Currently on his first-ever, sold-out arena tour, Toronto-born Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, brought his The Madness Fall Tour to the United Center on Friday.
Tesfaye is promoting his second album Beauty Behind the Madness, which debuted at number one after its August release.
With nearly 20,000 people singing along, the popular R&B artist belted out hit after hit, including “Wicked Games,” “Can’t Feel My Face,” and “Earned It.”
“Earned it” was the feature single in the 2015 film Fifty Shades of Grey, and earned the singer his first top-five track in the Billboard Hot 100.
Travis Scott opened the show, but he had to cut his set short after arriving on stage nearly 20 minutes late. He played for only 15 minutes, used shortened versions of his songs and his vocals were laced with autotune.
The crowd was not happy with his mess of a set.
California singer Banks was up next; she had a rough start, and sounded like she didn’t warm up enough before taking the stage as she tried to hit octaves that are out of her vocal range.
However, as her set progressed, she started to warm up, and by the time she performed her last song, “Beggin For Thread,” she was hitting every note with authority.
Notable moments of the night include when Abel addressed how successful this year has been from him, and how happy he was to be back in Chicago at the United Center.
“This is a very legendary venue and I want to thank you for helping me sell it out,” he said.
Other moments included his performance of “Crew Love,” a Drake song he is featured on, and “The Hills,” both of which were accompanied by pyrotechnics, because when you have the stage for it, why not use fire?!
He also had great visuals throughout the night due to a large LED screen that engulfed the whole stage. The whole crowd was mesmerized by his performance, and begged for more after he left the stage.
I think it’s safe to say that this year was a great year for The Weeknd.
The Madness Fall Tour concludes on December 19th in Miami, Florida.
All photography by Taylor Nettnin