PERFORMING ARTS

Leslie Feist

At 16 members strong, it's hard to tell who's who in the Canadian ensemble Broken Social Scene. But judging from her sold-out Black Cat show on Wednesday night, Leslie Feist has managed to make her solo career (under the moniker Feist) stand out from the crowd.

Feist's 90-minute performance jumped styles seamlessly, from pop-jazz (the trumpet-accompanied "Gatekeeper" ) to R&B (an interpretation of the Bee Gees' "Love You Inside Out") to indie-rock (a bouncy cover of Ron Sexsmith's "Secret Heart"). Sounding like a cross between Bjork and Cat Power's Chan Marshall, Feist cooed her way through the tribal "When I Was a Young Girl" and confidently captured the melancholy of Bob Haymes's "Now at Last" (complete with a whistle solo).

Feist spent a fair amount of the set encouraging audience participation, asking the crowd to hold up lighters and leading singalongs on several songs. Introducing her final number, the sultry "Let It Die," she expressed nostalgia for "the days when romance wasn't so ironic." She brought onstage a couple from the audience to slow-dance and concocted an elaborate story of what their courtship could have been like in 1917. Her storytelling may have gone on a little bit too long, but her effort was successful, as several other couples followed their lead and danced to the mellow torch song.

-- Catherine P. Lewis

Ricky Martin

Ricky Martin is no stranger to criticism, but the 34-year-old Puerto Rican singer has recently been ridiculed not for producing ultra-commercial Latin pop but for discussing his bedroom behavior. While detractors have never silenced Martin's singing, the outraged reaction to his frank sex talk in a recent Blender magazine interview seems to be suppressing his confessional chattiness.

Martin's show at Constitution Hall on Thursday night included cries for the crowd to "let it go" and "let it flow," but talk was light as the former Menudo member and "General Hospital" actor gave a 90-minute performance of what he deemed "the best of my music."

That characterization seemed debatable when Martin opened with a trio of songs from the mediocre mash of pop, reggaeton and Middle Eastern music that was last year's "Life," as well as a reworked "Livin' la Vida Loca" that swapped the peppy horns and wailing chorus of the original for a slick electronica sound.

Things improved when Martin straddled a cajon and drummed through "Jaleo," and offered up a sultry flamenco version of "She Bangs." Pulsing Spanish-language material such as "Por Arriba, por Abajo" and "Lola, Lola," both from 1998's "Vuelve," more than made up for flat, overexposed Spanglish tunes such as the 1998 World Cup anthem, "The Cup of Life."

Martin also ingratiated himself by shedding items of clothing as the night wore on. He first emerged wearing a jacket and scarf, then donned a tank top until finally, during "La Bomba," the heartthrob ripped open his sequined tunic to reveal his chest. He then gyrated to the song's salsa rhythm, silently reassuring fans that while he may be reluctant to talk about sex these days, nothing can stop him from simulating it onstage.