The Perreo Palace is ready to receive its subjects. Thousands of people from all over the world come to the castle gates to say goodbye to their king. Necklaces, hats, miniskirts, glasses, tennis shoes and glitter… The “Cacos” and the “Yales” made their most beautiful dresses to say goodbye. The air smells of nostalgia and expensive perfumes.
Behind the spirit of celebration lies the strange feeling of dread that accompanies the closing of a chapter. This is the stop at the end of the street. Everyone knows it, but no one says it. You are here to be part of history because it is the last night in Barrio Fino.
As if it were an event of international significance, flags of other countries can be seen everywhere, as close as Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Canada and as far away as Greece, Germany and Japan, to name a few.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of the queues and the countless people taking photos, a man and his son chat as they wait for their turn.
“We came here to enjoy a while and see the legend of Puerto Rico, Daddy Yankee. It’s my boy’s first concert, I brought him here so he can enjoy it,” explains Omy Roldán, who arrived here on Sunday evening with his son Dayven.
—Do you remember the first time you heard Daddy Yankee’s music?
“I’m 44 years old, so I come from Playero and all the surrounding areas there. I remember Yankee from his childhood, the concerts and parties we held as marquees. I saw Yankee when he had a mustache, when he shaved it, all his developments and those of the people of the genre.”
—Dayven, what do you think about being here and being able to share this moment with your father?
“Uh… same thing he said,” the boy replies, eliciting laughter from his father.
“He is nervous because it is his first concert. He meets with Yankee, who is now retired, but I tell him a lot about what Yankee used to be like, in his early days. This will be his last concert, but he leaves a legacy and his songs will live on. He may disappear from the stage, but in music he will always be there.“, says Omy and looks at his son with a somewhat hopeful look.
The doors to the Puerto Rico Coliseum then open. The party in the palace is about to start.
Inside, time becomes an illusion. People look for food, drinks and even sing the hits of “El Cangri” out of tune at karaoke. A family of three walks through the halls looking for their places for the night. Milcelis Cruz, Héctor Arroyo and their child Derek came to share this moment together.
“I went to all of Daddy Yankee’s concerts and couldn’t miss the last one,” Milcelis explains.
At her side, her husband Héctor remembers with appreciation the years of her youth and early adulthood when they secretly played in nightclubs and festival tents.
“And we still twerk,” he says with a laugh. “I heard it before ‘El Cangri.com’ and everything that was released at the time and promoted ‘Barrio Fino’ a lot until it came out.”
His son, a teenager of about 14 or 15, sees the moment as an opportunity. It’s a fleeting window into an important period in the musical genre that most shaped his generation.
“I want to have a good time and enjoy it. I’ve never seen it before and I want it to give me the best so I can feel what they felt several times too,” Derek said.
This is certainly not the first time that Daddy Yankee has filled the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Puerto Rico. In fact, until recently it held the record for the most performances at the venue, which was later surpassed by another legendary reggaeton duo. What’s special about this evening is that it will definitely be the last time that the artist who made the genre a global phenomenon will appear on stage.
The reasons for Yankee’s retirement were never entirely clear, but when he announced his final world tour last year, there was no doubt that “La Meta” would end in Puerto Rico.
Very few artists have the privilege of leaving such a profound mark on the world. It is true that Yankee’s career has not been without controversy, some for creative reasons, others for personal reasons, but his role as one of the fathers of reggaeton is beyond question. That’s perhaps why people from all over the world came to see it on Sunday night, to witness firsthand the final pages of one of Latin music’s most important stories.
The Colosseum is filled to capacity and in the vastness of the space it is impossible not to feel small. But when the concert starts, the feeling changes. After a complex dynamic involving what looks like a spaceship, Yankee appears on a Puerto Rico-shaped platform in front of the stage. When he shows up, the “Big Boss” looks like he has looked like this his entire career. It’s impressive how little his appearance has changed in more than 20 years.
Dressed entirely in black and framed with glasses, the king takes the microphone to his mouth and begins the evening. Beneath his words, an old-school style track, mixed live by another father of reggaeton, gives the moment an ethereal power.
