Ricky Martin's words of "Ready to have a good time and not be judged?!" almost ALMOST exposed us to his sexuality but nope, he didn't. We could hear men screaming "Come OUT already!" Nonetheless a very HOT HOT HOT performance.
Taking a page from Madonna's playbook, this man reinvented himself but with some missteps. The South Asianesque delivery of "Maria" with dancers posing Buddha-like seemed inappropriate (has Ricky Martin embraced an Eastern religion that we don't know of?). He sings "Jaleo" with martial arts moves that reminded us of Capoeira practitioners and though impressive, one would hear the audience-awww-scream-o-meter go down a notch.
Lots of positives - the disappearing acts throughout the show matched the fun side of watching any Ricky Martin show. Add a dash of social awareness (RickyMartin Foundation), a bit of sexy back (almost nude videos and swimming - water, Freud, hmmm.... ), a good helping of tats, a lot of Latin machismo and before you can say Boom Boom.... he's right at your face (we were sitting 20 rows from the stage) swinging his La Vida Loca. WOW! Definitely World Class.
Ricky talked to the crowd longer in this concert than in any other. (almost 10 minutes of chatting) The audience swooned, roared and almost a heatbeat stopped when he sang the romantic ballad "Vuelve." A slide show (why does every Latin friend of ours have a slide show?) while Ricky sang "Somos La Semilla" featured Third World children (get your wallets out). We did love "Asignatura Pendiente" as he talked about relearning to integrate his childlike personality back to his life. (yup! moving moments indeed).
Ricky changes costumes more than Cher or Diana Ross combined but one always want a peak off those bulging biceps (you'd notice that his perfectly picked backup singers also looked fabulous!) so seeing him frantically move to "Lola, Lola" in an all-white-ensemble was quite fitting to the show's title. The show would not end without "La Copa de la Vida, (The Cup of Life)" and after two other encores we shuttled our way back home with a smile, lots of stories, and about 1k calories off due to all the dancing we did in two hours. (you would not want to sit in a concert like this).
