The Weeknd adds three new dates to 2023 stadium tour
The Weeknd has added new shows in London, Paris and Nice to his recently announced ‘After Hours Til Dawn’ tour for 2023 in the UK, Europe and Latin America.
The new London date will take place at London Stadium (cap. 66,000) on 8 July, the day after his first show there on 7 July. He will also perform at the Etihad Stadium (53,400) in Manchester on 10 June as well as Marlay Park (40,000) in Dublin on 28 June.
In Nice, the Canadian singer-songwriter-producer (real name Abel Tesfaye) will perform at the Allianz Riviera (45,000) over the weekend of 22–23 July and then two shows at the Stade de France (81,338) in Paris the following weekend. Kaytranada and Mike Dean will join the CAA-repped singer on all European dates.
Tesfaye recently concluded his record-breaking North America leg, which grossed over US$130 million to date
Following the European dates, the tour will visit several venues in Latin America including Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, and more before wrapping up in Santiago, Chile on 15 October at Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida (25,000). The additional dates take the tour up to 30 stops.
The outing is in support of The Weeknd’s 2020 album After Hours, as well as his critically-acclaimed album Dawn FM, which was released in January this year.
Tesfaye recently concluded his record-breaking North America leg, which grossed over US$130 million to date.
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The Weeknd expands After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour
The Weeknd is continuing his After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour with newly announced legs in Europe and Latin America.
The Canadian singer-songwriter-producer (real name Abel Tesfaye) recently concluded his record-breaking North America leg, which grossed over US$130 million to date.
The next leg of the After Hours Til Dawn Tour will kick off 10 June 2023 at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium in the UK, with stops in Stockholm, Amsterdam, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, and more before wrapping up in Santiago, Chile, on Sunday 15 October at Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida. Additional 2023 dates will be announced soon.
Kaytranada and Mike Dean will join the CAA-repped singer on all European dates. The outing is in support of The Weeknd’s 2020 album After Hours, as well as his critically-acclaimed album Dawn FM, which was released in January this year.
The Weeknd’s global After Hours til Dawn tour was originally scheduled in 2020 (when it was just the After Hours tour) to hit 105 arena dates beginning June 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic – first to 2021 then January 2022 and then summer 2022.
The singer recently concluded his record-breaking North America leg, which grossed over US$130 million to date
In October 2021, the singer/producer broke the news that he was nixing the 104-date arena trek in favour of stadiums, saying “I want to do something bigger and special for you which requires more stadiums”.
For the second leg of the After Hours Til Dawn Tour, Tesfaye – a United Nations World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador – will once again partner with the U.N. World Food Programme to contribute funds from the second leg of the tour to the XO Humanitarian Fund, which supports the organisation’s response to the global hunger crisis.
One Euro from each ticket sold across Europe, £1 in the UK and the $1 equivalent in countries across Latin America will go to this important cause. The fund raised money during the North American leg of the tour through ticket sales, proceeds from an exclusive tour t-shirt, and a $500,000 donation directly from The Weeknd.
The Weeknd’s corporate partners, tour venues, World Food Program USA board of directors and supporters also stepped up to contribute, as well as tour sponsor Binance, who contributed US$2m to the fund. The first grant of $2m will be going to provide emergency food and nutrition assistance to the most food-insecure regions of Ethiopia.
The After Hours Til Dawn tour is powered by Binance, the global blockchain ecosystem behind the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, bringing Web 3.0 technology to concert-goers worldwide.
Ticket holders receive souvenir NFTs in addition to access to an exclusive NFT collection for The Weeknd’s tour, in collaboration with HXOUSE, a think-center and community incubator for creative entrepreneurs. Five percent of the sales from the upcoming tour NFT collection will be donated to the XO Humanitarian Fund.
