Over the course of his illustrious career, Tesfaye dominated the online space as a faceless figure, as his trilogy of breakout mixtapes — House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence — made him a key fixture of the early 2010s “blog era.” The latter half of the ‘10s saw Tesfaye take over the charts with breakout pop hits like “The Hills,” “Can’t Feel My Face” and “I Feel It Coming.”
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Tesfaye maintained his popstar status by creating a frightening, mysterious character for the After Hours era, and still delivering cinematic visuals for “Blinding Lights” and “Save Your Tears.” As these songs found a place in our hearts when we couldn’t hit the clubs, other songs from his catalog have since resurfaced. “Die For You” from his 2016 Starboy album went viral on TikTok back in 2022, prompting him to drop a remix with Ariana Grande the following year.
Needless to say, Tesfaye’s catalog has proven timeless and stands strong enough for him to deliver an “Eras Tour” in his own right. As fans are expecting Tesfaye to run through all of his hits next week, they know that performances by The Weeknd are always full of surprises. But ahead of the show, we’re offering a hint of what to expect — and some of our wishlist songs.
Which songs has The Weeknd performed at the After Hours Til Dawn Tour?
According to Setlist.fm and Miami New Times, The Weeknd has given the audience a fairly even mix from his catalog.The Weeknd – After Hours Til Dawn Tour (Possible Setlist)
- “The Abyss”
- “Wake Me Up”
- “After Hours”
- “Starboy”
- “Heartless”
- “Faith”
- “Take My Breath”
- “Sacrifice (Swedish House Mafia remix)”
- “How Do I Make You Love Me?”
- “Can’t Feel My Face”
- “Lost in the Fire” (Gesaffelstein & The Weeknd)
- “Kiss Land”
- “Often”
- “Given Up on Me”
- “I Was Never There” (“Given Up on Me” outro)
- “The Hills”
- “Baptized in Fear”
- “Open Hearts”
- “Cry for Me”
- “São Paulo”
- “Timeless”
- “Creepin’” (Metro Boomin cover)
- “Niagara Falls”
- “One of the Girls”
- “Stargirl Interlude”
- “Out of Time” (Abel in crowd)
- “I Feel It Coming”
- “Die for You”
- “Is There Someone Else?”
- “Wicked Games”
- “Call Out My Name”
- “The Morning”
- “Save Your Tears”
- “Less Than Zero”
- “Blinding Lights”
- “Without a Warning”
- “Reflections Laughing”
- “High for This”
- “House of Balloons”
- “Moth to a Flame” (Swedish House Mafia remix)
Which surprise songs should he perform at the Arlington stops?
During the tour’s run, The Weeknd has included a few random songs from his discography. Some have been mixtape cuts, soundtrack spots and fan favorites from his studio albums. Though he’s enjoyed a great run in the mainstream, there are some essentials that he should consider throwing in Wednesday and/or Thursday’s set list.“What You Need” from House of Balloons
It’s long been a running joke online that The Weeknd made “haunted strip club” music when he was first starting out. The ominous sonics of “What You Need” encapsulate that vibe perfectly. Should he perform the song that started it all, it would make for a gorgeous, full-circle moment as he closes this chapter.
“D.D.” from Echoes of Silence
From the very beginning of his career, people compared The Weeknd’s high-pitched vocals to those of Michael Jackson. A cover of Jackson’s “Dirty Diana” shows that those comparisons hold strong. If this tour is actually Tesfaye’s final run as The Weeknd, he should definitely go out channeling the greatest performer of all time.
“Wanderlust” from Kiss Land
Though The Weeknd didn’t have his pop breakout until his 2015 album Beauty Behind the Madness, 2013’s Kiss Land was a solid debut. The bouncy “Wanderlust” was the hit from that album that got away. But we’ve seen how quite a few of his songs have gotten second lives over the years.
“Shameless” from Beauty Behind the Madness
Before The Weeknd began work on his 2016 album Starboy, “Shameless” was supposed to be the final single from Beauty Behind the Madness. The Weeknd, however, opted to redirect his energy toward Starboy, thus ending Beauty’s album cycle early. Perhaps the final shows of this tour will allow the song to get the shine it deserves.
“Rockin’” and “Secrets” from Starboy
When we first heard Starboy on Thanksgiving night of 2016, one of the immediate standouts was how smoothly “Rockin’” and “Secrets” flowed into each other. As the After Hours Til Dawn Tour is a high-energy show, incorporating these two songs — in this exact order — is the perfect way to keep the good vibes flowing.
“Hardest to Love” from After Hours
While The Weeknd may be the biggest pop star right now, his career has been far from perfect. There was the hot-ass mess that was HBO’s The Idol, as well as accusations of his lyrics perpetuating norms of toxic masculinity. But we simply can’t look away. And this alone makes him the hardest to love.
