While much of New York’s Latin American community was likely concerned about friends and family in Florida and the Caribbean islands Sunday night, thousands of people found comfort in the music of raggaeton stars Nicky Jam and Plan B during their stop at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.
Puerto Rican duo, Plan B, took the stage with a bang shortly before 8 p.m. and the crowd immediately jumped to its feet to dance for the entirety of the band’s set.
Adoring fans sang along with almost every tune and shouted out lyrics when the duo pointed their mics to the audience numerous times throughout the show.
Plan B closed out its strong and upbeat set with a showering of confetti and smoke guns, in true reggaeton fashion, before giving way to the main event.
After a short break, the theater lights dimmed and a video montage showing some of Nicky Jam’s biggest successes was splattered across the stage’s enormous screens.
As the musical intro to Jam’s hit ‘El Ganador’ began to play, the audience went wild as they searched the dark stage for the man they came to see.
“Parece un sueño, un Lambo y un Grammy,” (It looks like a dream, a Lambo and a Grammy) he began, referring to his 2015 Latin Grammy Award for Best Urban Performance.
The singer remained in shadow as he rapped through the first track of his album, Fenix, at a slower tempo — almost teasing the audience — before finishing out the song in rapid fire.
Raggaeton began in the underground music scene of Puerto Rico in the early 1990s, where Jam moved to with his family in 1992, before losing and re-finding his musical groove in Colombia in the 2000s.
The music itself is characterized by the dembow beat and is a fusion of Latin rhythms, dancehall and hip-hop music.
That fusion, juxtaposed with the intimacy of the venue, made for an exciting performance that had the entire audience engaged and dancing throughout the night.
The near-sellout crowd was as diverse as the city streets outside, consisting of men, women and children of all ages and ethnicities.
When ‘Hasta el Amanecer’ blasted through the speakers, the theater seemed more like a dance hall than a music venue.
Jam knew exactly how to work the audience, as he strutted back-and-forth across the stage throughout his performance. And, naturally, he showed off his Latino background with hip-thrusting dance moves and salsa steps during the more sensual breakdowns in his songs.
He was clearly having fun on this night, as his signature pearly-white smile regularly beamed between verses.
It was also clear that Jam has a lot of admiration and respect for his crew of dancers, backup singers and musicians. He more-than-once turned the spotlight to his talented guitarist, who gave a beautiful acoustic solo during “De Pies a Cabaeza.”
His backup singers took the stage to perform the Black Eyed Peas hit, “I Gotta Feeling” during a short break while dancers threw beach balls into the crowd to keep the energy high.
During the final break, Desiigner’s “Panda,” a playful riff on Nicky Jam’s dark panda-like circles around his eyes, and Migos “Bad and Boujee” played while Jam’s male dancers freestyled to the delight of the women in the audience.
Jam showed love to his fans throughout the night, even jumping down from the stage twice to hug, shake hands and kiss his loving fans.
He closed out his show with “El Perdon,” a song that reached the top of the charts as a duet with Enrique Iglesias — another Latin artist known for his angelic voice.
Jam showed confidence in his own pipes, though, as he easily glided through the song by himself.
After a touching moment with a lucky female fan in the front row where Jam sang directly to her, he hopped back on stage and thanked the audience for their support. He then performed the sign of the cross and knelt down to kiss the stage before disappearing into the darkness.
Jam left the crowd wanting more, as most of the audience stayed at their seats and chanted, “¡Otra! ¡Otra!” to no avail.
Nicky Jam and Plan B will continue their tour Friday night in Reading, Pa.
