At The Weeknd's show, if the audience blinks, they might lose sight of him. During his performance in São Paulo on Tuesday night (10/10), the Canadian singer walked across the stage that stretched across the grounds of the Allianz Parque, Palmeiras stadium, west of the capital.

With giant moon-like structures and metal objects scattered throughout the arena, the artist moved throughout the show. The actual stage, on which the musicians play, is smaller than usual in this type of performance, with the scenography highlighting miniature buildings and screens that serve as extensions of the scene.

The Weeknd performed his futuristic show in São Paulo after performing in Rio de Janeiro, three days ago, at the Nilton Santos stadium. The pop star will appear again at Allianz Parque this Wednesday (11/10).

Contrary to what other pop artists, such as Rosalía, do, The Weeknd is only shown on a small screen, positioned to the side of the stage, while the Spanish singer's performance is filmed as a kind of live scene while he sings.

If it was difficult for those on the dance floor to follow The Weeknd's moves, it took exactly an hour for him to show his face. On stage, the singer presented himself as a figure from another planet, with one of his arms covered in a silver visor and a Daft Punk-style helmet.

He entered the stage at 8:45 p.m., 15 minutes late, and performed more than 40 songs in about two hours of performance. The performance was fast and fluid, with snatches of songs or just the chorus being sung.

But unlike trap shows, where songs are usually cut in half, The Weeknd throws them together without any time to breathe. A pop star with one foot in R&B and another in synthpop retreads from the 1980s, he was accompanied by a band of bass, keyboards and drums.

His repertoire centers on the last decade of his career, when he became famous with the album “Beauty Behind the Madness” in 2015. The Weeknd entered the stage to the sound of “La Fama”, a song by Rosalía in which he participated. , and edited two of the 2016 albums “Starboy” — “False Alarm” and “Party Monster”.

Then, he released a series of “Dawn FM”, his latest works, from 2022 – “Take my Breath”, “Sacrifice” and “How Do I Make You Love Me?”. “Can't Feel my Face,” one of their biggest hits, came up next, sending tens of thousands of viewers soaring.

The presentation indiscriminately mixes songs from throughout the Canadian singer's career, interspersed with excerpts from his collaborations on other people's songs. Likewise with “Hurricane” by Kanye West, “Low Life” by Future, “Circus Maximus” by Travis Scott, “Creepin'” by Metro Boomin, and “Moph to a Flame” by Swedish House Mafia.

The Weeknd on stage doesn't attract attention because of his vocal technique, but he delivers his signature trembling high notes and conveys charisma. He mentioned São Paulo in a lyrical quote and repeated that he loves the city and its fans in between performances.

In the first hour the show was more guided by scenography which even featured dancers – actually people dressed in white walking around the wide stage. With singers wearing helmets, relations with the public are even cooler.

The final stretch is hotter and has a greater concentration of strokes. He had sprinkled “Starboy,” “Heartless” and “Reminder” throughout the setlist, but the show grabbed attention even after the sequence with “Faith” and the title track from his 2020 album “After Hours.”

The artist belted out “Earned It,” “In the Night” and “Love me Harder” before saying that “Out of Time,” sung next, was his favorite from his latest album. He sang the hit song in the middle of the audience, placing the microphone in the audience's mouths so fans could complete the lyrics.

Musically, The Weeknd sounds less interesting live than he does in the studio. The bass is too loud to cover the other instruments, destroying the rhythmic feel provided by the harmony of the drums and guitar. It all sounds like a big mess.

The audience wasn't too noisy either. He sings the chorus of “I Feel it Coming” and “Call Out my Name”, “Save Your Tears” and “Blinding Lights” loudly, but he continues to play on his cell phone or talk to many other people, especially his songs. from a trilogy of mixtapes revealed in 2011, which didn't cause much of a fuss.

But this indifference wasn't enough to stop the show. This is because, for every lesser-known song he sings, he has two or three other hits to replace it, proving the anticipation and hype surrounding his name.

Plus, the shows are so short that there's no time to get bored. This also works for the livelier moments, which end so quickly that there's no time to fully enjoy them.

The impression left is a rushed show, despite being over two hours long, that speaks to an audience whose attention span is the same as the length of a TikTok video. In a way, he wooed the audience, who in many moments preferred to film the singer – or film themselves enjoying the performance – rather than actually jumping or singing along with the musicians.