Last night, Parc de la Mar became the epicenter of Mallorca’s National Day. Before a crowd of more than 40,000 people and with the Seu illuminated as a backdrop, Rels B returned home to headline one of the biggest musical events on the island’s calendar. The Mallorcan artist transformed a monumental stage—erected in front of one of Palma’s architectural icons—into a meeting point where urban music, local identity, and international appeal converged.
The scale of the event was worthy of the artist. Thousands of fans arrived from all over Mallorca to fill the area around Parc de la Mar and attend a concert that transcended the category of a musical performance to become a collective celebration. From the very first notes, Rels B established a direct connection with an audience that responded to every song as if it were part of a shared memory.
The artist looked back on the different stages of a career that began in Mallorca and went on to reach far beyond the island. His musical style, built on a blend of R&B, hip-hop, reggaeton, dancehall, and Latin pop, once again demonstrated why Rels B has established himself as one of the most recognizable names in urban music on the international scene. Last night, right in his hometown, his career found one of its most symbolic stages.
There were also moments during the night when the show took a back seat. The artist paused the performance twice after noticing from the stage several instances of tension among the audience due to the crowds. Rels B asked the security teams to address the concerns that attendees had brought to his attention. The massive crowd even led some spectators to use the flashlights on their cell phones to get the artist’s attention.
“Someone’s feeling hot or something—please, could someone help out?” he asked at one point. The interruptions lasted only a few minutes, and the concert continued after each one. The gesture reinforced an image of approachability that characterized Rels B throughout the night: that of an artist capable of handling a massive-scale show without losing sight of what was happening just a few meters from the stage.
And the stage was, quite literally, on par with the event. The production was set up on a 16-meter platform, flanked by six towers and featuring more than 300 square meters of high-resolution LED screens. The visual display amplified every movement and transformed the Parc de la Mar into a vast audiovisual canvas. The lighting, however, left something to be desired: a more sophisticated lighting design was missing, with bursts of color sweeping across the stage and overhead spotlights enveloping the tens of thousands of spectators.
Better sound than last time
Where an improvement was definitely noticeable was in the sound. Compared to their previous concert at Son Moix, the acoustic experience was clearly better. Large stadiums and venues designed to hold massive crowds are built to maximize visibility and the impact of the show, not necessarily to provide the highest sound fidelity. Last night, at least from a central vantage point, the balance was notably more convincing: the bass hit hard but without distortion, while the vocals remained sufficiently clear even during the moments of greatest rhythmic intensity.
Rels B, also known as Skinny Flakk, opened the concert with “Afrolova,” a statement of intent with a rhythmic, tropical, and distinctly nocturnal vibe. Its carefree, seductive, and summery lyrics invited the audience to leave the sorrows of the past behind and focus on the present. It was advice that, at times, seemed straight out of a brochure from a psychologist’s waiting room, but it worked perfectly with an audience eager to turn every verse into a collective experience.
The event also had both an institutional and an emotional dimension. The concert, organized by the Consell de Mallorca as one of the main events of the Diada, served as a prelude to another particularly significant honor: this Saturday, Rels B will be named a Favorite Son of Mallorca, one of the highest distinctions awarded by the island’s government.
The choice of artist could not have been more significant. Rels B represents a generation of Mallorcan artists who have managed to transform an identity deeply rooted in the island into a cultural language capable of traveling around the world. His music was born here, but his audience has long since transcended borders.
Last night, in front of La Seu and before a crowd of more than 40,000 people, Mallorca celebrated its Diada with one of its most recognizable cultural exports. When the last song ended and the screens faded to black, there was a sense of having witnessed more than just a concert: a reunion between an international artist and the island where he grew up. A local story that, to the beat of the music, ultimately became a global experience.
