, and the warping of the appearances amongst reality and artificiality. The stage was a cross-shaped figure featuring a female robot representing his albums After Hours Til Dawn theme of rebirth and the alien-like figures teased in concert photos. His inspo for “Neo-Tokyo” was out of this world, from laser lights creating intricate patterns and animations, to the pyrotechnics and fireworks creating theatrical effects to top off the night.
The Weeknd’s setlist was all-encompassing, presenting a sentimental look into his career. The show featured a whopping 40-song setlist, in which he showed an indubious amount of charisma and drive. He sung some of his most recent songs like “Cry for Me” and “The Abyss”, to crowd all-time favorites like, “Often”, “The Hills”, and “House of Balloons”.
Die For You was a crowd favorite, it seemed like a sentimental moment between The Weeknd and his fans. He willingly let the audience sing his 2016 single, enjoying the fact the crowd knew his lyrics perfectly. Over and over stating his love for New Jersey/New York and could not believe the arena sold out his 3-day back-to-back shows.
When The Weeknd performed his fourth and final single, Less Than Zero from his Dawn FM album, the crowd went into utter chaos. While knowing how to work his audience, he encouraged fans to shout the lyrics at the top of their lungs. The floor beneath our feet trembled, at that very moment every person in that stadium understood the beauty that lies within music. The fireworks sprung into action and we all became childlike, in awe of such an breathtaking moment. It was such a reminder of the beauty and wonder that can be found in the present moment. The Weeknd’s concert was such a momentous reminder in which he conveyed to always embrace curiosity and cherish every experience you get to have, and to keep taking chances for as long as you can.
His encore consisted of “XO” fans probably most favorite die hard song House of Balloons. The song is from his debut mixtape House of Balloons released in 2011 from The Weeknd’s own record label XO. The performance reeked of nostalgia and grit, going back to the same song where the artist began his journey and now ending his artist persona as The Weeknd.
The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn Tour, may be his final chapter for his stage persona. He told EW, “It feels like [the end of the Weeknd]. I mean, I’ve kind of toyed with the idea in the past with albums. But it could also just be a rebirth. Who knows?”
The Weeknd has 37 remaining concert dates scheduled for 2025 across two countries. If I were you, I would snag them as quick as I can, this is an experience you wouldn’t want to miss.
