The Spice Girls Reunion O2 Arena London 15th December 2007
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a press conference in London, announcing that they were to reunite. They revealed that they were going to embark on a world concert tour as a celebration of the group’s legacy and a final farewell to fans. Eleven concerts were announced in North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and South America and we were informed that we had to pre-register for tickets on the Spice Girls’ website. Lucky “winners” were sent a code which allowed them to buy tickets for the concerts. Initially only one night in London was planned, but it sold out in only 38 seconds, and more dates were quickly added. Concerts continued to be added, and they eventually played a massive 17 nights in London at the O2 Arena, and 3 nights at Manchester Arena. Laura wanted to see her childhood heroes again and we were lucky enough to get tickets for the opening night, thanks to a friendly Spice Girls fan from Germany who gave us a code to but tickets when they first went on sale, having not been successful ourselves in the initial draw. Our trip to planet Spice started on the train from Durham station down to Kings Cross, onward to a trusty Travelodge to dump our bags, and then to the classy O2 Arena to take our seats for a nostalgic trip back to the days of Girl Power !! 🙂 Laura bought a t shirt (perhaps I should have got one). We had pretty decent seats on the arena floor about half way back and with a great view of the stage. The first bit of excitement came when Will Young took his seat a few rows in front of us, to massive cheers and screams from the crowd.
The show began with a video of five young girls (representing our five heroes) playing inside a house. They find a magic box, open it, fireworks appear, and they all wish that they can become pop stars when they grow up (does it work like that?). Cue the music for “Spice Up Your Life” and videos and press cuttings of the Spice Girls. The girls then appeared on five massive high platforms and the whole place erupted. I have literally never heard such loud screaming go on for so long. The 20,000 strong O2 crowd gave the Spice Girls a reception unlike anything else I have seen. Breathtaking. Girl Power had returned to London.
“Spice Up Your Life” was followed by “Stop” and their reunion single “Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)” closed the first act. The second act had a jazz theme: “The Lady Is A Vamp” and a showgirl-style performance. The girls performed jazz versions of “Too Much” and “2 Become 1” with the girls dancing around pink and white poles. In the third act each of the girls took a solo spot which started with lots of catwalking from Posh to a remix of “Like a Virgin”. Scary then took a male member of the audience and chained him to a ladder while she performed (as of course she did for part of the Spice Girls career) and the four piece band performed “Holler”. She then returned to perform her big solo hit single “It’s Raining Men”, followed by Mel C singing her solo single, “I Turn to You”. The next section included “Mama” with images of the Spice Girls with their mothers and their own children. After a medley they finished with “Goodbye” and the concert ended with the slogan “SPICE – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”. The encore was (of course) their biggest hit and debut single “Wannabe”. and “Spice Up Your Life”.
Great fun actually.
Back to rock concerts tomorrow.
Archive for the ‘Spice Girls’ Category
9 May
The Spice Girls Reunion O2 Arena London 15th December 2007
8 May
The Spice Girls Christmas In Spiceworld Manchester Arena 4th December 1999
The Spice Girls Christmas In Spiceworld Manchester Arena 4th December 1999
This is very definitely in the “guilty pleasure” category.
Laura was a big Spice Girls fan, and a member of their fan club, so when the “Christmas In Spiceworld Tour” was announced we decided to go to see them in Manchester so that her Christmas would come early that year. The tour was a complete sell out, those Spice Girls were pretty popular at the time; and it included eight massive arena shows in Manchester and London in the run up to Christmas 1999. The tour occurred between the albums Spiceworld and Forever. It was their first tour as a four piece girl group as Geri Halliwell (aka “Ginger Spice”) had left the band the year before to pursue a solo career. The line-up was thus Mel B (Melanie Brown aka “Scary Spice”), Mel C (Melanie Chisholm aka “Sporty Spice”), Emma Bunton (“Baby Spice”) and Victoria Beckham (“Posh Spice”).
We managed to get great seats through the fan club sale, right down front. It was I our first visit to the massive Manchester arena. The stage set was complex and extremely impressive. It consisted of a small platform surrounded by Christmas trees from which ran a very long runway leading to the main stage in the middle of the arena. The band (guitar, drums, bass, brass, and a small string section, I think) were in a pit in the middle of the main stage. The centre of the main stage raised up and rotated and above there were the usual stage lights and a massive Christmassy ice pillar. The girls entered the arena on the small stage and then made their way over to the main stage. During the concert they moved from the main stage to the circular one in its centre, and moved up and down and round and round, all to the delight of the crowd and all very impressive. 
The show was in four Acts.
Act 1: “Forever Spice”. They started with “Spice Up Your Life” and the place went crazy. I could hardly hear them for the screaming. Laura loved it, she had taken two of her Spice Girl dolls and was waving them at the girls. The rest of the first act featured the songs “Something Kinda Funny”; “Say You’ll Be There”; “Right Back at Ya”; “Step to Me”; “Mama” (where they were joined by a choir); “Too Much” and “W.O.M.A.N”. The last song of the first Act was “2 Become 1”. Mel B and Emma Bunton came down into the audience and picked two members of the audience (a man and a woman) to join them up on stage.
Act 2: Supergirls. The girls played the parts of superheroes on the revolving stage. The songs in this Act were: “Stop”; “Holler”; “Who Do You Think You Are”; “Never Give Up on the Good Times”; “Wannabe” and “Goodbye” (with the choir returning).
Act 3: It’s Christmas! (The Encore). The girls returned to the peal of church bells and performed “Viva Forever” and a Christmas Medley comprising “Merry Xmas Everybody”; “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” and a reprise of “Wannabe”.
The crowd, of course, gave them a standing ovation. All great fun and a spectacular show. Quite different from seeing Motorhead. Christmas gigs just don’t come any better 🙂
Spice Up Your Life.
Thanks to Wikipedia for reminding me of the detail of the production.
Fraid, to my shame, I am going to recount yet another guilty pleasure tomorrow. Not content with spending Christmas 1999 with those Spice Girlies, Laura and I just had to go to their reunion show eight years later….
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