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PHOTOS & REVIEW: The Weeknd @ Rogers Arena | October 5th 2017


The Weeknd with an Out of this World Performance.

The stage was set to the far right of me, with a very long catwalk stretching down the floor of Rogers arena and ending just before my seat. Above the catwalk, was a huge triangular light platform. The platform reminded me of the bottom half of an alien ship.  The pre-shows  had three covers, Nav, French Montana, and the Coke Boys  

Nav, a single DJ on stage, demonstrated constant beats, skills that were accurate, on point and would be a great mix to have at a club. It was fast, rebellious, edgy music and he could create great cliffhangers. You know the ones, when the music builds up the tension to hold you at the precipice and then drops you into the next beat to carry you off.  French Montana, a duo group DJ and Singer, had audiences to their feet with in a few minutes. Their beats were clear, songs were understandable and relatable to the audience. They also did a quick live video of everyone and the crowd cheered.

Coke Boys, had two Singers and one DJ. What I found with this group was their harmonizations that were really well done.  The beats were clear, constant, and the singers played off each other with the back and forth interactions of the lyrics. The DJ showed off her skills by keeping up with every single note and beat to a tea.  Then the main show began… The Weeknd.

I will admit I am rather new to this band, but with over seven million followers as of this publication, I knew there had to be something to this band.  The lights dimmed, the audience roared. Remember that light platform? It suddenly lit up as if it were a ship. The music began, as if the ship were taking off, then it lowered towards the catwalk. A single purple light came down as if a beam from the ship. Fog appeared on the catwalk and there, Weeknd arose as if he had been “beamed in” from the ship. I found myself cheering with everyone else as he waved and sang.

Throughout the show, he would play on the energies of the crowd by seeing how loud they could be and competing with each side of the arena. Then would state, how crazy Vancouver was and that it was necessary he come back every year from now on. He had Vancouver eating out of his mic filled hands. The back videos on the stage screen with the rest of the band, reflected aliens, ships, planets all in theme with the show. I really enjoyed the cryo guns that went off during the songs all in perfect timing and synchronization to the music. The ship above, would change directions, have wondrous light displays, showed video of the artist singing. It had a way of lifting different parts of the ship to what appeared to be impossible angles. The ship would dip and lift and left you wondering what was going to happen next.

One momentous moment was when a member of the audience tossed their rather large, hot pink, bra onto the catwalk. It flew through the air, and Weeknd, of whom, didn’t miss one beat while catching that bra in the air. He held it up as he continued to sing, realizing what had happened,  everyone let out a thunderous roar to which the singer… slipped into the music lyrics, “Vancouver you are crazy.. just crazy”.

Later on, both French Montana and one singer from Coke boys shared the stage with our singer, which brought a nice tie in element to the pre show just before. To end the show, the Weeknd stood into the purple light again, bowed to each side of the arena, then instead of beaming up, walked back to the stage. Together as a band said “Goodnight” and walked off.  It was later as I was waiting for the crowd to leave,  talking with other fans, I learned Weeknd had the nickname Starboy, and with that show, he clearly was a Man of the Stars.

Photos Done By Rory Coomey
Review Done By Sarah Diamond

Photos are not to be copied or saved to your computer without written permission from JR Media Group and Rory Coomey Photography

 

Justin Ruscheinski
Justin Ruscheinski
Justin was born in Burnaby and now resides in Richmond. He was given his first camera at the age of 13 and has since turned his passion for photography into a career. His favorite part of being a photographer is helping people capture those precious moments.

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