Abel rocked Raymond James Stadium Sunday in between halves, headlining the Pepsi Halftime Show solo ... as promised. For starters, almost 80% of his set was done on an elevated platform from high up in the bleachers -- away from pretty much everyone below.

They built an elaborate stage for the guy -- complete with a makeshift cityscape made in the fashion of Las Vegas and kinda NYC too. Weeknd was surrounded by a bunch of would-be clones that changed costumes throughout, but started out with masks and glowing red eyes.

Of course, TW was in his signature red blazer, black gloves and MJ-esque shoes. He ran through a few of his hits, including 'Starboy,' 'The Hills' and 'Can't Feel My Face.' He then ran backstage into a house of mirrors type of set, reminiscent of his 'Blinding Lights' music vid.

Weeknd continued to sing snippets of 'I Feel It Coming,' 'Save Your Tears,' and 'Earned It' -- that's when the party got on the move ... down to the field level where he kept the show going.

Almost the entire gridiron was flooded with Abel lookalikes, but all of them had their faces bandaged ... with the OG eventually joining them as they wrapped a choreographed dance routine. He then led them into a march down field, and went on to sing 'BL,' which was capped off with a crazy firework show and the so-called clones running around him in elaborate circles before falling to the ground and lying still, with only Weeknd left standing.

It was pretty neat -- but perhaps most noteworthy ... the fact fans couldn't come on down and join in on the fun. Still, Weeknd made the most of it ... and the crowd seemed to love every minute, as they could be heard screaming from the stands.