By barnaby
Boy Golden, Bob Moses, July Talk, The Beaches, Metric, Dear Rouge, The Glorious Sons, Arkells, Billy Talent, The Darcys, Monowhales, Anyway Gang, Mother Mother, and Dear Rouge stand out in the year-end Alt category.
Lunay at RBC Amphitheatre in TorontoGabriel Di Sante / Billboard Canada
Arcángel's set kicked off with a cinematic black-and-white intro showcasing the seven wonders of the world, inspired by Arcángel's trip to the seven landmarks within seven days, leading up to his album La 8va Maravilla ("The Eighth Wonder"). He immediately launched into his 2008 hit "Pa Que La Pases Bien," engaging an enthusiastic crowd that danced and sang under the summer sun to the glitzy, mid-2000s reggaeton track.
He provided comical energy throughout the evening, dancing around to his own songs and giving a shout-out to the single ladies in the crowd, in true reggaeton concert fashion. "Let's take advantage of this hour and a half that we have together," he told the packed audience in Spanish, before launching into more classics.
Arcangel at Beachclub in Montreal Lucas Domínguez / Billboard Canada
During "Aparentemente," an R&B-infused hit taken from Arcángel's days as a duo with De La Ghetto, the DJ filtered out the vocals, highlighting the crowd singing every lyric word for word. The Latin artist introduced the cut by pointing out how the song is 20 years old, speaking to the longevity of his career. He also proudly proclaimed his elegant, crooner cut "Por Amar A Ciegas" as the most romantic song in the history of the Latin urban genre, before leading the crowd into the ballad.
Arcángel made several addresses to the audience, cracking jokes about how if a man starts dating a woman and brings up the men she's previously spoken to, that he "deserves to die," and later doing a bit on how men are "so stupid when it comes to cheating."
In between these moments, he continued to deliver a slew of hits, including the thumping dembow track "Que Sensacion" and a series of his popular remix verses on reggaeton and trap songs with the likes of Bad Bunny, Myke Towers and many more, during a segment in the show's second half that he called "Welcome to the remix," titled after his iconic tagline.
Nearing the end of the show, the singer also brought out his son Austin San to perform a few songs, sharing a wholesome moment with the up-and-coming Latin artist. It felt like a passing of the torch from one of the genre's most emblematic figures, who had just commanded a Montreal audience for an hour and a half under the blazing summer sun while cycling through 20 years of successful and fan-favourite material spanning diverse musical styles.
Arcangel at Beachclub in MontrealLucas Domínguez / Billboard Canada
The La 8va Maravilla tour continues this summer with a series of Latin American dates, before heading to the U.S. in October and wrapping up with a homecoming show at the iconic José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum of Puerto Rico on Dec. 11. Find the full list of tour dates here.
