It’s hard to imagine a more dedicated Bad Bunny fan than Nomar Mejias. The 22-year-old from Guayama, a small city on the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico, has been a devotee of the global superstar since 2017. Since then, he’s seen the performer five times, including his headlining performance at Coachella in 2023. Mejias also maintains a Bad Bunny fan page on X (formerly Twitter) with more than 200,000 followers where he meticulously documents the performer’s tours.
“I started to listen to Bad Bunny after Hurricane Maria,” Mejias says of the 2017 storm that had a devastating effect on Puerto Rico. Mejias cites Bad Bunny’s pride in where he’s from, and how he passes that along to a global fan base, as what draws him to the artist. “Everything he does is for Puerto Rico.”
When it comes to fans going the distance to see a show, 2023 was undoubtedly the year of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. US fans of both trekked all over the world in search of more affordable prime seats. With each stop the stars made, they left a profound economic and cultural impact. To wit: Swift’s Eras tour was, among many other things, the first ever to gross more than $1 billion. It was also reportedly the cause of a minor earthquake in Seattle, was the source of dozens of think pieces, and prompted a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia detailing the impact it had on tourism.
This year, it’s unlikely that Bad Bunny will beat out Swift’s record-setting tour sales, but when it comes to artist-focused travel, 2024 appears to be his year. In 2022, he became the only artist in history to have two tours in a single year that grossed more than $100 million each with El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo and World’s Hottest Tour. Since then, he’s headlined Coachella, performed at the Grammys, hosted and was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, played the love interest of Gael Bernal Garcia in the critically acclaimed biopic Cassandró, and released the album Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana. With each new project, the strength of Bad Bunny’s gravitational pull increases, and the Most Wanted Tour is a fresh opportunity to be in his orbit.
“You can’t get around the fact that we’re in this major historical moment for Latin music that Bad Bunny has been a really huge part of,” says Dr. Vanessa Diaz, associate professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at Loyola Marymount University and the co-creator of the Bad Bunny Syllabus Project, an academic initiative documenting Bad Bunny’s cultural impact. “I think everyone wants to be a part of that history.”
In the US, nearly one in five travelers would be willing to take a long flight in order to see their favorite artist in concert. Called gig tripping, the trend captures the post-pandemic desire not just for in-person experiences but to be part of a significant pop cultural event.
When tickets for the Most Wanted Tour went on sale in October, the immediate response was sticker shock (the average ticket for cities like New York and Philadelphia hovered around $700). But that shock didn’t slow enthusiasm—it simply created another subgenre of Bad Bunny social content, from memes to TikTok creators dedicated to producing content about fluctuating Bad Bunny ticket prices and where you can get the best deal on seats.
Diaz says we shouldn’t be surprised by the level of commitment we’re seeing from fans—or the exorbitant ticket prices. “I don’t think he’s doing anything other major musical superstars don’t do, right?” she asks. “The surprise here is that it’s a Latin music artist who performs in Spanish who can command this kind of pricing and this consistency with record-breaking in terms of streaming and sales and tours.”
Part of what draws Bad Bunny’s fans to him, and has built such a strong community, is the fact that he hasn’t made the switch to English-language performances to cater to a wider audience. “People really, truly feel his authenticity because of his whole approach, the ‘I do what I want. I am who I am. I don’t care what you think,’” says Diaz. “It amplifies this feeling that we’re always getting the real Bad Bunny all the time.”
Bad Bunny has announced tour dates only in the contiguous US thus far, but already fans have demonstrated they will go any distance to see him perform and are building experiences around that travel.
When the Most Wanted Tour stops were announced, Sabrina Riley, 30, knew she’d need to go the distance. “Bad Bunny is not coming to St. Louis this year,” Riley says, citing Kansas City and Nashville as her nearest options. “I looked at tickets online, and between the two I know that I could get more out of it if I went to Nashville,” where, she says, she can build more of a trip around the restaurants, bars, and activities the city offers.
Anushka, 27, a San Diego resident, is traveling beyond her state by choice. “It’s usually a pain to get tickets in LA for high-demand concerts,” she explains. She lives in San Diego but is planning on seeing Bad Bunny in Las Vegas, where she was able to find more affordable tickets. In total, Anushka plans on paying about $800 per person for a three-day trip to Vegas, including mid-tier concert tickets. It’s not exactly a budget option, but with Ticketmaster’s dynamic-pricing system, tickets in the 200 section for the LA shows range between $650 to $1,100. For the price of just a ticket, she’s getting a mini vacation instead.
For his part, Mejias is awaiting Bad Bunny’s announcement of Puerto Rico dates but is also planning to work extra shifts and save up so he can see him in Miami as well. “I will work hard to see him,” Mejias says. “I would work hard—twice as hard—to see him even if the prices keep rising.”
There’s nothing particularly tranquil about screaming your throat raw to “Monaco,” a braggadocious number that’s equal parts name-dropping and flow. But there is a unique sense of community among Bad Bunny fans who are willing to cash in their PTO and jump in a car or onto a plane to gather in an arena and belt out “Por eso tú estás 101 en el top 100 y yo estoy primero” among thousands of others. It’s what’s inspiring Mejias to save up to see the artist both close to home and abroad. There’s an innate sense of calm in being among a huge crowd who, for at least three or four hours, feels what you feel and loves what you love.
“I get to experience every emotion there is while he is singing my favorite songs,” says Mejias. “And I can relate to so many people doing the same thing.