Well the reviews are in (I’m sure you’ve all been waiting with baited breath) – and despite the lackluster reception at the Victoria’s Secret show, the Spice Girls’ first concert has actually gotten pretty good reviews. The sold-out Vancouver show had over 15,000 people in attendance. The girls were never known for their singing, so no one’s really evaluating them on that. They weren’t even the greatest dancers. But they were good performers and knew how to please an audience, and according to the professionals (ie people that get paid to review Spice Girls concerts… what a job) the girls still have it.

“The solid gold Spice Girls,” said London’s Evening Standard, a reference to golden outfits the “girl power” quintet sported during the show, one of several costume changes on the night. The reviewer called the performance “ebullient pop music of a very high standard, presented with panache, and highly unlikely to provoke any attendance at the refund window.”

Despite the sassy young singers who stormed the pop world in the 1990s all now being in their 30s, four of them with children, they had yet to pass their sell-by date. “There seems no diminution in the energy they are prepared to expend, or the lengths they will go to to please the audience.”

The Vancouver Sun noted the crush for Spice Girls merchandise, underlining the lasting appeal of Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham, Melanie “Sporty” Chisholm, Geri “Ginger” Halliwell, Melanie “Scary” Brown and Emma “Baby” Bunton. “Just as it was 10 years ago, the show wasn’t about great singing or dancing,” wrote the reviewer. “But it was about great entertainment. And the girls delivered the spice.”

[From Reuters]

I know, I know. Breathe your sighs of relief. There’s some debate as to whether or not they were lip-syncing… but the debate seems to be mostly between critics, as their fans don’t seem to give a rip. And despite reportedly telling him not to attend, Posh’s husband David Beckham showed up anyway. Good for him, he knew a trap when he saw one. Several reviewers did note that all the girls had a solo performance except for Posh. Apparently she’s the worst singer of the group. That’s kind of like being the worst brussel sprout in the bowl, right?

The Spice Girls world tour kicks off this weekend, and it’s been a busy week for the girls. Geri Halliwell blogs on the lead up to the first show on Sunday in Vancouver.

I actually feel like I’m in the Spice bubble… we are encapsulated in this world where we are just immersed in each other’s lives constantly. Just before the run through of the show this morning, Mel B, Victoria and I even went to the loo together… in separate cubicles, obviously!

But of course… there’s also my daughter Bluebell. She loves hanging with the Beckham boys. Cruz and Bluebell have play dates, and Romeo – well, he is just gorgeous with her. Actually, it was a beautiful moment when we were rehearsing the other day and all of our kids were playing on the stage at the same time. It made me smile.

As you probably know, Mel B was in the live final of Dancing With The Stars and we surprised her on Monday down at the show. She was so shocked, it’s the first time we’ve ever seen her quiet! She was with us in rehearsals yesterday morning and then went to the studio in evening for the results show. She SO should have won… I’m very disappointed. But we are all so incredibly proud of her. You’re a winner to us Mel!

Read the full entry at thespicegirls.com

Mel B was robbed! Robbed I tell ya!

The girls were also visited by Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes this week, and surprised them with an impromptu performance.

Tom and Katie’s 19-month-old Suri danced around as the band belted out a selection of their greatest hits.

Following the surprise visit, Victoria - who is married to England soccer star David Beckham - said: “David and I are great friends with Tom and Katie. It was lovely of them to come down to rehearsals, a really nice surprise.

“Katie has told me before that she used to be a huge Spice Girls fan, so it was great for her to meet the other girls.”

Stuff

In other Victoria Beckham news, she’s just been announced as the new face of the Marc Jacobs campaign. We’re unsure whether her new boobs have been temporarily added at the designer’s request, or if they are a permanent fixture. They’re definitely nicer than her old half melons.

Sadly, the Spice Girls aren’t coming to my town. Still, video of the shows should be up on YouTube before I even make it out of bed. I’ll be listening to their CDs, and watching their movie this weekend. Not because they’re on tour – I do it most weekends…

Picture note by Jaybird: The Spice Girls made a surprise visit to the studio’s of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ to support Melanie Brown. Images thanks to Splash Photos.

Fans the world over have been gearing up for the Spice Girls reunion for months now, with entertainment blogs studiously reporting on the Girls every announcement. While their tour hasn’t officially kicked off, the Girls gave everyone a preview at last night’s Victoria’s Secret fashion show at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Unfortunately the girls were less than impressive… at least for their singing. They lip-synched through their whole show. While audience members noted that a few songs had some vigorous dancing that would have been hard to sing through, several others didn’t – yet the girls just mouthed along anyway.

The Spice Girls took to the stage together for the first time in almost 10 years - but disappointed fans by miming their songs. Despite masses of hype surrounding their reunion, the Girls had clearly not prepared enough to sing live at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show at the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood, last night. They performed two songs, the first was a rendition of their classic Stop, dressed in military clothes and with male dancers. The second was their new Children In Need track Headlines.

