RICKY MARTIN LIVE!! | PNC ARENA
f28 got the very exciting opportunity to cover, as some would say, “a Latin legend” in music. The one and only Ricky Martin performed in Raleigh on 02.29.24 with support from other legendary artists Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull. You can see our concert high lights of their performances on our website. If you are not sure who Ricky Martin is, let me help spur your memory. Ricky Martin came onto the music scene in the early 90’s with a huge hit on the US Hot Latin charts called “Fuego Contra Fuego”. This song peaked at number 3 on that particular music chart. He also had many other hit songs that topped the US Latin charts over the next several years into the late 90’s including several Billboard Hot 100 singles. These previous albums were all Spanish language albums until 1999 when he released his first self-titled English language album released by Columbia Records. This album spawned the hugely successful hit song that was heard all around the world called “Livin la Vida Loca” and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks. The album would wind up going double platinum. He then continued his streak of hits with his second English language album called “Sound Loaded” which debuted in 2000. This album included the hit songs, “She Bangs” and “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely”. Ricky Martin has continued to be a major musical powerhouse across the globe with and incredible 67 major released singles under his belt. He has sold millions of records not only in the US but across Latin America and the world. Now that you know a little bit about Ricky Martin let’s get to the show!
Ricky Martin performed at the PNC arena in Raleigh North Carolina to a packed house of about 15,000 people. He is currently on tour with a powerhouse team which includes two legendary and top selling artists in their own right, Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull. For this particular tour stop Ricky Martin was the headliner but I have been told this position on the tour does alternate as each artists shares headlining duties from show to show. Now, before Ricky Martin came to the stage there was this large screen playing some past videos of his success over the years with some music playing over it. Once this video stopped the lights went out then burst back on and Ricky Martin came running up a set up stares that was place in the center of the stage. As soon as he stepped on the top step the entire arena went crazy. Ricky was full of energy, and you could see how happy he was to be there. He would run across the stage, do choreographed dances with his dance team who joined him on stage and would also jump around while singing each song. His performance was not only great but also very entertaining. There were these incredible light beams that would stream across the stage and into the crowd high lighting hundreds of fans as they danced and sang.
The performance was something I was not prepared for. This was my first experience seeing Ricky Martin live and it is one I will never forget. He mixed his performance with Spanish language songs as well as English language songs. You saw people from all backgrounds dancing and enjoying the show. Ricky Martin’s performance was by far one of the best performances I have seen so far this year. If you are a Ricky Martin fan or you just want to have a fun night out, then this tour is one you should check out.
Chris Sturk
