There’s never been any question that Rosalía is blessed, but what the groundbreaking Spanish artist has been able to do with her latest “Lux” album and tour over the past eight months is nothing short of a miracle.
Released last November, the star’s fourth album is her magnum opus that transcends geographical and musical borders. Already a global hit on four continents, it’s written in 13 languages and encompasses classical, baroque rock, Latin pop and opera while exploring faith, spirituality and what separates human existence from the divine.
But as the tour stopped by United Center Saturday night, even the hundreds of devout fans symbolically dressed as priests and peasants may not have been quite prepared for the spiritual awakening that was about to unfold.
The two-hour spectacle — broken into four acts, with the U.K.-based Heritage Orchestra and complex choreography adding extra pomp — took viewers on a pious journey from birth to death with mortal temptations and much-publicized confessions along the way. In so doing, it dissected religion as a layered art piece that even Ye’s Sunday Service, Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” shtick or Lady Gaga’s “Judas” iconography hasn’t come close to.
While many pop stars have used Catholicism as a prop, Rosalía treated it with reverence, transforming the show into a multifaceted ritual: God as the utmost deity (her Italian opera “Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti”) and an intrusive omnipresence (“Dios Es un Stalker” aka “God is a stalker”) while imbuing stories of numerous feminine saints that aren’t always the center of the conversation.
Surprisingly, the Catholic Church has given Rosalía their blessing with vocal support of “Lux,” despite some of the controversy. Then again, this is the same artist who was able to bring traditional flamenco to a contemporary audience with an intense passion and study of the craft, and she has explored and shared her faith in much the same way.
Everything about Saturday night was a masterpiece with devoted attention to detail and staging. Dancers wore black-out garb that provided optical illusions as they moved around the singer. The orchestra seating arrangement was set up like a cross for added effect. At one point, in a cover of Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” Rosalía even became the art, standing inside a gold frame as a line of fans pulled from the crowd stood behind gallery ropes to gawk at her.
It was a tone set early on as attendees trickling into the stadium were greeted by the backside of a large painter’s canvas consuming the stage, leaving suspense for the work of art that was on the other side. As the show opened with the dramatic “Sexo, Violencia Y Llantas,” the two sides of the canvas separated to unveil the full stage where a large shipping box opened to reveal Rosalía inside.
Dressed in ballerina garb, Rosalia evoked the twirling dancer hiding in one of those jewelry boxes. As Act One proceeded with nimble pirouettes bathed in virginal white tones, she examined relics (“Reliquia”), divine intervention (“Divinize,” ending with a snippet of Dido’s “Thank You”) and ended with her sweeping Italian aria that surpassed expectations of her vocal range. Much like the opera, lyrics to each of Rosalía’s songs (written in her native Spanish as well as Arabic, Japanese, Italian, Catalan, French and Hebrew, among others) were also translated to English and scrolled on an above-head screen that added extra context to the show.
Rosalía also spoke to her audience in a bilingual Spanish-English mashup as a show of respect and solidarity for the diverse fanbase that sold out the arena. “I’m so f—— grateful to be here,” she shared with sincere appreciation, remembering how she first performed in the city in 2019 in a much different environment. “Life can be so crazy, you know?”
As the show moved into Acts Two and Three, a darker tone set in as the innocent ballerina turned into a black swan and delved into more nefarious material like the overwhelming tenor of hit “Berghain” (her recorded collaboration with Bjork and Yves Tumor) and some of the reggaeton tracks from popular 2022 album “Motomami,” including “Saoko” and “La Fama.” Later in the show, the album track “Cuuuuuuuuuute” was a standout as Rosalía moved into the orchestra pit and led a nightmarish rave where the orchestra conductor Yudania Gómez Heredia pulled double duty with a dance breakdown that stole the moment.
Of course, one of the night’s other marquee pieces was the public confessional that led into fan favorite “La Perla.” On other dates of the tour, celebrity guests like Lola Young and Maggie Rogers have been the ones to sit in the box with Rosalía, but tonight it was an audience member who shared the story of dating a “La Perla” womanizer who later wound up in an Illinois Department of Corrections facility. “The moral of the story is don’t text him back,” the fan shared.
But levity gave way to sincerity as the show neared its end with Rosalía’s final act: leaving this plane in search of eternity. With the final notes of “Focu ‘ranni,” the singer, bearing angel wings, took her final leap of faith, falling backwards into a hidden abyss. When she returned for an encore presentation of the heart-wrenching “Magnolias,” it was her own eulogy, with lyrics hailing, “Today I turn into dust, to return with them.”
As they left the United Center, there was a palpable moment of silence as many fans were seen crying or linking arms to exit. Saint Rosalía made believers of us all.
Rosalía set list for June 20, 2026, show at United Center
Act I
Sexo, Violencia Y Llantas
Reliquia
Porcelana
Divinize
Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti
Act II
Berghain
Saoko
La Fama
La Combi Versace
De Madrugá
Act III
El Redentor
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (Frankie Valli cover)
La Perla
Sauvignon Blanc
La Yugular
Intermedio
Dios Es Un Stalker
La Rumba Del Perdón
Cuuuuuuuuuute
Act IV
Bizcochito
Despechá
Focu ‘Ranni
Encore
Magnolias
