Juntos En Concierto, the gorgeously elaborate show that put Marc Anthony, Laura Pausini and Marco Antonio Solis at Sound Advice Amphitheatre Saturday, was a spirited primer for the diversity of Latin music. The show was the first of two South Florida appearances by the trio, who play Miami's AmericanAirlines Arena tonight.

The Italian Pausini, who mostly sang in Spanish, is a dramatically hot pop rocker fond of strumming the ol' air guitar while her band plays crunchy electric riffs. Solis, from Mexico, did both traditional songs with plenty of horns, as well as passionate ballads delivered with closed eyes and dramatic pauses.

Photos: Juntos En Concerto What did you think of Saturday night's performance?   A   B   C   D   F Voter Limit: Once per Day View Poll Results Blog: Leslie Gray Streeter More local news Latest breaking news, photos and all of today's Post stories. • State news Storm 2006: Hurricane news • Sound off in the forum • Columnists • Crime, live scanners • Photos | Special reports • Weather | Traffic | Obituaries

And Puerto Rican Anthony, the headliner, was rocking the Latin heartthrob thing, in a white suit, a very open shirt and salsa beats punctuated by his very expressive hips.

Pausini went first, in a set split between her rockier numbers, like Escucha Atento, and the slower ballads like Vivimi. The video of the latter song, filmed in Venice, played behind her as Pausini, her curly hair waving behind her, filled in live.

There is much to recommend Pausini: She has a markedly strong singing voice, has an obvious rapport with her fans (the guy behind us kept blowing kisses to her throughout her set) and she knows how to get the crowd moving, as in the closing number Se Fue. Perhaps the only criticism of her act was that, while she was elegantly sexy in a sparkly nude and green top, her backup singers were oddly dressed down in black tanks and denim minis, as if they were taking a break from their shift at The Gap.

There was no such dressing down for Solis' crew, which included a string section, dancing horn players, a conductor, three backup singers in dramatic black corset tops and skirts that swung when they sang, and four very, very hot dancers.

Solis himself was the man in black, frequently donning a cowboy hat to sing songs such as Morenita, during which the Mexican flag flew on the screen to thunderous applause (much of it from the guy who was blowing kisses at Pausini).

Blessed with flowing hair and a huge smile, Solis took the audience through his career, including a song from his days with the 1970s group Los Bukis. As he sang, video of him from back in the day played behind him, revealing him to have been something like a Latin Barry Gibb.

The comparison to the lead Bee Gee was more than sartorial: Both singers have a gift for the melodramatic pause, the closed-eye head thrust to the sky. Selections included the sensationally expressive ballads Donde Estara Mi Primavera and Mi Eterno Amor Secreto. The latter, a song about a secret love, was appropriately and fetchingly overwrought.

That's a good thing, because passion was very much the point of Solis' set, whether that passion was for the romantic object of affection of his songs, the audience or just for singing. During a reprise of his last song, Vivir Sin Ti, he was visibly moved: It seemed he actually teared up. The audience was mutually taken with Solis, who exited the stage with a bow to the crowd and a hug to the conductor.

For more on Marc Anthony, see Leslie's blog at palmbeachpost.com and Monday's paper.