Ricky Martin, summed up in one word, is happiness.
That was his theme for the night (28 April), that’s what shines out of him like sexy sunshine and that’s what mood the crowd left in after he had shaken his bon bons at them for two hours.
Click here for photos from the show.
It is easy to see why the women of the world mourned when he came out and gay men rejoiced! His charisma was off-the-charts, his smile was so bright it’s like a beacon and his gratitude for his life as an international singer was clearly apparent.
Some things I learnt from seeing Ricky Martin live:
1. He is really, really ridiculously good looking in real life.
2. He can seriously shake it. He has the moves. And then some others. Wow.
3. He seems to be genuinely passionate about performing and giving fans what they want.
Following on from Delta Goodrem (who looked like a golden, glamazonian goddess and sang like an angel), Martin and his eight dancers gave a sultry, sassy performance that heated up the room in minutes.
Delta Goodrem - Image © Kirsten ButtersThe stage at Brisbane Entertainment Centre can be overwhelming and swamp a single singer, so Martin worked around this by utilising a smart set-up. With the use of a floating ceiling and lots and lots of lights, he manipulated the space to make it feel very full and very inviting.
The stage was flanked on either side by musicians on guitars, bass, percussion, keyboards and brass and it almost felt like being somewhere on the streets of South America. His set list consisted of some worldwide hits, some songs from his earlier days, a few from his latest album and a couple of Spanish songs.
Ricky Martin and dancers - Image © Kirsten ButtersHis aim was to leave his soul on stage but it felt more like he threw it out into the crowd, and everyone took home a little piece of RM. His back-up dancers were smokin’ hot and shimmied and sashayed, prowled and pounced around the stage, their sheer collective attractiveness was, at times, overwhelming.
Popping in and out from backstage between songs, Ricky changed outfits about five times, going from a white cape and pants, to a sheer-mesh singlet to an avant garde-style button-up shirt, and you can tell the man has impeccable style.
His voice is as good as ever, hitting high notes with ease and growling his way through the bass notes. His grin is infectious, and energy contagious. He shared his consciousness with the audience with a short, video montage of his charity, The Ricky Martin Foundation, which fights for the well being of children around the world in critical areas such as education, health and social justice.
The entire show was bursting with good vibes from start to finish, the audience spent most of the show on its feet and at the end, Ricky got everyone shaking their bon bons and livin’ la vida loca.
Basically he’s a god and we all bow down to his buns. Willingly.
