Ricky Martin has always been on my live performance bucket list so I jumped at the chance to see him at Madison Square Garden. The fact that he'd be performing with Enrique Iglesias was just the cherry on top of a delicious cake. I have been a Ricky fan since he moved into mainstream pop from his days with Puerto Rican boyband, Menudo, with the World Cup Soccer anthem, La copa de la vida (The Cup of Life). He performed the song at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards and received a standing ovation, cementing his popularity with a mainstream American audience. His first self-titled English album sold over 15 million copies worldwide and includes the global hit, Livin' la Vida Loca.
Ricky has won two Grammys (Best Latin Pop Performance for Vuelve in 1999 and Best Latin Pop Album for A Quien Quiera Escuchar in 2015), performed in the Broadway revival of Evita (in the role of Che he was hands down the highlight of the show), was a coach on three seasons of The Voice Australia and was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. He continues to do a significant amount of humanitarian work, particularly in his native Puerto Rico, and actively supports LGBTQ rights and organizations worldwide.
Like Ricky, Enrique's crossover from Spanish music to English pop started in the late 90s. His first big English hit was Bailamos, which featured on the Wild Wild West soundtrack and went to number one in the US. He went on to release two back-to-back albums that did extremely well commercially and on the charts, namely Enrique (1999) and Escape (2001). Escape boasted a string of megahits including Escape, Hero, Don't Turn Off The Lights and Maybe. He has released a total of 10 studio albums in English and Spanish and has collaborated with a diverse range of artists, such as Whitney Houston, Kylie Minogue, Pitbull, Ciara and Usher.
The duo kicked off their co-headlining tour on 25 September at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and brought the high-energy show to Madison Square Garden on 17 October. Ricky, smoldering in several black ensembles before changing into a suave white outfit for the second half, took the evening from zero to one hundred with the opening song Livin' la Vida Loca. While he and his dancers brought the heat throughout his career-spanning setlist with the requisite amount of gyrating, thrusting and bon-bon shaking, he also performed a couple of beautiful ballads (Nobody Wants To Be Lonely with a video projection of Christina Aguilera to accompany her vocals was a definite highlight).
Enrique kept the party going with his set, although at times he made the audience and his backup vocalists do all the work, singing a few bars before getting the audience to sing the rest by raising his arms - but that's okay, we were up to the task and enthusiastically sang along to some of his biggest hits, from Bailamos to his new single Chasing The Sun. He also interacted with the crowd a lot, leaving the stage to get up close and personal with screaming fans. The high-octane set concluded with spectacular lasers and the release of giant balloons with 'ei' printed on them which bounced around the crowd and then onto the stage.
The individual set lists were as follows:
Ricky
Livin' la Vida Loca
La bomba
Qué rico fuera
Vuelve
Lola, Lola
She Bangs
Shake Your Bon-Bon
Nobody Wants to Be Lonely
Pégate
La mordidita
María
Vente pa' ca
Encore
The Cup of Life
Enrique
I'm a Freak
Chasing the Sun
I Like How It Feels
Duele el corazón
Bailamos
Cuando me enamoro
Loco / Me pasé
Play Video
Súbeme la radio
Be With You
Escape
Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)
Encore
Hero
El perdón
Bailando
I Like It
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