{"id":339583,"date":"2026-09-06T22:24:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T22:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/339583\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T22:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T22:24:15","slug":"rauw-alejandro-on-red-bull-chapters-nyc-show-and-2027-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/339583\/","title":{"rendered":"Rauw Alejandro on Red Bull Chapters, NYC Show and 2027 Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tForest Hills Stadium already feels like a kind of time capsule. Tucked inside Queens, its Tudor-style cottages and intimate village-like pathways create the sensation of stepping into a storybook hidden inside New York City. On Saturday night (Sept. 5), that atmosphere became the setting for Rauw Alejandro\u2019s<\/a> own living storybook: a three-act performance that moved from the Puerto Rican roots and musical influences that shaped him to the superstar he is now \u2014 and the artist he is still becoming.<\/p>\n

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See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show \u2014 Red Bull Chapters featuring Rauw Alejandro \u2014 was initially scheduled for one night. After that date sold out quickly, a second performance was added for Sunday (Sept. 6), giving the event an unexpected momentum even before its first chapter began. It also marked Red Bull\u2019s first Chapters project centered on a recording artist, following the brand\u2019s long history of building platforms around athletes, action sports and culture \u2014 including its influential Red Bull Batalla freestyle<\/a> competition.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat distinction mattered. This was not simply a Rauw Alejandro concert with Red Bull branding layered onto it. The production asked what might happen when Rauw\u2019s theatrical concert language met the brand\u2019s appetite for movement, risk and spectacle.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne day before the show, Rauw told Billboard over Zoom that the collaboration was intended to merge \u201cthe world of extreme sports, the world of sports, with the world of art and music.\u201d He added: \u201cIt\u2019s literally Rauw and Red Bull. It\u2019s not like Rauw Alejandro and Red Bull separately \u2014 it\u2019s a fusion between the two worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe performance made that fusion visible. Its three chapters were titled \u201cInspiration,\u201d \u201cMomentum\u201d and \u201cLegacy,\u201d turning his career into a past-present-future narrative. Rather than treating his catalog as a straight chronology, the show presented his evolution as a series of leaps: from family, island and sound; to global momentum; to the risks required to keep moving forward.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tRauw Alejandro performs during the inaugural Red Bull Chapters at Forest Hills Stadium on Sept. 05, 2026 in New York City. Credit: Taylor Hill \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty Images<\/p>\n

\t\tInspiration\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 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 Ta\u00edno, African and Spanish influences with salsa, reggaet\u00f3n and rock \u2014 sounds that entered Rauw\u2019s life through his grandfather, his own early ambitions and his father, guitarist Ra\u00fal Ocasio.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat history gained new resonance in Billboard\u2019s interview<\/a>, 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\u2019s orbit. Rauw also recalled secretly buying his first reggaet\u00f3n record as a child, at a time when the genre was not yet embraced by everyone around him.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI grew up in an environment with a lot of musical variety,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that marked me a lot, and it\u2019s reflected in my art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe opened the concert with \u201cSanta,\u201d his collaboration with Rvssian and Ayra Starr, dressed in a brown studded leather jacket, dark sunglasses and matching pants. After welcoming the audience to the inaugural Red Bull Chapters with him, he framed the night as an opportunity to share the experiences that had brought him to that stage.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe mood shifted between intimacy and showmanship. \u201c2\/Catorce\u201d prompted a full-crowd singalong, while \u201cClub El Calentero\u201d lit the stadium in neon colors. In between songs, Rauw spoke about the uncertainty of inspiration \u2014 how a song can begin with a word, a melody or a rhythm that simply creates a feeling before its meaning becomes clear.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat idea became physical during \u201cT\u00fa Con \u00c9l,\u201d his cover of Frankie Ruiz\u2019s classic. Backed by a full band \u2014 including guitarists, a keyboardist and percussionists \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

\t\tMomentum\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe transition into the second chapter introduced the production\u2019s most overtly athletic language. A skateboarding structure rolled onto the stage as performers in Joker-like helmets executed tricks with fire blazing behind them. Later, daredevil motorcyclists performed wheelies and other stunts while Rauw changed into a black leather look with a rocker edge.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe action was not confined to interludes. Extreme-sports imagery \u2014 snowboarders, ice skaters and surfers \u2014 flashed across the screens as Rauw\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat idea also connected to the musical openness Rauw inherited from his family. \u201cMy father taught me to be more open and to listen to more music,\u201d he told Billboard Espa\u00f1ol. \u201cI grew up with a lot of musical variety, and I think that marked me a lot and is reflected in my art.\u201d In the show, that variety took shape through genre shifts, live instrumentation and reimagined arrangements.<\/p>\n

\n\tCosa Nuestra\u00a0remained important context rather than the show\u2019s central subject. The album \u2014 and its 2025 follow-up,\u00a0Cosa Nuestra: Cap\u00edtulo 0 \u2014 established Rauw\u2019s interest in theatrical world-building, New York\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe performance then accelerated into the hits and collaborations that defined Rauw\u2019s global ascent. \u201cTodo De Ti\u201d and \u201cCarita Linda\u201d were among the night\u2019s biggest crowd reactions, while the live band gave the songs a muscular, concert-scale energy.<\/p>\n

\n\tRauw also used the second chapter to address the Puerto Rican diaspora directly. \u201cThere are approximately six million Puerto Ricans outside the island, while Puerto Rico itself has only three million,\u201d he told the Forest Hills crowd. \u201cPuerto Rico needs us \u2014 the people who are there every day, but also those of us who are here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAcknowledging 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. \u201cWe can\u2019t allow them to slowly take away our beautiful island and keep what belongs to us \u2014 our culture, our identity,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to take care of Puerto Rico together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tLegacy\t<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the final chapter, Rauw emerged in an all-white leather look: \u201970s-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.<\/p>\n

\n\tTainy appeared behind the decks as Rauw called for New York to make itself heard, while Chencho Corleone later joined him for \u201cDesesperados,\u201d one of the evening\u2019s most euphoric moments.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe final act primarily explored the future of Rauw\u2019s sound through a more futuristic visual language and a freer mixture of reggaet\u00f3n, R&B, electronic music and pop. The concert\u2019s production continually opened new doors \u2014 new colors, new characters, new arrangements \u2014 without abandoning the physicality that has always made Rauw one of Latin music\u2019s most compelling live performers.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat forward motion also echoed what he told Billboard Espa\u00f1ol about what comes next. Rauw said October will bring several collaborations, including artists from Puerto Rico and international acts, but that \u201c2027 will be completely Ra\u00fal\u201d \u2014 a year focused on his own next project.<\/p>\n

\n\tRed Bull Chapters ultimately worked best when it treated Rauw\u2019s career as an unfinished experiment. The show used the familiar ingredients of his story \u2014 Puerto Rico, New York, the Nuyorican diaspora, dance, theatricality, genre-crossing and an instinct for spectacle \u2014 but placed them inside a structure that made transformation the point. <\/p>\n

\n\tAt Forest Hills, Rauw was not just revisiting the inspirations, hits and eras that brought him here \u2014 he was demonstrating that every new chapter requires another leap. \u201cI\u2019m still in a creative process after\u00a0Cosa Nuestra, which was a huge tour,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m taking my time to find that inspiration again, to keep studying and see what the muse tells me is next \u2014 which direction I should go.\u201d<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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