When I first learned that Bad Bunny’s Most Wanted Tour consisted of three consecutive shows at the Barclays Center in NYC and one happening on my birthday, April 11, all It all seems to make sense. The concert will take place three days after the highly anticipated solar eclipse, new moon and all during Mercury retrograde. It will also occur during Aries season – the start of the astrological year and a time for new beginnings. While I had high hopes for Benito’s performance and his first NYC show of the tour, one thing that stood out the most was how the Puerto Rican artist continues to appreciate and celebrate the His loyal Latine fans.
Bad Bunny is the most streamed artist on the planet. This fun fact never loses its significance to loyal Latin fans who have witnessed the struggle for Latin music to get the respect and support it deserves in the United States. . The Puerto Rican artist gave a great show at the Barclays Center on April 11. Looking around the 19,000-capacity arena, there wasn’t an empty seat in sight, at least not in sight. my look. It was a packed house with a mostly Latino crowd of all ages and ethnicities.
There was his usual fan base – Dominicans and Puerto Ricans standing in long lines outside the stadium with flags tied around their necks and flying from their backs. Even in cold, rainy weather, everyone in line was dressed in Bad Bunny gear and ready to congratulate the artist. These people are also the first to jump up and wave the flag whenever Bad Bunny mentions his Latine fans and supporters. There were also many Central and South American Latinos waving flags and holding signs expressing their love for the singer. Despite his global reach, especially since the success of his record-breaking 2022 album “Un Verano Sin Ti,” Latinos still seem to make up the majority of his concert-attending fans. Bad Bunny, from the way things appeared on Thursday night.
No matter how many awards he takes home or how many records he breaks, Bad Bunny hasn’t lost sight of the people who have supported his music since his early days on SoundCloud before the Non-Latinos know who el conejo malo is. He proves it whenever he apologizes in Spanish during an interview or at an awards show. He proves that as he continues to elevate the genre, paying his respects to OGs like Daddy Yankee, Residente, and Tego Calderon, while also giving his approval to Puerto Rican artists Rico is on the rise like Young Miko, Rainao and Villano Antillano.
I saw Bad Bunny perform live in NYC twice: first in 2019 at Barclays and then again at Yankee Stadium for his 2022 World’s Hottest tour. At all of his concerts, Benito speaks only Spanish and speaks almost exclusively to his Latine fans. In many ways, like many Latin music artists today, attending a Bad Bunny concert feels like you’re just a member of his group or fan club. It doesn’t matter that he has gone global – he still only speaks Spanish and speaks Latin loudly.
“New York is very important in my career, where dreams come true,” he told fans in Spanish on Thursday. “Being on tour feels really great, going to each place and seeing it, all the cities, but New York, it’s something else. It feels better than usual. Seeing all the PR and DR flags made it even more special. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here; it means so much to me.”
The artist had many emotional moments throughout the show, during which he would stare at a packed stadium full of excited fans in utter amazement and then eyes filled with tears right before giving his emotional speech to his Latine fans. In many ways, Bad Bunny’s latest album, “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana,” pays homage to Puerto Rico and his Latine concert-goers. It acknowledges that regardless of his subsequent fame and success with “Un Verano Sin Ti”, he has not forgotten where he came from and who his number one fan is. The concert reflected that sentiment well, with half of the songs on the set list being straight from “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana,” and the second half of the show consisting of older songs , a guest performance by Bryant Meyer and songs from “Un Verano Sin Ti”, including his hit “Titi Me Pregunto”. The staging at this show was also top notch, with the orchestra opening the show and recreating throughout, Benito playing “Amorforda” on an upside-down piano, an interesting jigsaw bridge in the middle of the courtyard room campaign, and the artist even rode into the stadium on a real-life horse that looked like a shepherd-meets-lucha-libre.
Bad Bunny gave us his all from start to finish, delivering a nearly three-hour performance with lots of attention to detail and deep love and appreciation for the His Latine fans. The Latine community is a wonderful community. When we love – we love with all our heart. When we support – we show up in large numbers. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were full families in that crowd. But we are also quick to criticize our idols whenever they reach a certain level of popularity. And while Bad Bunny has certainly reached a level of fame where he can simply perform for less than two hours without any cool production effects, he still puts the love he gives for his craft and his Latine fans from the beginning, and he still lets us know that he wouldn’t be here without us. And that’s something I don’t think he’ll ever stop doing, no matter how far he may go in his career.
