Reviewed February 01, 2008
The Return of The Spice Girls reunion tour
by Ron Hollywood

photo credit Ron Hollywood

January 31st 2008
Bell Centre, Montreal, Qc

Victoria Beckham – vocals
Melanie Brown – vocals
Emma Bunton – vocals
Melanie Chisholm – vocals
Geri Halliwell – vocals

One could feel the party atmosphere vibe way before this show started. There were chants of “Spice Girls! Spice Girls!” an enthusiastic wave around the arena and several sections of people dancing as the music of Nelly Furtado, Rihanna, Gwen Stefani, Beyonce and Justin Timberlake played. There were banners displaying union jacks and devotion of “Spice Girls 4 ever!” or “Spice Up My Life”. There was even one banner asking “Where’s David?” And to answer that question, David Beckham was in full attendance last night. How could this be anything but a great time?

The show began with a video of five young girls opening a box where magical butterflies spin around. Next we are transported to press clippings of the success of The Spice Girls and their end. As the image of each Girl was displayed a phrase appeared “The Power of One…is not that fun. The power of two…is nothing new. The power of three… not meant to be. The power of four… needs one more gal. The power of five… keeps love alive tonight.” Then all five Spice Girls were standing atop elevated mini platforms singing Spice Up Your Life, followed by the hits Stop and Say You’ll Be There. Even the new weak single and dull performance of Headlines (Friendship Never Ends) was receiving shrieks of delight.

The production alone for this tour is quite impressive. There was a panoramic and five vertical screens that moved around throughout. Stairs on each side of the stage that led to another side stage where the musicians were most of the night. Not too mention the constant wardrobe changes, lasers, blowing smoke and choreography by Jamie king. A guy who has created dance numbers for Madonna, Prince, Shakira, Mariah Carey, and Christina Aguilera. There was lots of high energy dancing from The Spice Boys (as printed on their jackets) to leave one breathless. There was a long runway leading to another stage in the middle of the audience that the girls spent generous amounts of time running back and forth on.

There was a cabaret performance of The Lady Is A Vamp complete with top hats and chairs. This led into a jazzy version of Too Much and another ballad 2 become 1. Things really peaked with Who Do You Think You Are, with the members wearing costume homages to their respective images. Geri wore an updated version of her iconic Union Jack dress and Sporty had her track pants on.

After that, the mood focused on the girls’ solo careers, with Victoria paying homage to her fashion career, by strutting down the runway to Madonna’s Like A Virgin. Looks like her marriage to David Beckham has upped her role in this ensemble because each time she sang any part of any song throughout the night the cheers went louder than for any other member.

Mel B performed a cover of Lenny Kravitz Are You Gonna Go My Way. It’s here where she had an audience member bound to an S&M style contraption while she sang into a microphone whip. This was extremely similar to what Christina Aguilera did on her Back To Basics tour.

Emma Bunton recreated her solo video of Maybe with black and white costumes and stage props a la 1960’s films. Since this song did nothing on the charts here most of the crowd didn’t know it or seem to care much. Another song that didn’t really work was Mel C’s solo I Turn To You. She was working the stage the way Sporty should but, like Emma, to a song no one really knew.

Not helping is between those two solos was a full Spice Girls song Viva Forever ,where at the end of the song, Geri left the stage, symbolising her leaving the group. The remaining four souled things up with Holler. The four girls were in dominatrix mode wearing leather outfits and led their male dancers crawling down the runway wearing dog collars.

After Geri returned to do her solo It’s Raining Men. This was a mini concert in itself. Geri had umbrella props, special effects of lighting and rain, a costume change and some of the best, if not the best choreography of the night. With all that going on, Mel C and Emma’s solo songs were quickly forgotten.

The party kept right on going with a medley of disco hits that went from the mini stage to the main stage and everyone in the Bell Centre was dancing right along. They may not be the best singers or dancers in the world but there’s no denying The Spice Girls are one of the top entertaining acts to see and this show proved they are better now than they ever were in voice, fashion, and overall “Wow!” factor. These girls could do no wrong in the eyes of 14,000 mostly female non-stop cheering fans.

For the encore the girls rose up from beneath the stage wearing boxing robes and began with one of my faves If U Can’t Dance. It began with a huge mistake too. There was a screw-up from Emma and after a quick laugh amongst themselves and a comment from Geri “So much for Girl Power huh?” they started it over.

On the mini stage Geri talked about “What you want what you really really want” which burst into the much anticipated Wannabe . There was a final reprise of Spice Up Your Life with a conga line and blowing confetti on the audience. Once back on the main stage the girls were on the elevated mini platforms where they began the show. On the panoramic screen was the message “Mission Accomplished”. Indeed it was. Girl Power was alive and well last night.

The Power of Five video intro
Spice Up Your Life
Stop
Say You’ll Be There
Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)
The Lady Is A Vamp
Too Much (jazz version)
2 Become 1
Who Do You Think You Are
Like A Virgin/Supermodel (Victoria Beckham solo catwalk)
Are You Gonna Go My Way (Melanie Brown solo)
Maybe (Emma Bunton solo)
Viva Forever
Holler (without Geri Halliwell)
It’s Raining Men (Geri Halliwell solo)
I Turn To You (Melanie Chisholm solo)
Let Love Lead The Way (without Geri Halliwell)
Mama
Medley: Celebration / Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) / That’s the Way (I Like It) / We Are Family
Goodbye

Encore
If U Can’t Dance (intro)
Wannabe
Spice Up Your Life (reprise)

If you missed last night’s show you have a second chance to see them when they return to Montreal at the Bell Centre on Sunday February 24th. You don’t want to miss out on the party of the year!!!

Tickets can be purchased at the following link
bellcentre

Other reviews
Previously: Shaw / Blades Influence Tour
Next: John Mellencamp Feb 1st 2008

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