AFTER HOURS TIL DAWN TOUR 2023 EUROPE TOUR DATES:
Sat Jun 10 – Manchester, UK – Etihad Stadium
Wed Jun 14 – Horsens, Denmark – Nordstern Arena
Sat Jun 17 – Stockholm, Sweden – Tele2 Arena
Tue Jun 20 – Oslo, Norway – Telenor Arena
Sat Jun 24 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Johan Cruijiff ArenA
Wed Jun 28 – Dublin, Ireland – Marlay Park
Sun Jul 2 – Hamburg, Germany – Volkspark Stadium
Tue Jul 4 – Dusseldorf, Germany – Merkur Spiel Arena
Fri Jul 7 – London, UK– London Stadium
Tue Jul 11 – Brussels, Belgium – King Baudouin Stadium
Fri Jul 14 – Frankfurt, Germany – Deutsche Bank Park
Tue Jul 18 – Madrid, Spain – Cívitas Metropolitano
Thu Jul 20 – Barcelona, Spain – Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium
Sat Jul 22 – Nice, France – Allianz Riviera
Wed Jul 26 – Milan, Italy – Ippodromo La Maura
Sat Jul 29 – Paris, France – Stade de France
Tue Aug 1 – Bordeaux, France – Matmut Atlantique
Fri Aug 4 – Munich, Germany – Olympic Stadium
Sun Aug 6 – Prague, Czech Republic – Letnany Airport
Wed Aug 9 – Warsaw, Poland – PGE Narodowy
Sat Aug 12 – Tallinn, Estonia – Tallinn Song Festival Grounds
AFTER HOURS TIL DAWN TOUR 2023 LATIN AMERICA TOUR DATES:
Fri Sep 29 – Mexico City, Mexico – Foro Sol
Wed Oct 4 – Bogotá, Colombia – El Campín Stadium
Sat Oct 7 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Nilton Santos Engenhão Stadium
Tue Oct 10 – Sao Paulo, Brazil – Allianz Parque
Fri Oct 13 – Buenos Aires, Argentina – San Isidro Racetrack
Sun Oct 15 – Santiago, Chile – La Florida Bicentennial Stadium
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Man dies in escalator fall after Weeknd concert
A 32-year-old man died after reportedly plunging 40ft from an escalator following the opening night of The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour in Philadelphia.
The incident took place at Lincoln Financial Field at 10.47pm last Thursday (14 July). Police say the man, whose identity has not yet been released, had been sitting on the escalator rail before he fell and suffered major head trauma. He was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead just after midnight on Friday.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that no foul play is suspected and the fall appears to have been accidental.
Bob Lange, SVP of communications for the Philadelphia Eagles, which operates the stadium, told the Inquirer he believed the concert was over and people were leaving at the time of the incident. Tour promoter Live Nation is yet to comment.
The preceding show marked the belated start of The Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn global stadium run, which was previously rescheduled three separate times due to the pandemic.
The tour’s scheduled opening night at Toronto’s Rogers Centre in Canada was postponed due to a power outage
The tour’s scheduled opening night in Canada was postponed due to a power outage. The singer-songwriter’s 8 July hometown show at Toronto’s Rogers Centre was pulled after telecoms giant Rogers Communications, which owns the 55,000-cap venue, experienced a major service outage affecting more than 12 million users.
According to The Globe and Mail, the network failure impacted critical venue operations, including security, point-of-sale functions and ticket processing. Live Nation says it was impossible to even open the doors to the venue.
Live Nation-promoted shows by Keith Urban and Roger Waters were able to go ahead at Budweiser Stage and Scotiabank Arena, respectively.
A spokesperson for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns and operates Scotiabank Arena, told the publication the outage mostly affected access to mobile tickets, prompting the venue to provide free Wi-Fi on site as a solution, while Waters’ performance was delayed to accommodate delayed ticket-holders.
The Weeknd’s After Hours tour was originally scheduled to hit arenas in June 2020
Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri apologised in a message to customers.
“We now believe we’ve narrowed the cause to a network system failure following a maintenance update in our core network, which caused some of our routers to malfunction,” he said. “We disconnected the specific equipment and redirected traffic, which allowed our network and services to come back online over time as we managed traffic volumes returning to normal levels.”
The Weeknd’s After Hours tour was originally scheduled to hit 105 arena dates beginning June 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic – first to 2021 then January 2022 and finally to summer 2022. Retooled as the After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour, the North American leg is slated to wrap up with a two-night stand at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium from 2-3 September, with international dates still to be announced.
The rejuvenated tour came after The Weeknd scored the longest-charting Billboard Hot 100 song of all time with Blinding Lights and the second longest-running No.1 album on the Billboard 200 for 2020 with After Hours.
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The Weeknd’s retooled tour could make up to $300m
The revamp of The Weeknd’s 2022 tour could generate up to US$300 million in ticket revenue, according to Billboard, making it one of the year’s top-grossing tours.
Earlier this week, it was announced that the After Hours 2022 tour – which was previously rescheduled three separate times due to the pandemic – would be again retooled with larger shows and added stadiums across the world.
The newly renamed and revamped After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour will feature new dates in Asia, Australia, Africa, South America and the Middle East but further details are yet to be announced.
“Due to the constraints of arenas and the demand for more shows I want to do something bigger and special for you which requires more stadiums,” wrote The Weeknd, aka Abel Tesfaye, on Instagram on Tuesday (19 October).
Some one million fans who purchased tickets to the original tour dates are to be refunded automatically, all of whom will be given priority to buy tickets for the stadium shows when they go on sale.
