San Juan, Puerto Rico.- August 22 (EFE).- By Esther Alaejos
Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny returned “home” on Saturday and performed for his compatriots to “bring joy” and “hope and strength” to Puerto Rico, in the first of two concerts this weekend that form the grand finale of his world tour “DeBí Tirar Más Fotos” (I Should Have Taken More Photos).
Chuwi, the band of four young Puerto Ricans known internationally for their collaboration on the song “Weltita” from Bad Bunny’s latest album and who have opened for the singer on the tour through 22 cities across four continents, welcomed the crowd at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan.
After delighting the audience with some of their best-known songs such as “Mundi” and “Tierra” (Earth), the group ended their performance with a call to action for demonstration against the controversial luxury tourism megaproject Esencia.
The audience applauded the call to attend the protest against the proposed construction project in Cabo Rojo, which includes luxury hotels, residences, shops, and golf courses, among other things.
‘Nobody’s getting me out of here’
After this message, a video was projected on the big screen of two young Puerto Ricans praising Bad Bunny for living in Puerto Rico, despite the archipelago’s difficulties with constant water and power outages. This led to the long-awaited moment: the superstar appeared on stage singing ‘Callaita’.
“We’ve had the privilege of singing, dancing, and playing music around the world. Countries we never imagined we’d be in, and while I’m grateful for that, I had a blast, I had a great time, I’m not going to lie, there’s nothing like being here in Puerto Rico,” said Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, celebrating his return home.
After ‘El Club’, José Eduardo Santana strummed the chords of his Puerto Rican cuatro, the national stringed instrument, and played ‘Boricua en la Luna’ and ‘Pitorro de coco’.
“I can’t bring water to those who don’t have water, nor can I bring light to those whose power goes out every day, but I can bring them joy and the pride of being from here. I want to bring them hope and strength to continue defending this land,” Benito told the packed auditorium.
Distinguished guests
The artist delighted his fans with some of his most popular songs such as ‘Veldá’, ‘Titi me preguntó’, ‘La Neverita’, ‘Llevarte pa PR’, ‘Me porto bien’, and shared the stage on ‘Diles’ with Farruko, Arcángel and Ñengo Flow, and on ‘Tú no vives así’ and ‘La Jumpa’ with Arcángel.
Likewise, attendees enjoyed ‘Monaco’, ‘Siempre quise ser bichote’, ‘Vuelve Candy B’, ‘La Creta’, and ‘Café con Ron’ with Los Pleneros de la Cresta.
“This chaos, this disaster, is created on purpose to try to play with our emotions, to try to make us give up, to make us leave, and to continue selling off the island piece by piece,” remarked Bad Bunny, who joined in rejecting the Esencia project and called for the resignation of the governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer González.
As the concert’s grand finale, three songs from his latest album, ‘DeBí Tirar Más Fotos,’ were played: ‘Lo que le pasó a Hawaii’, ‘DMTF’, and ‘Eo’.
With this album, he achieved the milestone this year of being the first artist to win a Grammy for Best Album of the Year for an album entirely in Spanish.
This weekend marks the end of the tour that has had the whole world dancing to the rhythm of Puerto Rican culture and has broken box office records, without even stopping in the United States. EFE
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