Allphones Arena, Sydney
Friday October 18, 2013 :
With great delight, I proudly announced to friends, family and colleagues, that I was lucky enough to score tickets to Ricky Martin. Regardless of their scepticism, I had high hopes for the show and it exceeded all expectations. What followed was one hour and thirty-five minutes of intense dance routines, seamless transitions, numerous costume changes and the pop songs of my childhood.
Unlike other shows on the tour, the Sydney gig was missing support act Timomatic. In his place, DJ Kid Massive did an amicable job warming up the crowd, although unfortunately a DJ set wasn’t the right vibe for a seated audience.
Seats were soon abandoned as the curtain fell, the grandiose light display began and Latin demi-god Ricky Martin emerged from a trapdoor beneath the stage floor. Dressed in an all white suit, the natural entertainer had the crowd on their feet seconds into the first song ‘Come With Me.’ His support dancers soon stripped down to fringed bikinis to shimmy along to ‘Shake Your Bon Bon’ with some racy moves. ‘She Bangs’ had 1920’s inspired costumes and a mock fight between the female dancers as they competed for Ricky’s attention. Every woman in the audience watched with envy as they crawled and flipped over him and one received a spanking for her efforts.
Despite the extravaganza of the show and the impeccable choreography it didn’t detract from Ricky’s connection and interaction with the crowd. After announcing that it was thirteen years to the day since he last played in Sydney and promising to leave his soul on the stage, he launched into ‘Vuelve,’ a heart stopping Spanish Ballard begging for the return of a lost lover. Two contestants from the television show, The Voice, Luke Kennedy and Miss Murphy later joined Ricky and a star studded backdrop provided the perfect scene for ‘She’s All I Ever Had’, ‘Private Emotion’ and ‘Nobody Wants to Be Lonely’.
The diversity of audience members demonstrated that Ricky continues to have an iconic universal appeal regardless of age or gender. The crowd ranged from kids who had seen him on The Voice, to people in their twenties and thirties who grew up listening to him to middle aged mothers who were there, at least partly, for the eye candy. Porque el es muy guapo!
A brief art nouveau video of a buff, naked Ricky provided an adept intermission before the second half of the show took fans on a cultural tour of the Caribbean. The crowd was encouraged to dance along to upbeat Spanish classics ‘Mas’, ‘La Bomba’, ‘Maria’ and ‘Por Arriba Por Abajo’ (“from up above, from down below”). And for me this was the highlight of the night. Throwing in a bit of salsa, a bit of charm and a lot of hip shaking Ricky graced the stage one last time to perform ‘Cup of life’ before wishing everyone well and promising to return.
Reviewer: Mel Woodward
Photographer: David Youdell
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