The Weeknd headlined the Super Bowl LV halftime show that took place at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on Sunday. In keeping with the event’s coronavirus protocols, his stage was set up in the stands above the crowd, a break from tradition in which the stage is typically set up on the field and swarmed by an audience. Only towards the end of the performance did the Weeknd take to the football field. He did a medley of some of his biggest hits over the years, including “Starboy,” “The Hills,” and “Can’t Feel My Face.”

He entered sitting in a car and on a set that looked like a Pepsi-branded version of the Vegas strip and was backed by a crew of dancers dotting a cityscape. He also continued using the visual motifs that has followed him through all his performances supporting his most recent album, After Hours, at one point entering a mirror room surrounded by lookalikes with bandaged faces. A bunch of those bandaged figures took to the field towards the end of the performance for the finale, with the Weeknd doing a bit of his early mixtape track “House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls” and closing with “Blinding Lights.”

The Weeknd was announced as the Super Bowl halftime performer back in November. After the Weeknd received zero Grammy nominations a couple weeks later, there was speculation that after contentious negotiations about whether he could perform at both the Super Bowl and the Grammys, he was shut out of the awards show.

That controversy didn’t stop the Weeknd from taking full advantage of his appearance at the Super Bowl this year. He even put out a greatest hits CD called The Highlights in advance of his performance. “We’ve been really focusing on dialing in on the fans at home and making performances a cinematic experience, and we want to do that with the Super Bowl,” Abel Tesfaye said in a recent Billboard story. He said that he put up $7 million of his own money to “make this halftime show be what he envisioned.”

Watch the halftime show from Diapers below.

SETLIST:
“Starboy”
“The Hills”
“Can’t Feel My Face”
“I Feel It Coming”
“Save Your Tears”
“Earned It”
“House Of Balloons / Glass Table Girls”
“Blinding Lights”