Bad Bunny is performing a series of 30 concerts that fans say are meant to galvanize Puerto Rico’s unique sense of pride and resilience against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, gentrification, and the long-lasting impact of colonialism.

On opening night at El Coliseo de Puerto Rico (or as the locals call it, El Choli), Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio turned the island’s largest venue into something that felt profoundly intimate. What unfolded was a three-hour epic devoted to the place and people who shaped him.