C de Chicago: Rosalía makes Windy City stop on Motomami World Tour

A de Aragon, B de Ballroom, C de Chicago: the stars on the ceiling aligned and brought Rosalía to a historic Uptown venue.

Rosalía's dancers form the now-famous human motorcycle during title track "MOTOMAMI"

We've followed Rosalía since "El Mal Querer" here at Pizza FM, and it seemed fitting to round out this September with a concert review of yesternight's Chicago stop of the Motomami World Tour.

It's refreshing to see Rosalía, a performance-driven artist devoid of live performances during the COVID-19 pandemic, return to Chicago for a second time in her first concert since 2019. Since that year's "El Mal Querer" tour, she's switched out the outdoor feel of Grant Park for the more intimate Aragon Ballroom in Uptown, a venue Rosalía called "iconic" for its history of performers, alongside the city of Chicago itself. She carried a Chicago flag gifted by a fan to the stage and swapped out the C in "Abcdefg" for Chicago, showing love for the city all the while.

Rosalía takes the fan-gifted Chicago flag to her center-stage chair

Pulling from all her three studio albums (Los Ángeles, El Mal Querer, and Motomami), Rosalía's setlist was jam-packed with 31 total tracks. Even recent additions to her discography from Motomami (Deluxe) were performed, including the smash hit "DESPECHÁ" alongside "CHIRI" and "AISLAMIENTO". When she neared the end of her 2-hour set, the fans didn't want to go home, with an overwhelming "sí" from the crowd after Rosalía jokingly asked fans if they wanted her to stay for four hours instead.

Rosalía busts out the flamenco moves and a costume change for "De Plata"

Speaking of speaking with the audience, Rosalía spoke both in English and Spanish while addressing the crowd. Her trilingualness came out when reading a fan's sign written in Catalan, appreciating the warm, Chicago welcome she'd received.

Rosalía interacting with fans stage left

Despite the physical absence of her star-studded collaborators, Rosalía brought a substantial amount of energy when performing her highly successful collaborations, including "Yo X Ti, Tu X Mi", "La Noche de Anoche", "Linda", "Blinding Lights", "Con Altura", "Relación", and "TKN". The lattermost was followed up with a check-in of the audience's well being, in a clear reference to former collaborator Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival crowd crush incident.

Rosalía sings a surprisingly intimate cover of "Perdóname" by La Factoría

Throughout the night, Rosalía effortlessly paired her energetic music with enticing visuals. She heavily utilized portable cameras for creatively repeating visuals onto the background (despite the relative tightness of the venue), even incorporating her dancers as cameramen. And speaking of those dancers, they were technically tight, stylistically diverse, and incredibly adaptive: the show included choreographed running across the stage, forming a human motorcycle and table for Rosalía to sit on, and even busting out scooters for "Chicken Teriyaki".

The aforementioned "CHICKEN TERIYAKI" scooters

Even with a heavy focus on visual elements, Rosalía wasn't afraid to perform on her own throughout the show, even incorporating live guitar into "Dolerme" and doing a solo performance of "Hentai" with a piano.

Rosalía performing "Dolerme"

Rosalía performing "HENTAI"

While it's unlikely Rosalía will ever perform in a 5,000 capacity venue in Chicago again, this show was so wonderfully intimate in comparison to a stadium show that I congratulate Rosalía's booking team on selecting this venue for Chicago. It was intimate enough to make friends in line (s/o Kujas and Ana!) and compact enough to actually see Rosalía's face when it wasn't projected behind her. This optimal venue for this more-than-amazing performance was a highlight of my concert coverage in the past year-and-a-half. If you're near a future stop of the Motomami World Tour, consider it a must-see.

Enjoy the Chicago edition of Rosalía's "BIZCOCHITO" chew

All images © Federico Hernandez Nater 2022. Thanks to Kujas and Ana for befriending me in the Fast Lane line, suggesting to grab some food afterwards, and making my reporting a success during the concert. Thanks also to the Aragon Ballroom staff, especially those who spoke with me over the phone. A million very large thanks to Celia for making this reporting possible.And thanks, of course, to Rosalía and her team.

Full Disclosure: I briefly worked at Live Nation (the ticketing agent for the Aragon Ballroom) as a production runner in 2019, though that did not influence my decision in writing this coverage. In fact, all my photography credential applications through Live Nation (including Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga, Lil Nas X, Bleachers, Kendrick Lamar, and this Rosalía concert) were rejected. For this show in particular, no outside photography coverage was allowed——my pictures were shot on a cellphone.