Enrique Iglesias – Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, PA – October 13, 2017 (A PopEntertainment.com

Updated: May 29, 2023

Enrique Iglesias – Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, PA – October 13, 2017

“Who here speaks Spanish?” Enrique Iglesias shouted out to the ecstatic crowd at the Wells Fargo Center the other night.

This inner knowledge, the ability to share his music with crossover audiences as well as honoring the traditions of his upbringing, is probably one of the reasons that his career is still going on nearly 20 years (has it been that long?!) since he exploded as part of the Latin boom of late 90s music. Iglesias – whose father was also a famous singer – has always seemed to have a deeper appreciation of his roots than such mostly forgotten contemporaries as Ricky Martin, LFO, Elvis Crespo, Jennifer Lopez and even Marc Anthony.

This show, one of the first on his latest tour with rapper Pitbull (they had toured together a few years ago as well), shows that appreciation and diversity. The set skipped back and forth between his English crossover hits and his Spanish-language favorites.

Iglesias was happy to tinker around with his favorites. “Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You)” was led into with a snarling guitar line from the White Stripes’ “7 Nation Army.” (It also did include at least one verse with the more-adult alternate lyrics “Tonight I’m fucking you.”) He upped the disco content in “Escape,” making it feel both wonderfully retro and insanely dancy. “Hero” was performed in a soft, vulnerable tone that transformed the song, making it somewhat tentative and wistful.

Towards the middle of the set, he crossed the auditorium to a small stage in the middle of the arena, calling up a cute little girl named Lexi from the crowd, as well as her father. After a little cutesy banter with Lexi – Iglesias kept asking her where different generations of her family came from and she kept saying “New Jersey,” until finally when down to her great-great-grandparents she realized the answer he wanted and yelled out “Mexico!” Then he serenaded her with a couple of his Spanish-language songs, “Loco” and “Cuando me Enamoro.” By pleasant surprise, a very large portion of the crowd knew the lyrics, even though they were not in English.

However, the hits probably worked people up the most, from the early-show romp through his breakthrough hit “Bailamos” to a hit-jammed encore of “Hero,” “El Perdon,” “Bailando” and “I Like It.”

Jay S. Jacobs