My Ricky Martin Bucket List

I don’t really have a bucket list but if I did there would be one main thing on it. I wanted to see Ricky Martin in concert. If that seems like a weird thing to want, here’s the background.

1992

I spent 5 weeks in Costa Rica on a 4-H trip. Three of those weeks were spent with a host family. I was pretty useless as a non-Spanish speaking human but I did have one very important job. At 3:30 every day there was a music video show. My job was to watch it and whenever Ricky Martin came on I had to start yelling, “Ricky!” at the top of my lungs so everyone could watch. Everyone was my teenage host sister, her mother, and her grandmother. Her younger brother would come and scoff.

He had just released his first solo album. In this video he rides a horse, meets a donkey, passes out in a field, and finally goes swimming. The whole time he is unsure whether or not he really wants to wear that shirt or not.

See also, Ricky in the shower scenes in this next video. I think the whole marketing plan for this album was, “Let’s get him wet.”

When I went back to my group they said that we were going to see a concert. I hoped it was Ricky Martin but no. We saw Alejandra Guzman instead. I did manage to buy a cassette of Ricky Martin’s. Remember young’uns, this is pre-internet. There was no way I’d ever find it back in non-Latinx areas of the United States.

1996

I spent a month in Bolivia. This corresponded to another album release. Once again he was the soundtrack of my trip. No video shows this time but we sang along on the radio while we were driving around. I snagged a CD of this one too before I left.

So years go by and in 1999 Living La Vida Loca comes out in the United States. Finally, people know what I’m talking about when I say I like Ricky Martin. Internet access means I can catch up with Spanish language releases. Whenever I check though, he is never touring in the northern U.S. He comes to Orlando a few times but mostly stays in Latin America.

But then I hear that he is setting up a residency in Las Vegas. I was so excited. I was going to Vegas in March. He isn’t there yet. I decide that that’s it. I’m flying back in September and going to see him in concert. But there are two days added in May in National Harbor, MD outside D.C.

This weekend I drove down there and went to the concert.

It was so worth it.

I spent the money for good seats. I was sitting right next to the sound board. There were people in front of me on the floor and then there was an aisle. My seat was raised a little so I had no problems seeing. I realized that I did miss a few songs while trying to keep up on the internet. I’ve downloaded songs since I got home.

I also found out that it is really hard to take pictures of people singing without having them look really stupid. This is like the one decent one with his eyes open.

There is also going to be a TV show on MTV in June about setting up the residency. I’m excited to watch that but now I’m worried that I’m going to want to see him in more concerts since it was so good. 

People still don’t understand the Ricky Martin fascination if they only know Living La Vida Loca.  The husband asked me how long the concert was.  I said about an hour and a half.  He said, “He has that many songs?”  I explained that he didn’t even sing songs from about half of his albums.  He’s been recording solo albums since 1992 and had his last number one hit in 2016.  He has enough material for a concert.