Moments before Bad Bunny took to the stage of the United Center Thursday night, an orchestra heralded his arrival for the first of three nights of the Puerto Rican superstar’s Most Wanted tour.
With the help of the Philharmonic Orchestra Project, led by Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning musician Carlitos López, the singer made a cinematic entrance via a trap door through billowing clouds of fog before an ultra-hyped crowd.
Thousands of fans dressed in Western attire received special light-up lanyards as they entered the venue. Later on, the lanyards would shine bright in different colors and patterns in sync with each song.
The 30-year-old Puerto Rico native (aka Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) is a global megastar. As one of the most-streamed artists on Spotify (second only to Taylor Swift), he took Latin trap — which is inspired by American trap music and various genres across Latin America including reggaetón — made it his own, and became a household yam.
Bad Bunny kicked off the night by diving headfirst into the namesake track of his fifth solo studio album, “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana,” (“Nobody Knows What Will Happen Tomorrow”), which dropped in October. The poetic lyrics on that album’s first track, “Nadie Sabe,” touch on his rise to fame and the loneliness that comes with it. Having just celebrated his birthday, the lyrics portray him coming to terms with the fact that the world could end tomorrow — something he admits he is hopeful for.
With the orchestra still backing him up, he followed that with “Monaco,” the album’s second track, resulting in a deafening roar from the adoring throngs. The singer took a moment to look around the venue and soak it all in, looking visibly moved by the reaction.
The show was meticulously set up to curate the mood for each part of the evening’s set, which was divided into four separate acts that touched on different eras of the singer’s career.
Before wrapping up the first act with “Baticano,” Bad Bunny took a moment to remind the crowd in Spanish to “never stop being yourself.” The message rang true for her backup dancers, an inclusive bunch, in line with the singer’s openness about her gender and sexuality. The song itself is one of Bad Bunny’s darkest, and all about letting your freak flag fly. The dancers donned otherworldly masks for this last number of Act I.
For the concert’s next segment, Bad Bunny reappeared from a corner of the arena, riding a horse and wearing an ominous ski mask — a nod to the cover art of his latest album. While this album was n’t as well-received as his previous work (namely, “Un Verano Sin Ti”), it’s got a deliberately different feel. It’s meant for his longtime fans — the ones who’ve been listening to the SoundCloud beats he produced in 2016 while working at a grocery store back on the island.
He sang “Telefono Nuevo” to kick off the trap Bunny part of his show, which included snippets of songs from his earliest days on the Latin trap scene including “Tú No Metes Cabra” and “Pa’ Ti.” The energy reached peak levels at this point.
A piano accompanied him onstage for a very short Act III as he sang about heartbreak on “ Gracias por Nada ” and “ Amorfoda .” Fans know this type of Bad Bunny’s music as “Sad Bunny,” and it’s just as beloved as his more upbeat tunes like “Safaera” and “Yo Perreo Sola” that helped close out the show.
Affectionately known as the “King of Latin Trap,” Bad Bunny is spreading his wings into different parts of the entertainment industry. He made his in-ring wrestling debut at Wrestlemania 37 in 2021, and later that year he made his acting debut on Netflix’s “Narcos.”
Bad Bunny’s on top of the world right now, and the first of his three sold-out shows in Chicago provided it.
Bad Bunny returns for concerts Friday and Saturday nights at the United Center.
Set List
ACT I
- “Nobody knows”
- “Monaco”
- “Fine”
- “Hibiki”
- “Mr. October”
- “Mercedes Carota”
- “Cybertruck”
- “Vou 787”
- “Silk”
- “Baticano”
ACT II
- “New Phone”
- “You Don’t Get Goat”
- “Don’t do it”
- “Comes back”
- “It kills me”
- “I’m worse”
- “Chambea”
- “Tell them”
- “8/25”
- “Candy B is back”
- “Thunder and Lightning”
ACT III
- “Thanks for nothing”
- “Unx00to”
- “Amorphous”
ACT IV
- “New Baby”
- “Black Dog”
- “Safaera”
- “I Perreo Alone”
- “The Saint”
- “La Jumpa”
- “Dakiti”
- “Effect”
- “I behave pretty”
- “A Preview”
- “Where She Goes”
