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On Sunday, November 29th, Canada’s own The Weeknd rolled into town with the Madness tour in support of his latest studio album, Beauty Behind The Madness, and who would I be if I didn’t put in one pun because I can wholeheartedly say that ending the weekend with The Weeknd was a particularly great idea. Abel Tesfaye, but more commonly known as The Weeknd, stopped in Calgary this past weekend fit with two entertaining and talented artists, Halsey and Travi$ Scott. The star-studded lineup was enough to pull many people into the Scotiabank Saddledome, attracting an audience of 13,500 on Sunday night, so how could my fellow blogger Kandace and I pass up the opportunity to see them?
Houston rapper Travi$ Scott opened up the night, hitting the stage at 7:30pm. Scott was seen jumping around a desert themed stage fit with cactus props and a canyon-esque backdrop for most of his set. I’ll admit, I was kinda in love with his set design and he sure did get the crowd pumped from the bobbing heads I observed on the floor of the Scotiabank Saddledome. If you’ve never heard of Scott, you may know him for his songs “Antidote” and “3500” (which features Future and 2Chainz), but whether you’ve heard them or not doesn’t matter, because the great thing about music is artists are always waiting to be discovered, which was just what happened on Sunday night. Prior to the concert, I’d barely known Scott or any of his work aside from his song “Antidote”. I can’t say I’m any more of a fan than I was prior to Sunday but I enjoyed his performance nonetheless.
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Two of the low points for me regarding his set were his overuse of autotune and I didn’t particularly appreciate the instance halfway through his set when he urged his fans to rush security and join him at the barrier by the stage, potentially putting himself and the crew at danger. Despite this, I’ll concur that he had a pretty good set and made good use of his time to pump up the crowd for the acts to follow: Halsey and The Weeknd. To end his half hour set, he closed with his most recognizable single “Antidote”, which despite barely knowing him or his music, had me dancing along with the other attendees.
Next was Halsey and Kandace and I were particularly excited for her act. This wasn’t Halsey’s first rodeo in Calgary, after previously supporting Imagine Dragons at their Calgary show this past June. You may be asking who Halsey is, and truth be told if you’d asked me that a year ago, I wouldn’t have had a clue. Ashley Frangipane, a.k.a. Halsey, is a New Jersey singer and songwriter, and she’s relatively new to the music scene. The girl with the pixie cut and cutting lyrics hit the stage around 8:10pm, donned all in white. I was absolutely breathless, since after all these months of waiting the moment was finally here. Basically, I was this kid. Is this real life?
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After I got over the shock of seeing her in person, I was really able to relax, dancing and singing along to all her songs off of Badlands, her debut album. Previously I’d been told she wasn’t that good live from a guy in my math class, but after this past weekend I beg to differ. Halsey puts on a high energy performance like no other, proving to critics and fans that Halsey is here to stay. As of late she’s really been making a name for herself, collaborating with Justin Bieber on “The Feeling”, supporting The Weeknd and Imagine Dragons on tour and receiving a MTV EMA nomination for “Artist on the Rise”, which is well deserved considering the momentum she’s had, and this is only the start of her career.
Nevertheless, Halsey definitely did not disappoint, making the few months of waiting well worth it. Although I wished the setting were more intimate, I’m still hopeful that she’ll return and put on yet another great show featuring her biggest hits like “New Americana”, which she stated is about growing up in a mixed race family, as well as “Hurricane”, which first arrived on her debut ep, Room 93. And if you missed The Weeknd this time around, fear not for I’m sure this isn’t the last time he’ll be stopping in Calgary.
Be sure to look out for Kandace’s review of The Weeknd’s performance soon! Happy Holidays!
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