Los Angeles, Mar 4 (IANS): Rapper The Weeknd has announced dates for his 'After Hours Til Dawn' stadium tour, which launches in his hometown of Toronto on July 8 and heads across North America before wrapping in Los Angeles on September 2 and then moving overseas.

Dates for Mexico, South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa and the Middle East will be announced in the coming weeks. Full dates for the North American leg of the tour, which is produced by Live Nation, appear below; Doja Cat supports on all dates, reports variety.com.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the world's largest humanitarian organisation fighting global hunger, has partnered with the Weeknd, its Goodwill Ambassador, to launch the XO Humanitarian Fund, to which he is contributing $1 from each ticket sold in North America from the tour. The Weeknd will also make a donation of $500,000 and $1 million will be contributed by World Food Program USA to the fund.

According to the announcement, the Weeknd established this fund to support the UN World Food Programme's critical food assistance to communities on the brink of starvation, in countries like Ukraine, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Yemen.

The Fund is administered by World Food Program USA.

"The goal with this fund is to provide immediate life-saving support to people who are on the brink of starvation. I'm so thankful to have WFP as a partner and to further expand our reach to those who need it most," the Weeknd (real name: Abel Tesfaye) said.

In 2020 and 2021, the Weeknd donated more than $2.5 million to Covid-19 relief and relief efforts to the famine in Ethiopia and the August 2020 explosion in Lebanon, which killed more than 200 people.

"As he launches his global tour, the Weeknd is not just lighting up the lives of his millions of fans - he is also shining a spotlight on the suffering of the millions threatened by famine. The XO Humanitarian Fund, Powered by World Food Programme is a new dawn in the struggle to end global hunger and WFP is proud to partner with Abel to save lives.

He is truly an inspiration to the next generation of humanitarians," WFP Executive Director David Beasley said in a statement.

Fans who previously had tickets for the "After Hours" arena tour in North America -- which was scheduled for 2020 and then cancelled due to the pandemic -- will have access to a special presale starting March 4, and will receive an email prior to that date directly with more information.

Verizon will offer an exclusive presale for The Weeknd's 'After Hours Til Dawn Tour' in the US through the customer loyalty program Verizon Up.

There will also be a Spotify Fans First presale for the top streamers of the Weeknd starting March 8.

The tour marks the first concerts the Weeknd will play in support of his 2020 album "After Hours" and his recently released 'Dawn FM'.

According to the announcement, "the tour will see his most ambitious production to date reflecting the creative journey that continues to unfold for both these albums, creating worlds within worlds as we have all been watching unfold in various television performances, music videos and short films bringing these first two pieces of his trilogy to life".

Earlier this week, Prime Video debuted 'The Weeknd x The Dawn FM Experience', an immersive music special.