‘I Came Back With a Vengeance’: 7 Best Moments From Launch of The Weeknd’s Sold-Out Run at L.A.’s SoFi Stadium

While The Weeknd has been honoring his Ethiopian heritage by donning a black and gold kaba – a hand-embroidered Ethiopian robe historically worn by royals and traditionally worn at weddings – during his latest live performances, his fans honored him by wearing his old wardrobe. From the white T-shirt, vest and pants from the 2023 European leg of the After Hours Til Dawn Tour to the infamous After Hours era red suit jacket and black slacks with a bloody, bandaged nose, the XO fans paid homage to his different eras.

Travis Scott brought out Playboi Carti to perform “FE!N” during his historic headlining show at SoFi Stadium back in November 2023. Almost two years later, the King Vamp returned the favor by surprising his ravenous fanbase with his raging partner in crime. Scott stepped out to “Goosebumps” before the two sent the audience into a frenzy with a delirious performance of “Crush” from Carti’s Billboard 200-topping album MUSIC, with Carti’s guttural shrieks bouncing off the walls and rapidly flashing strobe lights bouncing off the crowd. They saved “FE!N” for the high-octane finale of Carti’s opening set.

The Weeknd and his right-hand producer Mike Dean cooked up a number of remarkably seamless transitions for his 2023 co-headlining Coachella set and first legs of his After Hours Til Dawn Tour. But for this recent leg, and with the Hurry Up Tomorrow album now added to the setlist, the two had to go back into the lab and create a new experience. The final reverberating shrieks from “Wake Me Up” blended right into the pulsating bassline from the second half of the After Hours title track. And a pitched-up version of the chorus from Metro Boomin’s “Creepin,” also featuring 21 Savage, led straight into the pitched-up sample of Jon B and Babyface’s 1995 Hot 100 top 10 hit “Someone to Love” that kicks off “Niagara Falls.”

After concluding “Faith,” The Weeknd took off his gold-plated mask and came face-to-face with the crowd, who was in an uproar during the dramatic reveal.

Right after revealing his face to fans, The Weeknd took a minute to bask in glory in the same spot he once felt defeated. “I came back with a vengeance. Four nights, SoFi, back to back to back,” he exclaimed. “And that’s because of you. We gotta make sure night one is the best night out of four nights though, right?” He later commemorated the momentous occasion by tweaking the second verse on his and Anitta’s “São Paulo”: “Hit it from the back, she louder than four sold-out nights at SoFi.”

Following his opening stint, Baby Boi hopped back on stage to perform their Hot 100 No. 3 hit “Timeless” and “Rather Lie” from MUSIC. Carti took a page out of The Weeknd’s playbook by interspersing some (Auto-Tuned) melodic runs as well as his signature “schyeah” ad-lib throughout both songs, and the joint performance reminded 00XO fans that outsiders can’t handle the both of them at the top. When “Rather Lie” debuted at No. 4 on the Hot 100 in March, The Weeknd earned his 20th top 10 hit and tied Mariah Carey and Prince’s record for the most consecutive years with a top 10 hit (12) in history. That same week, Carti became the first rapper to notch more than 30 Hot 100 hits in a single week and the third artist ever, after Morgan Wallen and Taylor Swift.

The Weeknd coached one lucky girl through an intimate duet of the Dawn FM standout track “Out of Time” on the floor of SoFi. He later handed the microphone to another fan right before the end of the chorus, who belted, “… make you mine, out of tiiime!“