Rauw Alejandro Turns His Past, Present & Future Into a Three-Act Spectacle at Forest Hills Stadium: ‘2027

The Puerto Rican star discussed Red Bull Chapters, a production that fused his personal history with an athletic approach to live performance.

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The opening chapter began with images of the Caribbean Sea and the sun, accompanied by a narrated portrait of Puerto Rico as the place where mountains, ocean and city meet.

The story connected Taíno, African and Spanish influences with salsa, reggaetón and rock — sounds that entered Rauw’s life through his grandfather, his own early ambitions and his father, guitarist Raúl Ocasio.

That history gained new resonance in Billboard’s interview, when Rauw spoke about growing up around his father and grandfather, both musicians. His grandfather was a trovador; his father played guitar, composed and introduced him to Elvis Presley, James Brown and other American oldies while salsa played in the family’s orbit.

Rauw also recalled secretly buying his first reggaetón record as a child, at a time when the genre was not yet embraced by everyone around him.

The mood shifted between intimacy and showmanship. “2/Catorce” prompted a full-crowd singalong, while “Club El Calentero” lit the stadium in neon colors. In between songs, Rauw spoke about the uncertainty of inspiration — how a song can begin with a word, a melody or a rhythm that simply creates a feeling before its meaning becomes clear.

That idea became physical during “Tú Con Él,” his cover of Frankie Ruiz’s classic. Backed by a full band — including guitarists, a keyboardist and percussionists — Rauw delivered the song with an ease that made the homage feel less like a detour than a conversation between generations of Puerto Rican music.

The action was not confined to interludes. Extreme-sports imagery — snowboarders, ice skaters and surfers — flashed across the screens as Rauw’s live performance continued, turning athletic risk into a visual metaphor for the decisions that propel an artist from one era into the next.

The production’s narration asked how someone holds onto the hunger that first fueled them, and what it takes to leap into the unknown without knowing whether they will fly or fall.

That idea also connected to the musical openness Rauw inherited from his family. “My father taught me to be more open and to listen to more music,” he told Billboard Español.

Cosa Nuestra remained important context rather than the show’s central subject. The album — and its 2025 follow-up, Cosa Nuestra: Capítulo 0 — established Rauw’s interest in theatrical world-building, New York’s Puerto Rican history and the relationship between tradition and contemporary urbano.

Red Bull Chapters expanded that vocabulary by making the act of taking a risk part of the narrative itself.

The performance then accelerated into the hits and collaborations that defined Rauw’s global ascent. “Todo De Ti” and “Carita Linda” were among the night’s biggest crowd reactions, while the live band gave the songs a muscular, concert-scale energy.

Acknowledging that returning home is not always easy for people balancing family, work and personal struggles, he urged the audience to stay connected to the island.

For the final chapter, Rauw emerged in an all-white leather look: ’70s-inspired pants, chains, a vest and aviator sunglasses, his reddish hair styled into another distinct character.

The change was more than a costume shift. It signaled a move away from biography and toward possibility.

Tainy appeared behind the decks as Rauw called for New York to make itself heard, while Chencho Corleone later joined him for “Desesperados,” one of the evening’s most euphoric moments.

The final act primarily explored the future of Rauw’s sound through a more futuristic visual language and a freer mixture of reggaetón, R&B, electronic music and pop.

The concert’s production continually opened new doors — new colors, new characters, new arrangements — without abandoning the physicality that has always made Rauw one of Latin music’s most compelling live performers.

Red Bull Chapters ultimately worked best when it treated Rauw’s career as an unfinished experiment. The show used the familiar ingredients of his story — Puerto Rico, New York, the Nuyorican diaspora, dance, theatricality, genre-crossing and an instinct for spectacle — but placed them inside a structure that made transformation the point.

At Forest Hills, Rauw was not just revisiting the inspirations, hits and eras that brought him here — he was demonstrating that every new chapter requires another leap.

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