Aventura, composed of Romeo Santos, Lenny Santos, Henry Santos and Max Agende Santos — better known as the Kings of Bachata, or K.O.B. — paid homage to one of Los Angeles' favorite sons, the late Kobe Bryant, when they kicked off their highly-anticipated U.S. Inmortal tour on Wednesday (Feb. 5),
The first of four back-to-back shows at The Forum marked the return of the Dominican-American bachata supergroup 10 years after their last tour together and nine years post-disbanding in 2011.
"It's an honor to start our tour here in Los Angeles," frontman Romeo Santos said to a roaring crowd. "Now let's get to it."
And so they did.
Simulating the landing of a spaceship on earth with the quartet on board and a "welcome home, guys" message, the bachata stars were back on their turf and took charge of the stage hyping zealous fans with a friendly competion of which side, either Romeo's or Henry's, was the loudest. On cue, either side screamed at the top of their lungs. "It's our way of measuring how much energy you all have tonight," Romeo explained.
The energy levels were high both offstage and onstage. While Aventura sang back-to-back hits, most concert-goers left their seats, instead dancing and singing along to every song.
The hits came early with Romeo pleasing fans with bachata classics like "Por Un Segundo," "Infieles" and "Dile al Amor."
A fan-favorite and emotional moment came when Romeo had a change of clothes and returned to the stage sporting a Kobe Bryant t-shirt. In darkness, the entire room started chanting "Kobe, Kobe, Kobe" and then came Romeo's heartfelt tribute to the famed NBA champion and former Lakers basketball player who died on Jan. 26 in a helicopter crash.
"I read somewhere that heroes have their seasons. That they come and go. And then there's a phrase that follows about legends never dying. I respectfully wear this shirt in honor of that legend. May God have him, his daughter and all the other victims in his glory. We love you, Kobe."
He went on to sing a few songs wearing the yellow and purple shirt including "Mi Corazoncito," "Su veneno" and "El Malo."
.@RomeoSantosPage in a Kobe t-shirt for Aventura’s first show of their #GiraInmortal Tour in L.A. pic.twitter.com/dxCM75FAt6
— Griselda Flores (@grissyflrs) February 6, 2020
Kobe wasn't the only legend they paid tribute to during their concert. Aventura also remembered music icon José José performing "Lágrimas" mid-set. "This isn't one of our songs," Romeo said. "But we have to include it in our show because it's by someone we admire so much. He's probably singing this song to all the angels in heaven."
Another highlight of the night was when Romeo invited a fan to sing with them on stage and prove to be a "real" Aventura fan challenging him to sing a surprise duet. The track turned out to be "Ella Y Yo." The fan took Don Omar's part of the song and surprised everyone, including Romeo, with a spot-on performance.
With Lenny on guitar, Max on bass and Henry and Romeo on vocals, Aventura's career spans over two decades. Their 30 songs-plus set went as far back as their early hits from 1999 like "La Novelita" and "No lo Perdona Dios," which further cemented the quartet as immortals in Latin music.
"Today, we feel eternally grateful with all of you," Romeo said toward the end of the show. "Like I said before, legends never die and we have tried to do the possible and impossible to stay in your hearts with our music."
Aventura's U.S. jaunt continues with three more shows left at The Forum (Feb. 6, 7, & 8) before heading to Chicago, Miami, New York andother cities.