While Stop had some ambitious choreography, Headlines had no dancing - making the lip-synching unacceptable. One person at the show said: “It was amazing to see them back on stage again. They obviously put a lot of work into their dance routines, but it was disappointing they didn’t sing live.” The girls kick off their world tour on 2 December in Vancouver, but it’s unclear whether they plan to sing live during any of those shows.

[From the Daily Mail]

Their outfits sure are cute though. And they look better than they did ten years ago. Were they ever really known for their singing? I remember reading years ago that the casting call for the group said something along the lines of “No singing skills necessary.” Obviously they’ve had a lot of training and are able to sing just fine, but it’s not like they were famous for their incredible vocals. One criticism of the Girls is that they’re just trying to rehash the past and cash in on their old fame instead of coming up with new and creative songs.

Tonight the girls will do a live link from LA during the Children In Need event, but one person who’s not overly excited about seeing them is Strictly Come Dancing [the UK version of Dancing With the Stars] judge Arlene Phillips.

She told us the girls should have moved forward with their sound, and that their new single is stuck in the past.

She said: “I think they are Spice Women now, and not the Spice Girls. I think their whole attack should have been about not what they were, but where they are now.”

Nearly a decade after the five-member group became four — when Geri Halliwell left Mel C, Mel B, Emma Bunton and Victoria Beckham — the Spice Girls reunited for a greatest hits album, released this week, and a world reunion tour, starting in Vancouver on Dec. 2.

[From the Daily Mail]

I really don’t think that’s going to bother anyone. Most people seem to just want to look at the Spice Girls more than hear the Spice Girls. They’re fun to watch, sorta diva-ish (but not if you ask them) and wear crazy outfits while dancing to annoyingly catchy songs. I wouldn’t pay to see them, but if someone handed me a ticket I’d totally go to their show, just for the spectacle.

Well that didn’t take too long. Who bet on day 94 in the “When will the Spice Girls get all diva bitchy on each other?” contest? Apparently it doesn’t take much to cause infighting… though that’s not really a surprise. Aren’t divas known for freaking out about the slightest thing? I’m guessing the majority of the cat fighting is between Ginger, Posh, and Scary. The other two seem comparably nice and low-key, but I’m easily mislead these days.

Apparently Geri Halliwell released the name of the Girl’s first single without their permission, and even knew it might cause some problems. I’m guessing she either got carried away from being on television, or the tabloids are trying to make a big deal out of nothing. It all seems petty to me, but I’m not a Spice anything, so I could be wrong.

“Geri Halliwell has sparked tensions with her newly reunited Spice Girls bandmates after she revealed the top secret name of their new single - according to reports. Halliwell announced the single release, their first in seven years, to British chat show GMTV on Friday.

“She said, ‘I’m not too sure if I’m going to get in trouble for telling you this because I haven’t discussed it with the other girls. The Spice Girls’ new single is finished and it’s out on November 19 and it’s called Headlines.’

“However, the other members are said to be annoyed at the impromptu announcement, reports British newspaper The Daily Star.

“A source tells the paper, ‘They will be furious Geri has let slip the name of their new single.’

“However, a spokesperson denies the rift, explaining, ‘Everything’s cool with the girls. No-one’s angry with Geri about her giving the name of the single away. It was all part of the plan.’”

[From Star Pulse]

Hmm… sounds like double-talk. I’d like to believe there’s a lot of drama and anger behind the scenes. Something along the lines of vases being thrown and secretly slipping roofies into each other’s drinks and then taking embarrassing photos of one another. But I’m guessing things aren’t nearly that dramatic. There’s probably a lot of play pens, husbands, and … [I’m trying to think of other mature things here…] sauvignon blanc? I’m sure all the girls can whip out some diva when they want to, but I’m guessing that they’ve probably matured enough not to freak out about Ginger Spice leaking their first comeback single title. It’s not like she showed up with the disc in hand or anything. Though that’d would have made for much better drama.

Picture Note by Jaybird: Here’s Geri at the 2007 Serpentine Gallery Summer Party on July 11th. Image thanks to PR Photos. Header of Geri making a trip to the Chelsea Harbour Design Centre in London after making an early morning appearance on GMTV on October 5th. Image thanks to Splash Photos.

We all know the Spice Girls are going to be the hot ticket this summer. They’re so uncool that they’re cool again, and this time around we get the added fun of speculating about whether Posh’s twiggy leg will snap in that dance routine. Or will Mel C join the Mummy Spices and be sporting a baby bump during the tour? Will Eddie Murphy attend a show? Will David Beckham?

