The Weeknd Debuts Unreleased 'Tokyo' in Saitama, Joined Onstage by Yoko Takahashi
The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) opened the Asian leg of his After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at Belluna Dome in Saitama, Japan — and used the show to debut an unreleased song called "Tokyo" live for the first time. The track draws on elements of "Cruel Angel's Thesis," the 1995 theme song from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, and its singer, Yoko Takahashi, joined him onstage. According to NME, the song was performed again the following night, September 20, at the second Saitama date.
Evangelion and NieR visuals on the same stage
Visuals for the segment were created by Yoko Taro, creative director of the NieR game series, and featured characters from both Evangelion and NieR:Automata. The Weeknd later posted footage from the moment on social media, captioning it "Presented by YOKO TARO ft. YOKO TAKAHASHI." After the duet, Takahashi performed "Cruel Angel's Thesis" solo for the Belluna Dome crowd, with The Weeknd backing her onstage. It's the second unreleased song he's aired live this year — in April, he debuted "Rio," a collaboration with Anitta, in Rio de Janeiro, accompanied by animated visuals directed by Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike.
What's next on the Asian leg
The Saitama shows kick off the final Asian stretch of the After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour. Remaining dates, per the source report:
- September 19 (Sat) & September 20 (Sun) — Belluna Dome, Saitama, Japan
- September 26 (Sat) & September 27 (Sun) — Jakarta
- Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok, Hong Kong (dates not specified in source)
- November 4 (Wed) — Kuala Lumpur, tour finale
From "retirement" talk to "I'll never disappear"
Launched in 2022, After Hours Til Dawn has become the highest-grossing tour ever by a male solo artist. This summer's European leg opened in Copenhagen and included two nights at Manchester's Etihad Stadium and five sold-out shows at London's Wembley Stadium.
Before this run of surprise songs, Tesfaye had repeatedly suggested he intended to retire the Weeknd name following his 2025 album Hurry Up Tomorrow, which closed out a trilogy alongside 2020's After Hours and 2022's Dawn FM. Last month in Stockholm, he told the crowd, "I'll never disappear," adding that he'd "tried retirement" but didn't like how it felt. In an interview with GQ Hong Kong this week, he repeated the sentiment, saying he'd considered stopping but realized it would waste all the inspiration he still had.