The Weeknd’s Postponed Stadium Tour of Australia Is Cancelled
Ticket holders for the postponed ANZ tour will be refunded while Live Nation figures out a new schedule.
Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye performs live at the London Stadium as part of his After Hours til Dawn Tour on July 7, 2023 in London, England.
The Weeknd’s postponed tour of Australia is now canceled and ticket owners will be refunded.
The Canadian R&B superstar had initially scheduled an 11-date stadium tour of Australia and New Zealand, winding its way across both countries last November and December.
Then, two weeks before the After Hours Til Dawn Tour was due to kick off, the trek was shelved “due to unforeseen circumstances.”
A statement issued at the time confirmed that new dates would be announced for 2024 and current tickets will be valid for those new shows.
That’s no longer the case. Though replacement dates were never announced, a statement confirms the existing 2023 tour will be cancelled, while Live Nation, which was producing the tour, continues to investigate a rescheduled trek.
“The Weeknd ‘After Hours Til Dawn Tour’ for Australia & New Zealand is still in process of being rescheduled,” reads a statement from LN, seen by Billboard. “Whilst we continue to work through the rescheduling process with the artist, tickets for the existing 2023 tour will be cancelled with all ticket holders receiving a full refund accordingly.”
Ticket holders of the The Weeknd’s ‘After Hours Til Dawn Tour’ shows who previously held on to their tickets will be able to access a priority purchase window for the new tour in Australia and New Zealand when announced, the message reads, linking to a priority waitlist. All current ticket holders will receive an automatic refund.
The tour was originally announced last August with just four shows, visiting each of Australia’s big three east coast cities — Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane — and including a single date in Auckland, NZ.
Additional dates were added last September, boosting the itinerary to 11 across both markets.
The Weeknd’s tour is scrapped as Australia’s festivals market navigates turbulent waters. In recent weeks, the 2024 editions of Splendour in the Grass, Mona Foma, and Groovin The Moo, with soft ticket sales playing a part in each story.
The inaugural Soundcheck report, published by Creative Australia, found the climate for operating a festival was a “highly complex” one, with event organizers challenged with myriad issues, from rapidly increasing costs, changing ticket buying behavior and more.
Despite the situation Down Under, The Weeknd continues to pump out the hits. In recent days, Abel Tesfaye became just the 18th artist to chart at least 100 career hits on the Hot 100, thanks to a pair of guest appearances on Future and Metro Boomin’s new Billboard 200 No. 1 album We Still Don’t Trust You: the set’s title track, which debuts at No. 22, and “All to Myself,” which starts at No. 67.
In the U.S., he has landed seven No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 and four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200.
On Australia’s ARIA Albums Chart, published last Friday, April 19, the Weeknd’s hits collection The Highlights lifts 8-4 in its 167th week on the tally. It’s triple-platinum certified in Australia.
