As images of Evangelion and NieR:Automata characters flashed across the massive stage screens, standing beside The Weeknd was Yoko Takahashi — the original singer of 1995's "A Cruel Angel's Thesis." On September 19th, at his concert at Saitama's Belluna Dome, he debuted the new song "Tokyo" live for the first time, which samples a segment of this incredibly influential anime theme song.
The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, kicked off the Asian leg of his "After Hours Til Dawn" tour with this show. After performing "Tokyo," Yoko Takahashi followed with a solo rendition of "A Cruel Angel's Thesis," with Tesfaye accompanying her on stage. Following the performance, he posted clips on social media tagged "Presented by YOKO TARO ft. YOKO TAKAHASHI" — Yoko Taro being the creative director behind the NieR series, who oversaw the visual presentation for the show.
"Tokyo" was performed again at the second Saitama show on September 20th. These two dates mark the starting point of the Asian leg of the "After Hours Til Dawn" tour, which will next head to Jakarta (September 26th and 27th), followed by stops in Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok, and Hong Kong, before wrapping up in Kuala Lumpur on November 4th.
This marks the second time this year Tesfaye has debuted an unreleased track live on stage. Back in April, he performed "Rio" with Anitta in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, complete with dancers and fireworks, accompanied by an animated short directed by Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike.
The timing of these back-to-back new song reveals raises some interesting questions — Tesfaye has repeatedly hinted that after wrapping up the "After Hours" trilogy with 2025's album Hurry Up Tomorrow, he plans to retire The Weeknd moniker altogether. He's said before that he feels he's "conquered every challenge." But at a concert in Stockholm last month, he changed his tune, telling the crowd: "I will never disappear. I love this too much to disappear. I tried the retirement thing and I didn't like the way it felt. I'll be with you guys forever." This week, in an interview with GQ Hong Kong, he reiterated the sentiment: "I did think about what it would be like to just stop. But then I realized how much of a waste it would be to let that inspiration go. I can't let that happen. I've experienced what retirement feels like, and it's not for me. Getting to do this job is a genuine privilege — nothing else compares."
The "After Hours Til Dawn" tour, which launched back in 2022, has become the highest-grossing solo tour by a male artist in history. This summer, he kicked off the European leg in Copenhagen, followed by two nights at Manchester's Etihad Stadium, and wrapped up a five-night sold-out run at London's Wembley Stadium.