“Puerto Rico, DJ Playero is in the house tonight, starting with the ‘Underground’, the creators of the urban movement… one, two… one, two, three,” and with that begins a journey into the past. “They all want me dead at my funeral and I say no, oh no, oh no…”
In the first section of the concert, Daddy Yankee goes through the first songs he ever sang. And as he sings them today from the country’s premier music venue, Yankee continues to sing them the way he did when he first recorded them, in a makeshift, low-income studio at a time when one could imagine couldn’t imagine being here today.
“Thank you, Playero, my general, for always being with me,” Yankee says. “It’s a good thing I started my career with myself and am ending it with you, teacher.”
After his journey into the past, Yankee climbs onto a kind of floating platform that moves back and forth in the Colosseum and from there sings some of his most famous songs from the golden age of reggaeton. Successes of his most important music productions such as “Barrio Fino”, which strengthened reggaeton as a genre and shaped an entire generation.
Throughout the evening, Yankee changes outfits several times, giving voice to some of his most commercial songs, one of the concert’s few weaknesses, but he remains true to his vision of sharing important fragments of his career.
Of course, collaborations don’t take long to arrive. Rauw Alejandro is one of the first artists to take the stage to sing alongside Yankee, enlivening and filling with youthful emotions the spirits of all the young people who arrived at the Colosseum this evening.
“Always respect and admiration,” Yankee tells young Rauw as their time together ends. Short and short words, but not insignificant.
During the final part of the night, a large statue of Daddy Yankee appears on stage, with lights and images projected onto it, as a living monument to the artist’s career. It’s almost symbolic, because for a figure like Yankee, the only thing bigger than his person is his image. And there it is, like a great shadow, a reminder of the humanity of the man and the greatness of the artist.
The last guests of the evening appear almost surprisingly. During the performance of “Despacito,” Luis Fonsi appears and accompanies Yankee on stage along with Zuleyka Rivera. The song rekindles “Choliseo.” In the end, the exchange between the artists is brief. They thank each other, say goodbye and leave.
The excitement surrounding “Despacito” is short-lived, however, because the biggest moment of the evening is approaching and everyone knows it. Yankee returns to his large floating platform and begins to tell the story of probably the most important song in reggaeton. As he speaks, two long platforms descend from the ceiling, revealing two exotic cars ready to race. Nationalities, accents, differences and difficulties disappear for a moment and all the voices of the world come together as one.
“Zúmbale mambo, so that my cat starts the engines…” they shout.
As the people sing, Yankee floats between the cars, a scarf in his hand, ready to give the signal. The cars begin to accelerate and rev their engines, and the entire Colosseum vibrates to the sounds of the choir that changed musical history.
“She likes gas, give me more gas. She loves gas, give me more gas…”
When Yankee gives the signal with his scarf, the cars in the Choliseo begin a race that serves as a spectacular conclusion to a concert that looks like something out of a movie. Between confetti, screams and tears, Daddy Yankee makes his final appearance. It’s the perfect moment. Among thousands of fans from all over the world, the father of reggaeton, the king of the night and the discos, says goodbye to the stage. But not without saying a few words that change everything.
Suddenly the music stops and the lights go out.
“This day is the most important day of my life,” Yankee begins. “I want to share them with you because living a successful life is not the same as living a life of meaning. For a long time I tried to fill a void in my life that no one could fill. I tried to fill my life and find meaning in it, and sometimes I seemed very happy. But something was missing to complete me. And I must confess that someone has managed to fill this void that I felt for a long time. I could see that he was someone to everyone, but I was nothing without him.”
In the final minutes of his final talk, Yankee explains that he has committed his life to Christ and that it was this decision that led him to choose retirement. The story of Daddy Yankee is over, he says, and a new one is beginning under the name Raymond Ayala. All the tools he owns, such as music, social networks, platforms and microphones, will now belong to “the kingdom,” he says, but not before inviting his audience to follow the same path.
“Thank you so much, God bless you. “Christ loves you and Christ is coming, don’t forget it,” he says as he leaves the stage for the last time.
“I have reached the goal, I am free! “Amen!” he shouts, laughing, as Daddy Yankee disappears from the world forever.
The ending is unexpected. Some celebrate his words, others don’t know what to do with them. But after all, life goes in cycles. Where one chapter ends, another begins. These are the rules of the road. These are things that happen in Barrio Fino.