‘Cosa Nuestra’ Tour in Puerto Rico

As New York City celebrated Boricua pride during Puerto Rican Day Parade activities this weekend, superstar Rauw Alejandro brought a little bit of the Big Apple back to the island. The multi-hyphenate kicked off four nights of his acclaimed Cosa Nuestra tour at San Juan’s José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, sharing the Nuyorican influence that’s been front and center of the album with his fans at home.

The visual and sonic aesthetics of the project borrow from the culture that brewed in Nuyorican communities in the Sixties and Seventies. For his tour, Rauw invited his fans to embrace the theme, urging them to dress up and experience the evening as if they were heading out to Spanish Harlem or the “Loisaida” (“Lower East Side” to you). His previous two concerts were both inspired by the sci-fi visuals of his albums Saturno and its spinoff Playa Saturno. This time, the retro flair of decades past informed every detail of the San Juan shows, from actors walking around the venue in era-appropriate wardrobe, staying in character and role-playing scenarios in front of amused fans, to special activation rooms set up as the kind of smokey bars and lounges you could imagine Fania legends and/or mobsters mingling in after a long day of getting up to no good.

The show itself had all the hallmarks of a musical, playing out over three hours. Rauw Alejandro has spent the bulk of his career proclaiming himself a showman, openly espousing his love for Michael Jackson, Usher, and Chris Brown. His dance moves have always been a centerpiece of his shows, and he’s never been better than he was here. The Puerto Rico stops mark the midpoint of his tour dates, serving as a segue from his U.S. dates and his Latin America/Europe stops later this year. As is often the case, being back home seems to have lit a potent fuse under the production. Sequences where bomba (“Carita Linda”) and salsa (“Aguanile,” “Tú Con Él”) reverberate more on these nights, and Rauw even managed to smuggle a specific reference: “On the island of the coquí, whoever doesn’t like their song, has got to leave” he ad libs at one point, a direct shot at recent controversy that’s involved Americans on the archipelago complaining about coquí frogs on social media, and even inquiring about ways to exterminate them.

The show is centered around a specific plot that ties everything together. Rauw presents the colorful story of the lead character, named Raúl. An artist with deep mob ties, Raúl meets and falls for “María,” played by the outstandingly talented dancer Akira Rivera. Through the setlist, made up of Cosa Nuestra and prior hits, Raúl courts María, his infatuation becoming dangerous as María slowly reveals she’s not who she says she is. All this plays out in between moments where he addresses the crowd, giving his thoughts on relationships, gassing up “strong, independent women” and warning them to stay away from mediocre suitors, and of course making sure — with a flirty smile and a wink — that people know he’s not one of those. He packed the San Juan shows with buzzy guest stars, including hometown acts like Omar Courtz (“S E X P L A Y L I S T 1”), Marconi Impara with Yan Block (“Espresso Martini”), Alexis & Fido (“Baja Pa’ Aca”), and Mexican pop group Latin Mafia for their hit “2:12.”

For those in attendance, the performances were a chance to experience Cosa Nuestra just as the characters in the story do. The skinny kid from Carolina has become one of the biggest urbano acts in the world, and for many it’s been a thrill to see him create a project that celebrates cultural exchanges between Puerto Rico and those in the diaspora. Where Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS mostly stayed inside Boriken’s borders and the sounds that were born within, Rauw explored the effects of a musical melting pot. As the show’s host Gilberto Gómez shares at one point, salsa, for example, wouldn’t exist without the combination of “drums from Africa, clave and timbales from Latin America, piano from Europe, and horns from American jazz.”

What comes next for Rauw, after the full tour is completed, is more open than ever. Cosa Nuestra demonstrated that his ceiling is skyscraper-high, and anything he does next will undoubtedly be compared to his efforts here. But as his shows prove, his creativity, discipline, charisma, and talent can take him wherever he wants to go — from the far reaches of space to back in time — so the future is boundless as ever. 

Set List

“Punto 40”
“Il Capo”
“Panties Y Brasieres”
“Dejame Entrar”
“Santa”
“Mil Mujeres”
Medley: “Tattoo,” “Fantasias, “El Efecto”
“Desesperados”
“Revolu”
“Committed”
“La Old Skul”
“No Me Sueltes”
Medley: “Touching The Sky” “Todo de Ti”
“Carita Linda”
“Amar De Nuevo”
“2/Catorce”
“SexPlaylist”
“Diluvio”
Medley: “Khe?,” “Pensandote”
“Se Fue”
“Pasaporte”
Medley: “Cosa Guapa,” “Baby Hello,” “Pasaporte”
“Ni Me Conozco”
“Cosa Nuestra”
“Tu Con El”
“Espresso Martini”
“Lluvia con Nieve”
Medley: Ronca,” “Baja Pa Aca”
“Que Pasaria”
“Lokera”
“2:12am”
“Desenfocao”
“SEXXXMACHINE”