The Weeknd has been known to put on quite the show with high production values, but his one-off special concert for 70,000 fans in São Paulo, Brazil on Saturday was eye-opening.

Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, dazzled the capacity crowd of the Estádio MorumBI using fire, dancers, an amazing set, an enormous video screen, so many blinding lights, special guests, and drones as he debuted his forthcoming album, Hurry Up Tomorrow in a beautiful concert that was also presented on YouTube.

It was a show that has raised the bar.

Building on what he delivered in '22-'23's After Hours Til Dawn Tour, the Canadian singer and actor devoted 11 of the 27 songs in the set to tunes from After Hours, seven from Hurry Up Tomorrow, and a half dozen numbers from Dawn.FM (no relation to setlist.fm which was probably near his heart when he titled last year's LP).

There was no "Starboy," no "Can't Feel My Face," no "Earned It," no "Wicked Games," which is a ballsy move to make on such a large crowd, yet, he chose the right crowd to play such new material to because they ate it up and sang loudly to the tunes they knew.

Sporting a robe that made him look like a funky Moses leading the chosen people into the land of milk and honey, The Weekend's catwalk alone had to set some sort of record.

In the middle of the elaborately lit runway was a structure that looked like an Aztec temple which served many purposes and reinforced the symbolism of Abel as a prophet with some serious messages to deliver.

He was aided by some worthy guests, first was Playboi Carti who came out to the sounds of Travis Scott's "FEIN."

Fortunately they only did it once as opposed to the ten times Scott performed it in Florida earlier this year.

Then they live debuted "Timeless," an unreleased Playboi Carti tune featuring The Weeknd that shows off his beautiful capacity for hitting the high register.

Carti hasn't had a new LP since 2020's Whole Lotta Red and it has been speculated that the new album, which would be his third, will drop before the year is over. Either "Timeless" or "Backr00ms" (featuring Scott) will probably be the first single.

Either way, it was quite a gift for The Weeknd to give Playboi such a platform, literally, to debut their collab.

It was Madonna, of all people, who has benefitted the most, so far, from The Weeknd and Carti. The single "Popular" which features the trio, did so well it was Madonna's first Hot 100 hit in eight years and her highest charting tune in 11 years.

It also earned her the distinction of being one of the few to have Hot 100 banger over five consecutive decades. The only other woman to have pulled it off is her friend Cher.

You may recall earlier this year Madonna was also in Brazil where she performed to 1.6 million fans on the Copacabana beach.

While it would have been cute to have the Material Girl come out to sing that tune together, The Weeknd chose a different direction with Brazilian superstar Anitta to help him live debut the song "São Paulo."

There was fire, there were silhouettes, there were occasional shouts of "São Paulo!" But was it a song?

Who knows, but it was definitely a vibe.

One of the more eerie visuals came during the live debut of "Wake Me Up," which features a sample of Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

The Brazilians were confronted with a close up Abel's right eye.

Big Brother, but make it sexy and hella trippy.

So do we know when the new Weeknd album comes out? No.

Do we know when the new Playboi album comes out? Also no.

But we do know the next time The Weeknd will be performing on stage. That would be Sept 21 in Vegas for the iHeartRadio Music Fest along with Doja Cat, Halsey and the New Kids on the Block.

Then he jets off across the globe to Australia for four shows in October which might be the finale of the After Hours Til Dawn Tour.

Get your tickets on The Weekend's website.