The Weeknd may be able to achieve [up to $300m in sales] this while performing 30% fewer shows
This means that promoter Live Nation will be on the hook to refund more than $100m in sales – which is 2.5% of the company’s total annual balance sheet – according to Billboard.
However, if the overhaul works out, The Weeknd could double or triple ticket revenue up to $300m in sales, by Billboard’s estimation, making it one of the year’s top-grossing tours.
On top of that, The Weeknd may be able to achieve this while performing 30% fewer shows – since large stadiums often have two to four times the capacity of arenas.
The Weeknd’s global After Hours til Dawn tour was originally scheduled in 2020 (when it was just the After Hours tour) to hit 105 arena dates beginning June 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic – first to 2021 then January 2022 and now to summer 2022.
The rejuvenated tour comes after The Weeknd scored the longest-charting Billboard Hot 100 song of all time with ‘Blinding Light’ and the second longest-running No.1 album on the Billboard 200 for 2020 with After Hours.
The Grammy award-winning artist also headlined the 2021 Super Bowl Halftime Show, which is traditionally the most-watched event of the year on US television.
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High-profile artists invest in virtual live gigs company
A raft of high-profile artists including Justin Bieber, the Weeknd and J Balvin have invested in Wave, the world’s first multi-million dollar virtual entertainment platform for live concerts.
The platform transforms artists into animated characters via live motion capture technology that records their movements in real-time, while they perform on a virtual stage, customised to their style.
Fans can also create an avatar to join the free-of-game-play concerts shared via TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and other gaming channels, social networks, livestreaming platforms.
The Weeknd invested in the company shortly after his first concert on the platform, dubbed The Weeknd Experience, which aired on TikTok on 7 August.
The show was the company’s highest-profile project to date, drawing in two million viewers and leading to $350,000 in charitable merchandise sales, according to TikTok.
It was recently revealed that the Weeknd isn’t the only artist to invest in Wave this year and is joined by Justin Bieber, Jillionaire and J Balvin, who is set to headline Fornite’s Halloween event.
This year, the company has also secured content partnerships with Warner Music Group and Roc Nation and has locked in $30 million in funding from business moguls including artist manager Scooter Braun.
The company has hosted over fifty concerts and worked with more than twenty artists to date, including John Legend, Tinashe, Imogen Heap and Lindsey Stirling.
While many VR platforms stream pre-recorded concerts, the LA-based company, which was founded in 2016 and originally called TheWaveVR, is differentiated by its live performance and interaction.
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110,000+ attend homegrown Lollapalooza Paris 2017
The first edition of Lollapalooza Paris, which took place last weekend, has been hailed as a success by promoter Live Nation France, which has praised the festival as a triumph of “local initiative” in the face of criticism by former culture minister Jack Lang.
Lang – a veteran Socialist party politician who served as France’s minister of culture from 1981–86 and 1988–92 – on Saturday attacked the new festival, announced in October, as part of an “invasion of the musical life of France by American multinationals”.
According to Lang, Live Nation is threatening France’s domestic, often public subsidised, festival scene with the “extension of its empire” across the country. (The company’s most recent French acquisition was Nous Productions last August.)
He also took a swipe at AEG, which is believed to be going into partnership with Matthieu Pigasse’s LNEI Live on Rock en Seine, saying the rival promoter is “already scandalously present in [Paris] with AccorHotels Arena”.
“We would have been delighted to welcome Mr Lang to the festival, so that he realises that it is a local initiative, produced by a French company called Live Nation France”
Live Nation France issued a statement in response to Lang’s attack, with deputy GM Matthias Leullier saying he “would have been delighted to welcome Mr Lang to the festival, so that he realises that it is a local initiative, produced by a French company called Live Nation France”. Leullier also notes Live Nation France has 65 permanent employees and hired 1,500 people for Lollapalooza, all of which “are paid, and not by public subsidies.”
According to Le Figaro, no fewer than 110,000 people attended Lollapalooza Paris 2017, held at the Longchamp racecourse – the home of Download Paris, also a Live Nation production – on 22 and 23 July. Headliners were Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Weeknd, Imagine Dragons, Lana Del Rey, London Grammar and DJ Snake.
Lollapalooza, revived in Chicago by Live Nation’s C3 Presents in 2005, is now staged in five other cities worldwide: Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Paris and Chilean capital Santiago.
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“Golden age” for Benicassim as 177k attend in 2017
Festival Internacional de Benicàssim (FIB) festival director Melvin Benn has said the Spanish festival is entering a “new golden age” after its 2017 edition attracted more than 177,000 people over four days.
Benicassim 2017 – headlined by Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Weeknd, Kasabian, Foals, Deadmau5 and Spanish band Los Planetas – took place from Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 July, protected by what Spanish paper El País calls the “largest safety device” in the history of music festivals in the region: a security perimeter around the festival site, closed to vehicles.
