Transcript
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Have you hit up any of the big shows this summer? I managed to catch Queen Bee in New Jersey before she went and betrayed me by closing out her Cowboy Carter tour by reuniting Destiny's Child in Las Vegas instead of doing it in New Jersey where she should have. The Gallagher brothers buried the hatchet after 19 years, to the delight of mostly shirtless European men, Kendrick Lamar and Seza's grand national tour is now the highest grossing co headlining tour in history. Drake is also on tour, but there's one ticket that's a little harder to get because if you want to get it, you gotta book a plane ticket too. On Today explained from Vox, we're gonna talk about how Bad Bunny managed to make Puerto Rico the center of the universe this summer.
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Andrea Gonzalez Ramirez (2:06)
Estana escuchando a hoy expelcado. You're listening to Today Explained. My name is Andrea Gonzalez Ramirez. I'm a senior writer at the Cut and I grew up in Puerto Rico. I would say it's like one of the biggest cultural events that we've seen, I think in the island. Bad Bunny, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, for those who would like his legal name too, is holding a 30 show residency in Puerto Rico pegged to his most recent album. The first nine shows were open only to residents of Puerto Rico. You had to go in person to purchase tickets at different selling points across the island and then from August 1st onwards. So like the next 21 shows, those you could purchase the tickets online, which is how I was able to do it. The experience of trying to get tickets for it. Now I understand how Taylor Swift fans felt during the ERAS tour. It's me because that morning I did not get a code and I went through the five stages of grief before I actually got one to get tickets. Right. But once we got there, I went with my husband outside El Choli, which is what we call the arena. This was kind of like a. A town festival, a fiesta padronal. You could get like beers, you could get your hair done, you could get your makeup done. And once you come in, obviously the arena holds about like 18,000 people. So it's a lot of people. And the energy is unhinged. I think like everyone's really excited to be there. There's a screen with a projection where they're like showing like Puerto Rican facts. Like Puerto Rico is a US colony. Salsa was invented between Puerto Rico and New York. There's two main areas where he performs. In the main stage, he kind of recreated rural Puerto Rico. And then the second stage is a pink casita that resembles a lot of homes in Puerto Rico. And that's where like the really filthy perreo happens. Like that area is reserved for the songs that you would probably not play to your parents because they're so, so filthy. I was pretty high up. I was in the last, literally the very last row of the top section. Closer to God than Bad Bunny, but you can see everything. And yeah, like, it's really incredible because like a lot of people are wearing traditional clothing like powas or jiwara dresses. I was wearing a Roberto Clemente jersey. And then when the music starts, like basically you get a musical arrangement of his newest song, Al Ambre Bua that sounds a lot like Bomba and Plena, which are two traditional burgan music genres. And then he comes in with a bunch of like dancers in traditional garbs. And it just, you know, everyone went a little bit crazy when he was on stage. But it really looks like you are transported back in time to a puerto Rico from 100 years ago. But also kind of like what a school performance would look if you celebrated Puerto Rican week. Like La semana de la puerto de at school, right? It was insane. I cried, I danced, I laughed, I was very sweaty by the end of it, you know, it was so much fun. He plays over 30 something songs from his nearly decade long catalog over three hours. You know, he kind of divided the show in four acts, I would call it. You have that first couple of songs where he's kind of marrying his modern music with some of this traditional musical Arrangements. And then you have, like, a second section, which is almost like an acoustic set. And that was kind of like the sad Bunny came out, where he's just, like, singing a bunch of his most popular songs about heartbre. After that, usually, like, you have a VIP guest or someone from the audience say one of the phrases from one of his new songs, and you have someone saying, like, acho pere otracosa, like, Puerto Rico, something else. And in that section, that's usually you have, like, the musical guests. And then the last section is kind of like his salsa portion of the evening. He's dressed very much like Hector labo in the 1970s and has, like, a live band of, like, 20 people up there, and it's, like, incredibly fun. His last two songs are the lead song of the album, and then La Mudanza. And during talking about, like, oh, I don't want my people to move, and it's like a really. It's like a really moving song. You had, like, people hugging all over and, like, you know, singing with their families. Like, there was so much joy. I could not stop crying, because I think that as someone who left Puerto Rico, it just felt like a level of grief that we carry a lot. If you are in the diaspora. And then being there feeling so at home, I was just like, this is the best thing. And also, I'm so incredibly sad right now. And I cried throughout, like, the entire song. And then he wraps up with La Mudanza, and I was still crying throughout. He's saying, like, no one's gonna take me out of here. Like, it's a very. It's like a. It's a very fun song. It's. But it's also. I think, as the closer in the album and the closer in the. And the show, there's, like, a level of defiance and, like, pride that comes with that song, and it's very emotional. And I think that once my husband and I walked out, we're coming down the nosebleeds. You had, like, people chanting, yo soy boricua tu los pas. Like, I'm Puerto Rican. Just so, you know. Just felt very lovely and empowering to be surrounded by so many of us. And, I don't know, I think there was, like, this sense of community that was, like, very beautiful and also very fun, and it kind of, like, healed me, whatever. Like, trigger. I had had two songs prior. Like, definitely when we walked out, I was like, oh, I kind of love this a lot.