Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEven in a pandemic, the VMAs found a way to start off their show with a bang: The Weeknd performed his smash single “Blinding Lights” 1,100 feet above New York, from the city’s highest observation deck, Edge at Hudson Yards.Weeknd was in the guise of the busted-nose character he portrays on his latest album, “After Hours,” and the performance began in a way similar to the album’s videos, which depict the character having a surreal and absolutely terrible night in Las Vegas.
Weeknd was shown waking up as if he’d been knocked out, rising slowly to his knees and then standing — but then the performance was vintage VMAs, with helicopter shots, loads of lights, an illuminated staircase and of course the lights of.
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