The sheer hotness of the tickets was confirmed weeks ago when over 1 million people in the UK registered to be part of the lottery to be in for buying tickets. They sold out in 38 seconds. I can’t even imagine how you could sell tickets that fast. Some of these people must have been scalpers though, as already tickets are on eBay selling for £750. This practice absolutely disgusts me, as obviously these people only bought the tickets to profit from them, keeping the real fans from attending the shows.

Of course, the Spice Girls have got nothing on Led Zeppelin’s comeback – over a million people worldwide registered online for just 17,000 tickets to their one-off show at London’s 02 Arena.

Anyway, the girls have a greatest hits album coming out for those of us who aren’t in the market for concert tickets – and it is likely to feature a duet with Bono.

The group’s record label bosses were said to be concerned the group’s Greatest Hits album - set to be released next month - would not match the success of their previous LPs and believed Bono’s involvement could boost sales.

A source told Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper: “It might seem unusual with the Spice Girls’ pop roots and the much rockier work of Bono, but it works.

“There’s been a bit of unease as to how the album will perform and if there’s still a solid Spice Girls’ fan base out there.

“Bono’s involvement has lifted the whole camp and he’s delighted to have been asked and add his experience.”

Bono is not the first star to be asked to collaborate with the girls on their comeback album.

Last month, it was revealed George Michael is writing a Christmas song for the band.

New Zealand Herald

Er, the tickets to their shows sold out in minutes, surely you aren’t too worried about how the album is going to be accepted? Actually, I would love to see Bono collaborate with the Spice Girls – getting a little low brow after his previous partners Pavarotti and Green Day and Amnesty International. I hope he gets down to some dance moves on the video. I hope this isn’t just crazy speculation!

The Spice Girls are shown at the press conference announcing their reunion on 7/28/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

So, the Jennifer Lopez pregnancy rumours are circulating again – the poor woman probably just had a big glass of champagne before walking down the catwalk. That’s what the baby bump was. Or at least, that’s what it seems to be according to husband Marc Anthony.

“Everyone calls about this every month with the hopes that they’ll hit the mark — but no,” Anthony’s publicist said.

ninemsn.com.au

So, he didn’t mention the champagne theory. But I like the fact he mentions that people call every month with the rumour wanting it confirmed or denied. Is Marc Anthony suggesting we’re following his wife’s ovulation cycle?

Some reports have had Jennifer pregnant with twins, even offering detailed stories of ultrasound results and fertility treatments, but I personally like her attitude about not having a baby until God is ready for her to. Particularly since we all seem to forget she’s that other special kind of mommy – a stepmommy to Marc Anthony’s three children.

Jennifer is very busy right now, promoting her new album, but is also keen to perform with the Spice Girls.

According to the Sunday People, the singer said: “I’d love to get back out there on tour and I’d really like to perform on the same stage as the Spice Girls.”

Speaking about Victoria Beckham, Lopez said: “Even before we were friends, Posh was always my favourite.”

RTE

She might not be preggers right now, but if she hangs out with that fertile bunch of mummies it won’t be long. It’s contagious, right?

Thanks to PopSugar for the header image.

Mel B is angry about reports her new husband, Stephan Belafonte, is abusive. The allegations surfaced after it was revealed in 2003 he was charged with battery and ordered to attend a domestic violence programme.

But Mel told Hello! magazine: “Everything I stand for is about being a strong, independent woman, so for him to be seen as a wife-beater is devastating for me because he’s not - he never has been.

“The only thing I don’t like is that my friends and family read this and go into shock-horror mode, thinking ‘Oh, she’s married a psychopath’.”

Mel said Belafonte had been through counselling and is “fully aware of what he’s done”, adding: “They’re trying to make him out to be this aggressive, violent, woman-hitter, and he’s not. He’s never hit a woman. If you read those police reports, they never say he physically beat up a woman.”

RTE

Rather strangely, Belafonte is wanted for murder…of a duck.

Mel will be busy in the next few months, touring the Spice Girls Greatest Hits album, which is to have a very bling bling cover. Yeah, I know, it’s daggy to say bling. It’s also daggy to like the Spice Girls, no matter what the girls try and tell you.

A special one-off edition of the album will have the word ‘SPICE’ emblazoned across a white background with each letter decorated with a different gem, representing each of the girls.

The S is made from amber and represents Victoria, the ruby pink P represents Emma, Mel C’s I is made from diamond, Geri’s C is made from sapphire stones while the E is made from emerald and represents Mel B.

A source said: “The album cover is a nice touch. They wanted something simple and stylish and it’s probably one of the most expensive album covers ever made.”

New Zealand Herald

I’m not able to work out who the cover is for. Is it a special run just for the girls, for press, or a limited run for fans?

The album cover looks criminally boring, too close to their debut album, so hopefully the jewelled edition will be available, even with glitter instead of gems. Or sequins, as a nod to Geri Halliwell’s sequinned Union Jack dress. I should design this album cover!