Speaking to El País, Benn says 2017 marked the beginning of a “new golden age for FIB, and we want it to last a long time”, while Javier Moliner Gargallo, president of Castellón’s legislature, calls the festival the “jewel in the crown” of the province.
“It was the best FIB of the decade”
He also praises the “courage” of Benn, whom he credits with turning around the formerly struggling festival “in just four years.”
“It was the best FIB of the decade,” he says. “We have even bigger ambitions for 2018, and we are going to make them a reality.”
A total of 161,100 festivalgoers attended last year’s 21st FIB, which was hailed in the Spanish press as “rebirth” for the event after years of dwindling crowds and financial mismanagement. The festival’s promoter, Maraworld, was jointly acquired from Vince Power by SJM Concerts and Denis Desmond’s MCD in 2013.
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Bieber, Drake lead decade’s top Canadian tours
With Canada Day 2017 – aka Canada’s 150th birthday – fast approaching, StubHub has released data on its ten top-selling Canadian artists of the last decade.
Unsurprisingly, pop superstar Justin Bieber tops StubHub’s rankings, with Drake, The Weeknd, veteran prog-rockers Rush and Vine star-done-good Shawn Mendes rounding out the top five.
National institution The Tragically Hip – whose recent farewell show was watched by a third of the country – place eighth.
While not, of course, a definitive list, StubHub is Canada’s (and the world’s) leading secondary ticket marketplace, so the eBay-owned business should have a fairly good insight into long-term market trends.
The full list is below:
The modern state of Canada was confederated from three colonies of British North America – Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia – on 1 July 1867. The 150th Canada Day (until 1982 called Dominion Day), which celebrates the anniversary of confederation, is tomorrow: 1 July 2017.
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Grammys 2017 live performers see 207% sales bump
Live performances at Sunday’s 59th Grammy Awards generated an instant sales bump, with a 207% increase in downloads of the songs performed on the day of the show, according to initial analysis by Nielsen.
According to the market measurement firm, the songs shown in CBS’s 12 February broadcast sold more than 178,000 downloads that day, compared to 58,000 on 11 February.
“This immediate and impressive reaction proves the unparalleled power of the Grammy Awards to reach a wide audience and engage fans,” David Bakula, senior vice-president of global product leadership and industry insights at Nielsen Music, tells Billboard.
Beyoncé’s ‘Love Drought’ and ‘Sandcastles’, both performed at the Grammys saw the biggest sales bumps – 1,217% and 958%, respectively – with Adele’s ‘Hello’, which opened the awards, recording a 255% increase, selling 6,000 downloads on 12 February vs fewer than 2,000 on Saturday.
“This immediate and impressive reaction proves the unparalleled power of the Grammy Awards to reach a wide audience”
Other big winners included Katy’s Perry’s new single, ‘Chained to the Rhythm’, which rose 128% to 24,000; The Weeknd’s ‘I Feel it Coming’, which jumped 154% to 15,000; Keith Urban’s ‘The Fighter’, which increased 896% to 12,000; Bruno Mars’s ‘That’s What I Like’, which increased 354% to 23,000; and Maren Morris’s ‘Once’, performed with Alicia Keys at the Grammys, which saw a massive 7,430% increase to 6,000 downloads.
Awards-wise, Sunday’s biggest winners included Adele, who swept the major categories over rival Beyoncé; David Bowie, who posthumously won every award for which he was nominated; and Chance the Rapper, who won best new artist and won plaudits for his gospel-influenced performances.
A full list of winners can be viewed on The Recording Academy website, while Billboard has all the performances (ranked by senior editor Joe Lynch from “worst to best”).
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Wireless Germany to debut in 2017
After 12 years in the UK, Live Nation’s Wireless Festival is making its debut in Germany next summer.
Headlined by The Weeknd and Justin Bieber, Wireless Germany will take place at the Commerzbank Arena (44,000-cap.) in Frankurt on 24 and 25 June, offering some 40,000 German fans the chance to attend what promoter Live Nation GSA calls the “ultimate summer party”.
“The London Wireless Festival has been writing music history in Britain for over a decade,” reads an announcement by Live Nation. “With outstanding performances by the most popular urban and pop artists, it has become the most prestigious event of its kind.
“The line-up [for its premiere in Germany] offers everything a fan’s heart could desire, from the most important newcomers to classics and the biggest stars.”
Also on the bill are Sean Paul and German hip-hop acts Marteria and Beginner.
The launch of the new festival comes on the heels of Live Nation expanding several of its other festival properties in continental Europe, with Download Madrid and Lollapalooza Paris both debuting next year.
Here’s a Wireless Germany launch trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI7FJY7tq2c
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