The Weeknd, with Doja Cat in tow, bringing stadium show to Detroit
After shelving his arena tour, including a planned Little Caesars Arena show, the Toronto superstar will headline the Detroit Lions home in July.
Adam GrahamHe canceled his arena tour with the promise of something bigger in its place, and that something bigger has arrived: Pop megastar the Weeknd will play Ford Field on July 27 on his "After Hours Til the Dawn" tour, the singer's camp announced Thursday.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. March 10 via Ticketmaster channels. Pre-sales begin Monday, and ticket holders for the "Blinding Lights" singer's originally scheduled Jan. 27 show at Little Caesars Arena will be contacted and will get a first crack at tickets beginning Friday.
Doja Cat, the Weeknd's partner on the single "You Right," will open the show.
In October, the Weeknd — born Abel Tesfaye — announced he was shelving his planned 2022 arena outing in favor of a stadium tour.
"Due to constraints of arenas and the demand for more shows I want to do something bigger and special for you which requires stadiums," he wrote in a statement at the time.
The Weeknd was first due at Little Caesars Arena in June 2020. That show was postponed when the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to the global touring industry; in February 2021, in the run-up to the Toronto singer's performance at halftime of Super Bowl 55, a Jan. 27, 2022, make-up date was announced.
The Ford Field show — part of an 18-city run that kicks off July 8 in Toronto — is set to be his biggest Detroit concert to date, and his first-ever stadium show in the city, following multiple arena concerts at Little Caesars Arena and the Palace of Auburn Hills. He made his first area appearance at St. Andrew's Hall in June 2012, and followed it with an October 2013 concert at the Fox Theatre.
The singer's last area appearance was a November 2017 show at Little Caesars Arena.
The show is the second on Ford Field's 2022 concert calendar, and will precede Kenny Chesney's Aug. 20 beach blowout.
Next door, Comerica Park has a handful of concerts on its summer docket, including Chris Stapleton (July 8), Billy Joel (July 9), Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Poison and Joan Jett (July 10), Elton John (July 18) and Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Strokes (Aug. 14).
The Weeknd released his latest album, "Dawn FM," in January. The set debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart, blocked from the top spot by Gunna's "DS4Ever." The album is No. 13 on this week's chart.
Meanwhile "The Highlights," the singer's hits compilation, is No. 4 on this week's chart.
agraham@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @grahamorama