The orchestra played whimsical notes from the center of the stage, while Rosalía, on the charming semicircular stage, sang with her heart in her hands the aria Mio Cristo piange diamanti, her voice of ice and fire, crystal clear and fleshy at the same time. In front, 16,000 people were catapulted into the stratosphere by the fourth song in a baroque ecstasy for collective shivers.
The Spanish star started her world tour of Lux in the French city of Lyon on Monday, in a packed sports arena that enthusiastically applauded Rosalía's music. Sometimes the songs flowed gently, but most of the time they unleashed, just like herself, who started crying with emotion at the beginning of the show (then laughed a lot and made jokes, don't worry: she was in her element).
Her music is a rapture that emerges from combining elements that clash like explosive molecules. Rosalía handles a vast range of musical styles, sounds, messages, and emotions, pushing them to the extreme, even when doing covers like Can't Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli. Hence, the great challenge of her concerts is to give coherence to this whirlwind where there are songs of lust and others of God; where she sometimes sings vulnerable ballads (a specialty of hers) and other times cheeky swaggering tunes ("Bizcochito!"); where delicate intimate moments can prevail or colossal baroque extravagance; where mutant flamenco can be heard (not much tonight) or wild Latin vibes (with strings), or urban music or electronic beats, or avant-garde symphonic arrangements, or everything mixed up, because how much commotion, Rosalía, and what frenzy, and such intensity, my goodness.
It's this play of extremes that drives the concert from start to finish. The Lux tour's repertoire is dominated by songs from this fourth album, praised by Anglo-Saxon and European critics as one of the best albums of 2025. With its pop sound featuring orchestral arrangements, experimental production, and a flamenco touch (Lyon clapping willingly to La rumba del perdón, you have to see it to believe it), it has a very different approach from her previous albums. How have the songs from El mal querer fit into this new era of luminous and transcendental music? Not well, if you accept a joke, because Rosalía hasn't sung any songs from her second album (nor from the first, of course), a very surprising and unexpected decision.
There have been several segments from the Motomami era in the concert, sounding fabulous with eccentric electronic beats and orchestral arrangements, like the succession of Saoko, La fama, and La Combi Versace, preceded by a wild remix of Berghain.
The Lux tour, starting as an international event, will arrive in Spain in two weeks, where tickets are sold out for her eight concerts, four at the Movistar Arena in Madrid (March 30 and April 1, 3, and 4) and four at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona (April 13, 15, 17, and 18). Additionally, she will visit 17 countries in Europe and America for 56 concerts, including two O2 arenas in London, two Madison Square Gardens in New York, four Movistar Arenas in Buenos Aires, and five Sports Palaces in Mexico City.
Always independent and original, Rosalía embodies one of the most valuable qualities in today's culture: a unique and distinctive identity. No one else could envision a burst of raver funk like Cuuuute under a swaying stroboscopic light in the middle of the dance floor, emitting smoke like a thurible.
Since her first album and more than ever in Lux, Rosalía has always aimed to convey a sense of grandeur and elevate music to a transcendent and enduring experience: the epic finale with Magnolias was the best example tonight. These new songs are mainly about giving a profound meaning to the fleeting moment, so they resonate within the listener, defining the difference between culture and entertainment.
It's a grand ambition, and ambition is a complex attitude for a pop singer, increasingly so. Some people react negatively to great artistic ambition and reject the result, even if it holds great value. Others are easily fascinated by great ambition and meekly surrender to the result, even if it has no value. That's why we say that Rosalía is brave, as she has chosen a playing field full of traps. And that's why we say she is a brilliant artist, as the results of her expressiveness are formidable, a work where we find groundbreaking aesthetics and sound, expressive power, and emotional intensity in songs with a popular spirit to listen to a thousand times. On record and, passionately, on stage.