RICKY MARTIN VERY LATIN VERVE WARMS UP
TAIPEI AUTUMN NIGHT

     There must be something about Ricky Martin for the weather to turn out nice just for his concert in Taipei last night.

    After days of gray sky and drizzle, Sunday evening was simply beautiful for an outdoor concert.

    Martin, 27, lived up to his reputation as someone who knows how to set the crowd alight with the swirl of his Latin hip.

    Martin's concert at the Taipei Municipal Stadium was a part of his "Vuelve" tour of Asia, and around 5,000 people came to watch his infectiously upbeat performance.

     Backed by an excellent band and great lighting effects, the concert began with Martin's World Cup anthem, "La Copa de la Vida."   With that he had everyone singing and shouting "Go, go, go, ale, ale, ale" in no time.

     During this sing alone he showed off that we know he is capable of - dancing the self-styled Latin steps in his silver gray tails with a sensuality, creating wave after wave of screams.

     After the second song,"Maria," Martin said to the audience, "I'm going to leave my soul here on stage, and I hope you do the same."

     He then proceeded to lead the crowd through an extravaganza of lyrical love songs from both his third album,"A Medio Vivir," and the current one, "Vuelve."

     The ballads were sung with genuine feeling, especially "Gracias por Pensar en Mi," dedicated to its Brazilian songwriter, Renato Russo, who died of AIDS.

    However, what the crowd wanted was full-on throttle, with buckets of premier Puerto Rican sweat.  Those Martin also delivered with flamboyance, dancing at times precariously close to the edge of the stage, adding some extra excitement to the performance.

     The concert flowed along like a fashion show - Martin changing at least four times during the 13 songs - and was brought to a climactic end with "Por Arriba, Por Abajo."

     The crowd refused to let Martin go and he finally came back to sing "Vuelve" for his first encore number.

    We don't know if people all left their soul at the concert, but they certainly went home buzzing, humming and swinging.

-By Vicki Chang

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