The Weeknd has announced new support acts for his upcoming North American stadium concerts – dubbed the ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ tour – after Doja Cat pulled out.
Back in May, Doja Cat announced that she was to cancel all her 2022 live dates, including festival shows and the tour with The Weeknd, to recover from tonsil surgery.
The tour, which begins in Abel Tesfaye’s native Toronto on Saturday night (July 8), will now see support on select dates from Snoh Aalegra, Kaytranada and Mike Dean.
After its opening in Toronto, ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ will take The Weeknd to Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and more.
See the full list of dates below.
JULY
Wednesday 8 – Toronto, Rogers Centre
Tuesday 14 –
Philadelphia, Lincoln Financial Field
Thursday 16 – New York, Metlife Stadium
Tuesday 21 – Boston, Gillette Stadium
Friday 24 – Chicago, Soldier Field
Monday 27 – Detroit, Ford Field
Thursday 30 – Washington, FedExField Thursday
AUGUST
Thursday 4 – Tampa, Raymond James Stadium
Saturday 6 – Miami, Hard Rock Stadium
Thursday 11 – Atlanta, Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Sunday 14 – Arlington, AT&T Stadium
Thursday 18 –
Denver, Empower Field at Mile High
Saturday 20 – Las Vegas, Allegiant Stadium
Tuesday 23 – Vancouver, BC Place
Thursday 25 – Seattle, Lumen Field
Saturday 27 – San Francisco, Levi’s Stadium
Tuesday 30 – Phoenix, State Farm Stadium
SEPTEMBER
Friday 2 – Los Angeles, SoFi Stadium
According to a press release, the North American dates are just the first leg in a world tour that will also includes stops in Mexico, South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa and the Middle East which are yet to be announced.
Additionally, the singer – real name Abel Tesfaye – has partnered with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to launch the XO Humanitarian Fund. $1 from each ticket sold on the tour will go towards the fund, which works toward ending the global hunger crisis. Tesfaye will also donate $500,000 to the fund.
“The goal with this fund is to provide immediate life-saving support to people who are on the brink of starvation,” Tesfaye commented in a statement. “I’m so thankful to have WFP as a partner and to further expand our reach to those who need it most.”
The Weeknd’s latest album, ‘Dawn FM’, arrived back in January of this year. In a four-star review, NME said the follow-up to 2020’s ‘After Hours’ “feels like the first steps on a journey for The Weeknd to find peace with himself; perhaps next time we hear from him, he’ll be fully embracing the light of day”.
The Weeknd Announces Lineup of Openers to Replace Doja Cat on Stadium Tour
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Jun 30, 2022Image via Getty/Amy Sussman
The full lineup of opening acts for The Weeknd’s upcoming stadium tour has been unveiled.
As part of a Variety interview with Abel’s team on Thursday, support for the 19-date North American run was announced. Mike Dean, Snoh Aalegra, and Kaytranada will join the tour on varying dates. As previously reported, Doja Cat—who was originally billed as a “special guest”—dropped off the lineup in May due to surgery.
“Unfortunately I have to have surgery on my tonsils ASAP. The surgery is routine but the recovery is going to take awhile due to swelling,” Doja said in an Instagram update at the time. “That means I have to cancel my festival run this summer as well as The Weeknd tour. I feel horrible about this but can’t wait for this to heal and get back to making music and create an experience for y’all.”
The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn Tour begins on July 8 in Toronto, with Kaytranada and Mike Dean serving as support. Snoh Aalegra, meanwhile, appears on a number of dates starting with the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Aug. 11. Per Variety, Dean—who’s worked with Abel before and is executive producing the upcoming Pigeons & Planes compilation album—is on all 19 dates of this leg.
As seen above, pieces of the stage design have been teased on Instagram in recent days. According to creative director La Mar Taylor, The Weeknd’s 2021 Super Bowl performance provided the team with ideas on how to give fans the best experience for this tour.
“We definitely took inspiration from the Super Bowl performance—and expanded it,” Taylor—who also teased that fans can expect “big moments” from earlier in Abel’s discography to be incorporated into the concept-driven, new songs-emphasizing setlist—revealed on Thursday.
Still on the horizon for Weeknd fans is the HBO series The Idol, which sees Abel linking up with Euphoria creator Sam Levinson. A premiere date for the series has not been announced.
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