Header image via I’m Not Obsessed. Spice Girls album cover via Just Jared.

Well it was a close call apparently, but the Spice Girls won’t perform in Baghdad. They held a competition on their website for write-in votes for which city they should perform in – dubbed “Spice City” - that was not currently on their itinerary. The winner was Toronto, but only by a hair. Baghdad, Rio de Janeiro and Chicago were all close contenders. Something tells me that the people who were writing in for Baghdad are all in the 12 – 17 age group. But it must have been a massively organized effort to pull in so close.

“’We are delighted to be going to Toronto. We have such incredible fans there and we are amazed at such a positive reaction,’ the Spice Girls said in a statement.

“The Spice City competition was set up to give fans the chance to bring the band to their city for an “extra special performance,” the group said.

“Adding Toronto means Emma, Geri, Mel B, Melanie C and Victoria will now play 15 dates on their imminent world tour. The “Spice City” show will take place some time in January.

“The Spice Girls announced in late June that they were reforming, seven years after they split, and unveiled plans for a 10-date tour. Four more gigs were added to meet demand.

“Over 3 million people registered online to buy tickets, which promoters say suggests that up to 18 million fans want to see the five women in action again.

“Their revival tour kicks off in Vancouver in December, after which they will play cities including New York, London, Hong Kong, Sydney and Buenos Aires.”

[From Reuters]

Several media sources are covering this story as though the Spice Girls narrowly dodged a bullet. Something tells me that, had Baghdad won, something would have come up that made it impossible for them to perform. Just a hunch. I really would like to find out who was behind this whole Baghdad write-in. I really doubt the people of the Middle East were logging onto the Spice Girls website in droves to write in one of the most dangerous cities imaginable. One e-mailer on their website put it this way, “’I think they could get airlifted in to the Green Zone, play a surprise gig and get out with relative safety.’”

Images thanks to PRPhotos.

The Spice Girls just added three new dates to their tour – and ten hair and make up people!

“There’s so much competition between the girls. They all want to look their best so each of them brought in their own separate team. It’s hilarious - and completely over the top. Why can’t they just share like in the old days?” the Mirror quoted the source, as saying.

The band of aids include 10 hair stylists and make-up artists, plus fitness trainers and nutrition experts, as well as personal assistants, managers and security guards.

“It’s a far cry from the old days when they had one make-up artist and a hairdresser between them,” the source said.

However, a band spokesman insisted: “It’s normal for each girl to have a team.”

The Times Of India

I think it’s appropriate to have a team for each Spice - there’s five of them, so it would take hours to groom them for public viewing. Also rumored to be on the Spice Train is clothing designer Donatella Versace. A source describes her as being “a big fan of the girls back in the day.”

Reports in today’s papers claimed the Spice Girls had found their much-needed fairy style godmother in the shape of Donatella Versace, who was said to be designing £200,000-worth of designer stage outfits for their comeback reunion tour - but a spokesperson for Versace has denied that this is the case. “It’s simply not true,” he told us. “I have no idea where the rumours have come from.”

Vogue

I guess it makes sense to have so many more stylists and trainers on hand then before – the girls have put on a few years! But what we all really want to know is – does Ginger have her Union Jack dress back yet? I’m sure Donatella could knock up another, but a new dress just isn’t the same as vintage. Besides, it’s kind of like your wedding dress. Every few years you try it on to see how much weight you’ve gained. Admit it, we all do it. I’m surprised Geri didn’t want to keep it for that purpose alone.

Photo via http://www.dlisted.com“>DListed.

The Spice Girls have put this letter on their website:

Hi Everybody!

WOW! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! We are so excited about the fantastic response that we have had from everybody registering to come and see us on tour. It means so much that people want to see the 5 of us together again on stage.

Now for some really cool news! We’ve had loads of messages from people all over the World asking why we weren’t performing in their Country. It’s impossible for us to perform everywhere but we thought why not let our fans decide where we play? This is your chance to turn your City in to “SPICE CITY”! All you need to do is tell us where you want to see us!

The City with the most votes will become “SPICE CITY” and we’ll definitely come and play there as part of our tour. It really is up to you to decide which City becomes “SPICE CITY” so get voting!

Lots of love

What they don’t say is that only 11 dates have been included. So I think they’ll be missing a lot of places. Also, you need to register for tickets and they will be allocated randomly to be fair. What’s not fair about getting in line for them? Scalpers can still get on and register. Spice Logic.

Maybe I’m just bitter since they aren’t coming to my town. Actually, they’re not even coming to my country. Maybe if the tour gets increased to 50 dates they will.

What are they going to be doing anyway? Getting back to their busy careers? Although today David Beckham has said another couple of babies may be on the cards for he and wife Victoria. Prepare for pregnancy rumours Posh!!