On April 22, thousands descended upon the University of Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center to catch a (somewhat rare, for this region) glimpse of the unparalleled star that is Bad Bunny. On his latest Most Wanted tour, the Puerto Rican reggaeton / hip-hop / pop artist will attract hundreds of thousands while putting on a series of show that, in my experience, live up to the hype and price tag.
For starters, the KFC center is among the nicer arenas of it’s size in the Midwest; there’s a reason so many tours skip Cincinnati and Heritage Bank Arena, when this sleeker venue exists a mere hour and a half out. Upon paying $33 dollars for two Modelos, we hit the standing room floor at about 7:30, with plenty opportunity to get within the front three rows. Positioned on one end of the floor is Bad Bunny’s main stage, while another with an orchestra mirrors it at the opposite end.
Oddly, there were no openers – not even so much as a DJ. There was only some light, almost indistinguishable pop playing in the background, which left the crowd growing anxious and awkward as showtime approached at 9. Speaking of the crowd, it was pleasantly diverse in race, age, and gender alike. There was even a sense of Boricua pride among the crowd, given some Puerto Rican flags and what felt like the entire Latino population of Kentucky. All this being said, I was bound to run into the usual entitled kids who will absent mindedly try to squeeze and grope past you for only a slightly closer spot that makes it ridiculously tight and awkward for everyone. None of that was necessary given there was a ton of open space left on the floor.
Anyway, the orchestra emerged onto the back stage at 9, teasing some epic renditions of Bad Bunny songs – notably Monaco, which would crescendo and crescendo and crescendo, only for nothing to happen. This went on for twenty minutes in what was honestly a frustrating, self-indulgent, and boring affair; but all of that was gone from our minds when Benito hopped out of the stage like Rey Mysterio.
The first two-thirds or so of the show were mostly dedicated to his newest album, Nadie Sabe lo que Va a Pasar Mañana. As great as this album is, it’s far more rap focused and high energy than Bad Bunny’s usual catchy reggaeton; for only a conversational Spanish speaker like myself, it became hard to keep up, especially in a live setting where the words aren’t perfectly clear. You know every time he came over looking at my section I was praying he couldn’t read our lips mumbling nonsense to the beat.
Thankfully, the crowd didn’t seem to be full of casual fans. They were able to sing along and do all the call-and-response bits that even I, as a big fan, couldn’t. Between songs, you could feel the love and how much some people revere him with manic cheers and nearby comments from the girls. That being said, there wasn’t much motion among the crowd, with only minimal dancing which surprised me, and some awkward photo poses facing away from the stage. There were even some chumps still munching on delicious KFC® from the concessions. I’m like where’s the mezcal tho.
For a star of Bad Bunny’s caliber, you know any live show is going to have some over the top production. There was impressive pyro and lighting (every attendee was given a lanyard shaped like a boot, all of which would light up to the beat and made for a very cool sight), as well as some super dedicated dancers. They were really shaking ass, and would come out in different costumes for some songs; at one point, while dressed as some sort of demons, they “buried” Bad Bunny beneath the stage. A few minutes later, he would reemerge on horseback and take the orchestra stage in the back to continue the show.
Eventually, a rotating catwalk descended that he would rap from directly over the crowd. “Thunder y Lighting” was a highlight during this portion, where they busted out some amazing light effects to pair with the drill beat. Later, Bunny would hop back to the mainstage where a lone piano player awaited him. An acoustic rendition of “Caillaita” was beautiful in person, with the whole arena able to sing along.
From there, he got into what lots of people were waiting for with some hits from past eras, YHLQMDLG and Un Verano Sin Ti. Standouts included “La Santa”, “Efecto”, “Chambea”, and the one song that had the whole crowd going harder than any other: “Safaera“. Sadly, he only teased the beginning portion with Ñengo Flow. I’ve seen some people compare this to the Eras tour for this structure, but I wouldn’t go that far since I think there could have been a bit more of an even spread across albums.
While the show ended with “Where She Goes“, he took plenty of time throughout the two hour show to take breaks and thank the crowd, hop on facetime with a fan’s friend, and seemingly acknowledge Jack Harlow in a suite. His performance was really respectable, as he played almost every song in full, rapping every word with no backing track. That places him in a rare tier of live artists at this popularity level – where you know you’re getting the best production, the best crowd, and some legitimate passion from him.
I highly recommend checking out this tour if you can afford it, even if you’re just a casual fan of Bad Bunny. There’s so much more to it than just some catchy songs you don’t know the lyrics to.