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Wisin Y Yandel
at the American Airlines Arena
Watching your mom and dad grind inappropriately to
“Noche de Sexo” at last year’s New Year’s party. |
By 8:45 p.m., the arena had filled
up almost entirely and the crowd was antsy. With every
cadence, every hint Wisin y Yandel might show up, an
explosion of “Woo!” boomed inside the American Airlines
Arena. Then as the cheesy elevator music faded and a
rumbling bass began to make the floor pulse, the fans roared
with the might of a thousand 17-year-olds. But the fever
pitch came when Yandel’s voice buzzed through the speakers:
“Permission to land?”
What followed was the collective ecstasy of 10,000
adolescent women. Tears of joy, screeches of bliss. It was
something, um, out of this world?
The famous words of Neil Armstrong (“It’s one small step for
man…”) resonated and were interwoven with videos of a moon
landing. Then the mother of all extraterrestrial freaks
appeared on screen with a message complete with language
coding for us to understand. Ladies and gentlemen, Wisin and
Yandel are in the building.
W & Y, a.k.a. the Dynamic Duo, a.k.a. the Extraterrestrials,
are known for a poppy but rap-heavy brand of reggaeton that
is as easy to sing along to as it is to move to.
“Aprovechalo,” one of the more danceable tracks from 2007’s
Los Extraterrestres, started the show on a good note. Now,
you would think American Airlines Arena with its sea of
seating and tight spaces wouldn’t be conducive to the
high-quality ass-shaking produced by the duo’s dem bow
beats. But from the looks of it, it wasn’t stopping anybody.
In front of seats, between rows, by the bathroom entrances
-- people were setting up makeshift dance floors everywhere.
Chicks in skin-tight outfits (the miniskirt dress is a
personal fave) and dudes in glittery graphic tees and faux
hawks found ways to bump and grind while using up as little
space as possible. We are an industrious people.
But the guys knew who they were playing to. All night -- at
least for the few songs they allowed us press folks in to
see -- they were calling out to single women. Predictably,
“Woo!!!” was the standard response.
But at one point Yandel got sensitive, and he reached out to
the women who’d been hurt by Hispanic guys. Apparently we
have a bad reputation. Womanizers, us? It’s a
misunderstanding, says Yandel. We’re just friendly. Just
because a guy has a lot of numbers in his phone doesn’t mean
he’s cheating. Then they followed that with “Pam, Pam,” a
song about sexing up his hot homey-lover-friend.
Unfortunately, the organizers felt the media shouldn’t
experience the entire show. Maybe they wanted to be fair to
the fans who paid $100 a ticket. Maybe they wanted to
maintain some level of mystery a la Roswell. Either way, I
only got to see them perform “Aprovechalo,” “Ahora Es,” “Presion,”
“Siguelo,” and “Yo te Quiero.” Although I did get to see the
intermission.
For the intermission, the crowd was treated to a good
old-fashioned dance off. The boys taking on the girls. At
the beginning of the show the backup dancers were wearing
Disney-like space skin (glowing with green streams) and
creepy masks. But by midway they had assimilated to Earth
customs and were sporting the latest in MTV-approved
“street” gear.
The high-energy dancing was interrupted by the very melodic,
very romantical “Yo Te Quiero,” which featured a Luis Fonsi
(Puerto Rican heartthrob and singer) appearance. This
version was more like the remix in Los Vaqueros, which also
features Fonsi.
After this I was escorted out of the arena with the rest of
my media kin so I couldn’t tell you if the fans were pleased
or pissed. I couldn’t tell you if there was call for an
encore. I couldn’t tell if they played some of their
classics (“Rakata” and “Llame Pa’ Verte” come to mind) but I
could tell you that for the 25 minutes I saw, it was good
shit.
Critic’s Notebook:
Personal Bias: Though the organizers only allowed the press
to stay for all of, oh I don’t know, five songs, I saw
enough ass-shaking to last me a month. Maybe a week. For
sure until Tuesday.
Random Detail: If musical collaborations were sex, Wisin and
Yandel would probably have the claps. They’ve been in
collabos with R. Kelly, Paris Hilton, 50 Cent, Fat Joe,
Lenny Kravitz, and the promiscuous girl herself, Nelly
Furtado, among many, many others.
By the Way: Just because Wisin and Yandel are sporting their
signature D&G look, does not make it OK for you to wear your
sunglasses at night. Inside a dimly lit building.
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