All Spiced Up

February 27, 2008 - The ACC witnessed history on Tuesday night, not in terms of a sports championship, but in the final concert of the Spice Girls reunion tour. Last night, Eric and I sat, stood, screamed, yelled, and sang our little hearts out for about 3.5 hours (including 1.5 hour of waiting for the show to start). It was loud, colourful, and most importantly, lots of fun. It was definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Eric and I sat at the 100 level, which provided pretty decent views of the stage. We really didn't have too much trouble getting tickets though we weren't sure how some people managed to get floor seats, as us too, logged onto the ticketmaster website before tickets even went on sale. Anyway, surprisingly, we were generally surrounded by people above the age 15, and the crowd behaved for the most part. There were even a few straight guys too - accompanied by their girlfriends of course.

After waiting for 1.5 hours, the show began at 9 pm with "Spice Up Your Life". The crowd leaped to their feet and we stood non-stop for the next two hours. I thought the reaction to "Stop" was the best - as everyone sang and did the whole dance routine thing with the hand. The Spice Mamas were totally emotional and kept emphasizing that they will probably likely never do this again. There were many group hugs, tears, and lots of thanking to the fans.

The group belled out over 20 songs, including solo performances by all except Posh, who did a fashion catwalk thing - but still managed to get the loudest screams. I thought Geri's "Raining Men" was pretty hot (and no, not because of the shirtless men prancing around) too. Another interesting note is that Geri did not join the other girls for the songs that were recorded after her initial departure. I guess they didn't have time to rehearse and rearrange the vocals.

In the end, it was actually Posh's son Cruz that stole the show. Some of the Spice Children (Posh, Baby and Scary's) came on stage during "Mama". Cruz Beckham, wearing a t-shirt that says "Posh", showed off his breakdancing skills. The fans went nuts of course.

A final group hug ended this incredible reunion tour, one that many didn't think would happen. The tour also made the Spice Girls hip again. For many in the arena, including myself, the tour took us back to a time when things were a bit simpler. It's really hard to believe 10 years have gone by already. I can also say that I have never felt any gay-er than when standing there singing "Wannabe" with the 13 year old girl sitting in front of me.

Definitely a cool experience - now maybe other late 90s bands would reunite. Perhaps N'Sync would be next?