Ricky Martin was back in style at a hysterical, sold-out James L. Knight Center last night.two lines here

Ricky Martin brought it back to Miami last night for the first time since 2000 and the craziness of his Livin La Vida Loca stardom. The 4,699 people at the sold-out James L. Knight Center didn't come close to the two nights he played at the Miami Arena back then. It's hard to know whether he could have sold out an arena this time -- his last two albums haven't yielded hits anywhere as big as Loca and Cup of Life and the other songs from his turn of the millenium peak.
So Martin is playing it smart by playing mid-sized venues on this tour. The show was smart too, a hip, tightly wound production with a relaxed-looking, exuberant Martin at its center. If he keeps up the charisma, he could be playing stadiums again very soon.
This is not the crossover demi-god whose booty shaking rocked the world in 1999. That was the Ricky for a more innocent time, when la vida loca meant a wildly fun night, not a world gone insane. Instead he kept it cool, from the jeans and tank tops with just a touch of glittery shirt and tight jacket, to the flying limbs and ricocheting dance moves that never looked too tightly choreographed. Martin's five year break from touring seem to have been good for him -- he had a gleam in his eye, and the smile looked genuine, instead of shellacked.
The material was largely split between rock and reggaeton songs from his latest album, Life, and from his mid-to-late-'90s tropical dance-pop period. There was only one, the flamenco-flavored Jaleo, from his Spanish language stab at singer-songwriter earnestness, 2003's Almas del Silencio. The stage was transformed into a glittering light box, video imagery or bright colors lighting up on the sides, back and top, as if Martin was playing inside a self-reflecting cyber world. A number of the dressed-down 10 musicians played more than one instrument, and the whole thing felt expert without quite being slick.
Sometimes Martin played against his gyrating sex symbol image. In La Vida Loca he chopped up the driving rhythm and the vocals, making it harder, edgier. On I Am, a reggaeton song from Life, he may have bumped up against his back-up singer's behind, but he finished with acrobatic capoeira martial arts moves, sweaty and grinning. Instead of being a driving power pop dance number, She Bangs got a new twist from a flamenco dancer in a white dress, banging her heels in rapidfire footwork. The songs from Life were largely power rockers, sometimes with Middle Eastern flavor -- but they sound better live than recorded.
The crowd was enthusiastic no matter what Martin sang, but it was when he got into the power trop-pop of songs like Maria (an enormous, worldwide hit) and Lola Lola that they really got hysterical. When he asked ''You want more?'' and worked those famous hips in a circle, they were deafening. On Por Arriba, Por Abajo, the entire auditorium was waving its arms up, down, rubbing themselves on command. ''We have to let it go, we have to forget about issues and problems and work,'' he told the crowd. Then he went into some soft focus issues: ''Through my music I would unite the entire world.'' What united them was when he leapt into the air, his shirt and arms flying open as he launched into the driving feel good rhythms of the Cup of Life, his World Cup theme song. The hall went nuts -- it was an unthinking good time, and that was all the politics and all the Ricky they wanted.

Thx sesil