Black Eyed Peas bring millennial nostalgia, unmissable hits and a marriage proposal to Movistar Arena

Black Eyed Peas returned to Argentina with a concert built almost entirely from memory. At Buenos Aires’ Movistar Arena, the group’s fourth visit to the country became a late-millennial nostalgia trip, driven by the songs that defined its rise in the 2000s and accompanied by a marriage proposal.

Will.i.am, Apl.de.ap and Taboo formed the group in the late 1990s as part of California’s underground hip-hop scene. Their first two albums attracted little attention despite guest appearances by Macy Gray, Wyclef Jean and De La Soul. Their breakthrough came with Elephunk, when they moved toward pop and added Fergie, whose charisma, vocal power and sex appeal gave the group the spark it needed for global success.

That era remained the center of the concert. “Let’s Get It Started,” “Shut Up,” “My Humps,” “Don’t Phunk with My Heart” and “I Gotta Feeling” arrived in rapid succession, songs that once dominated radio and MTV. The show used a DJ-set format, with the band moving through its own catalog and short sections of songs including Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” and Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough.”

George Pajon Jr. on guitar and Keith Harris on drums kept the pace moving without a pause. But the review says the group, now a trio without Fergie, has lost some of its former firepower. Although Black Eyed Peas continue to release new songs, their current sound can feel out of time, making the concert both a celebration of their enduring hits and a portrait of their own nostalgia.