Bad Bunny is starting a tour in SLC, which is big for Latino music lovers

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Why is the worldwide music sensation kicking off its North American tour this week at the Delta Center?

For Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican singer-rapper who is kicking off his “Most Wanted Tour” in Salt Lake City Wednesday night — the first of 47 shows in 31 cities — he put it down to good times and support from Utah’s growing Latino fan base.

Bad Bunny’s shows are the “highest-grossing single-day concerts” in the Delta Center’s nearly 33-year history, said Mark Powell, the arena’s senior vice president of events.

As Bad Bunny was planning the tour, Powell said, his agent reached out directly to the Delta Center.

“He had heard that this was a great market for Latinx shows,” Powell said.

Powell said the numbers back that up. For each Delta Center show, he said, the arena conducts a post-concert survey to gauge how positively people feel about the show. “A good (survey) score is usually around 30 to 35,” Powell said. “For all of our Latinx shows, we have an average (survey) score of 70, which is off the charts.”

Powell cited the Delta Center’s success with Mexican singer-songwriter Caryn Leon, who has played the arena twice in the past two years.

“When Caryn Leon first came out, she was a very small, independent promoter based out of Mexico,” Powell said. After the show, Powell said Leon “told us … that he would tell all his friends what a great place this was to play.”

Last year, acts like Banda MS, Christian Nodal and Peso Pluma also played the Delta Center. Pluma played its first U.S. arena show here last June, and it sold out in three weeks, Powell said.

Powell said the Delta Center has seven to 10 more shows by Latin artists in 2024. Mexican singer Luis Miguel is scheduled to play there on April 28. And Colombian singer Feed, also known as Furxo, is set to perform there on May 15. Part of his “Ferxxocalypsis” tour of North America.

In the next few months, other Salt Lake County venues are bringing in acts such as Colombian singer-songwriter Andres Cepeda, Mexican rock bands Cafenes and Cafe Tacobba, Mexican singer Xavi, Mexican groupera trio Los Temerarios and Mexican rock band Miniscula Miniscula. and jumbo.

“That style of music is really exploding nationally, and Salt Lake is no different,” Powell said.

According to a study released in October by entertainment data company Luminet and reported in Daily Variety, music in Spanish is now listened to more in the United States than music in any language other than English — and one out of every 13 songs streamed is in Spanish. .

A musician makes history

Bad Bunny is one of the acts leading the surge — making history as the first Spanish-language artist to be Spotify’s most globally streamed artist of 2020, as charted by Billboard, a feat it repeated in 2021 and 2022. The juggernaut that is Taylor Swift knocked her off the top spot last year.)

Bad Bunny’s 2021 “El Ultimo Tour del Mundo” became the fastest-selling tour since 2018. His 2022 album “Un Verano Sin T” spent 13 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 chart — and went on to win Best Musica Urbana. The album was nominated for Album of the Year at the 65th Grammy Awards.

Last year, he became the first Spanish-language artist to close a set at Coachella. Under his given name, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, he has also starred in the films “Bullet Train” with Brad Pitt and “Cassandro” with Gael García Bernal.

His hallmark is the combination of reggaeton and trap that he consistently stands by, harkening back to his Caribbean roots.

This is the music that Jeff Quispe heard on the radio that got him interested in Bad Bunny. Quispe, who is from Peru and lives in Utah, said he has been a fan since the artist’s debut album, “X 100pre (Por Siempre)” in 2018.

“In Latin America, we hear a lot of reggaeton, trap, salsa, bachata,” Quispe said. “X 100pre,” he added, “was more like a trap album than reggaeton. I love that album. And then, basically, the rest is history.

Bad Bunny kicking off his tour in Salt Lake City is a “huge advantage” for local fans, Quispe said. “I don’t have to travel to Vegas or other places to see it.”

Quisp said he’s seen Bad Bunny live twice before, but didn’t have tickets for the show — he wasn’t selected for Ticketmaster’s famous presale codes, and the tickets were too expensive back then. (Powell said ticket prices are controlled by the artist.) Quisp said he’s hopeful of snagging a ticket somehow.

Ann Clark, 56, has tickets for Wednesday’s show. Her children introduced her to Bad Bunny, she said, and she’s been a fan since 2021. She doesn’t speak Spanish, but the language barrier isn’t a problem, she said.

“I don’t understand what he’s singing, I just love the beat,” she said. “Music fascinates me without knowing it.”

Quisp said part of Bad Bunny’s legacy is that its fans transcend world and language barriers. It’s a toss-up, he said, whether some fans will pick up on his Spanish slang references.

Abram Spencer, another fan, serves a mission in Mexico for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is fluent in Spanish.

“When I first got there, all I heard was Bad Bunny, and I fell in love with it. It was like a connection,” Spencer said. “So when I got home, I dug deeper into Bad Bunny and I found songs I’d never heard before that I really like.” What really sticks out for Spencer, he said, is how Bad Bunny can craft songs about heartbreak.

A great place to start

Starting the tour at the Delta Center is also a product of fortunate timing, Powell said. The arena’s most prominent tenants, the Utah Jazz, will have a few days off for Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game.

That break, Powell said, is giving Bad Bunny extra time in the arena before Wednesday’s show.

“He knew right away that this would be a great place to rehearse the tour before he went out,” Powell said.

“Bad Bunny is, right now, in my opinion, the No. 1 Latin artist in the world,” Quispe said. “Him starting his tour here in Salt Lake City could open up the city to other artists coming in and maybe doing the opening night of his tour here. … It’s hard for a Latino artist, especially, to break into other markets, so that’s really impressive.”

As for “Most Wanted Tour,” perhaps Bad Bunny’s words say it best: “River sabe lo que wa pasar manna. No lunch to spare. Pork quiz as no lo vulvas a ver” — or, in English, “Nobody knows tomorrow.” What’s gonna happen. Don’t let it slip away. ‘Cause you’ll never see it again.

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