For people around my age, I think The Hills was probably the first Weeknd song you listened to. It was the same for me, and while I did like it, it wasn’t the one that made me go crazy for him.

I still remember—my sister introduced me to Some Way, and that’s when he started slipping into my playlists more regularly. Around that time, I was in Bangalore in 2022, and that whole year I was mostly traveling. Long flights, lots of solo time. And then he dropped After Hours. That album really stuck with me.

I had a few songs from that one on loop. Not the usual Blinding Lights kind of hype, though. For me, it was Snowchild and Repeat After Me. I don’t think those songs get enough love, but something about them just worked for me. The music on those tracks — the vibe, the mood — I could listen to them over and over all day.

After that, every album he dropped just became instantly addictive. Whatever he tapped into during After Hours clearly worked. So yeah, Abel — massive respect. You’ve earned everything that’s come your way. After this every album and every song from Dawn FM, Hurry up tomorrow just worked for me.

First Attempt for the Weeknd: 2023

It was 2023 where the Weeknd just announced his tour dates for Australia and New Zealand, and around the same time, I was already looking for places — outside of the US and Europe — where I could take my mom for a holiday. Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium felt perfect. It was going to be The Weeknd and also my mom’s first international trip. I was so hyped.

But then this happened:

Just a couple of days before I was about to fly to Melbourne, he postponed the concert. No new date, no proper update — just gone.

Honestly, it broke my heart a bit. I was already emotionally attached to the idea — the stadium, the album, the whole experience. But I think what helped was being with my mom, and honestly, the beauty of Australia. That trip turned out to be amazing in its own way.

I didn’t rebook. Just got my refund back. 😢

Second Attempt for the Weeknd: 2025

Cut to June 2025 — I am working on a project that was both important and incredibly frustrating. One of those where you’re constantly stretched, learning, breaking, fixing, and mostly figuring out what your limits actually are. But yeah, that’s probably a story for another blog.

Around the same time I saw The Weeknd had announced Hurry up Tomorrow tour in the US. It caught my attention, but I was so buried in work and personal stress that I didn’t think much of it at first. Then came another update: Droidcon NYC was back. But this time, it wasn’t just Android — it was expanding into a broader tech summit. That pulled me in. The dates lined up almost perfectly with The Weeknd’s tour schedule.

I started a conversation internally, and a few days later, turns out — Maestro was sponsoring Droidcon NYC 2025.

Three years later, back at the same conference we last sponsored. That felt like a full circle moment.

The moment I had my travel and conference tickets locked in, I texted my school friend Vanshika Vats, said, “Dude, I'm coming for Droidcon and we’re attending this. Let’s go see The Weeknd.” Booking tickets though? Absolute nightmare. I’d go to select seats on TicketMaster, click checkout… and then, nothing. Blank screen. Man they should use Maestro! 😂

Luckily, Vanshika tried from her end and it worked, lifesaver.

The Experience

I don’t think this blog can truly capture what I felt in the stadium — but I’ll try.

By the time the concert came around, I was already super hyped. Seeing The Weeknd live had been a dream for so long. But just being in California, and knowing I was about to see him perform live, changed everything. That entire experience flipped something inside me. I understood one thing loud and clear — keep working on yourself and keep chasing your dreams. That’s what pulls you out of all the negative stuff happening around.

The day itself was a whole story. Finding parking around Levi’s Stadium was a nightmare. We thought we’d be fine not booking the official parking, but turns out every other venue nearby had jacked up their prices too. Santa Clara Convention Center quoted us $70 per hour. We just gave up, drove back home, and Ubered our way in.

But damn, Levi’s Stadium is beautiful — right in the middle of a valley. The sun was setting, Timeless was playing, and that moment already felt surreal.

Just before we entered, security refused to let my friend’s bag in — it was slightly over the size limit. We figured we’d just check it in, but the long line and ridiculous check-in price made her decide to just toss the bag in the trash. 😢

Playboi Carti was already on stage by the time we walked in. We grabbed some popcorn, found our seats… and then he came out wearing a mask.

I danced so hard I legit broke my phone. 😢 It just flew out of my hand. But then weeknd singing save your tears really saved my tears for another day 😂

For the next two days, I had to get creative using this phone — I used scrcpy to mirror my phone screen to my laptop just so I could access things like my bank account. Since the screen was barely usable, I’d swipe up apps after typing on the phone and then check what really happened on the screen. Absolute chaos — but it worked.

Ohh man! Looking back, every single penny spent on this trip was worth it. And more than the concert or the travel, I came back feeling genuinely inspired to just keep working on myself. Try every day to be a slightly better version than yesterday.

If you enjoyed reading this, feel free to share it with someone who needs a little reminder to chase their dreams. You can also subscribe to the blog I write about my personal journey and engineering blogs around mobile platform. And if we’re not already connected — say hi on LinkedIn, I’d love to hear from you. You can also follow me on X, @droid_singh.

Cover Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash