The Return of the Spice Girls Tour
World tour by Spice Girls | |
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Associated album | Greatest Hits |
---|---|
Start date | 2 December 2007 |
End date | 26 February 2008 |
Legs | 2 |
No. of shows | 47 |
Attendance | 581,066 (45 shows) |
Box office | $70.1 million (45 shows) |
Spice Girls concert chronology |
The Return of the Spice Girls Tour was the third concert tour by British girl group the Spice Girls. It was the group's first tour since Christmas in Spiceworld in 1999, and their first with all five members since the Spiceworld Tour in May 1998. Across 45 shows (out of 47), the tour sold 581,066 tickets for a box office gross of $70.1 million,[1] and earned an additional $100 million from merchandising.[2] Overall, the tour was the eighth highest-grossing concert tour of 2008. The 17-night sellout stand at London's O2 Arena was the highest-grossing engagement of the year, taking in $33.8 million and drawing an audience of 256,647, winning the 2008 Billboard Touring Award for Top Boxscore.[3][4] This was the last tour to feature Victoria Beckham.
Background[]
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a press conference at the O2 Arena in London, formally announcing their intention to reunite as a group,[5] a plan that had long been speculated by the media.[6] During the press conference, the group laid out their plans to embark on a world concert tour that would be seen as a celebration of the group's history and to tour as a quintet for the last time.[7] Initially eleven dates were announced and spanned North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and South America and fans were informed that they had to pre-register for tickets on the group's website. On 30 September, the successful applicants for the Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Vancouver and London concerts were informed of how they could purchase their tickets, via email and text alerts, from valid ticket vendors. Demand was so high that many dates quickly sold out and new dates in London were immediately announced after the first date at the O2 Arena sold out in only 38 seconds.[8] Sixteen additional dates in London were eventually added, all selling out within one minute.[9]
Concert synopsis[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Spiceupyourlifetorontofirst_cropped.jpg/200px-Spiceupyourlifetorontofirst_cropped.jpg)
The show begins with a video introduction of five young girls playing inside a house when they find a magic box. When they open it fireworks appear, the five girls all wish to become pop stars when they grow up, then an instrumental of "Spice Up Your Life" begins as various music videos and press headlines about the Spice Girls are shown, as the video ends the Spice Girls enter the stage on five platforms and perform "Spice Up Your Life" they then perform a mashup of their 1998 hit "Stop" and "It's Like That" by Jason Nevins and Run-DMC, which famously blocked "Stop" from the number 1 position on the UK Singles Chart. After the girls introduce themselves at the end of the second song they perform "Say You'll Be There" remixed with "Fix" by Blackstreet. Their reunion single "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)" is the last song in the first act. The second act begins with a Jazz theme for "The Lady Is A Vamp" having a showgirl style performance. An up-tempo jazz version of "Too Much" is performed with the group dressed in tuxedos, while doing a striptease behind neon pink-coloured, heart-shaped doors.[10][11] "2 Become 1" is performed next while each of the girls emerged from a cocoon of oversized swan wings and danced around a set of barber's poles while singing the song.[12]
The third act begins with a video of falling money and the titles Baby, Posh, Sporty, Scary and Ginger appear on the screen with their signature themes. Halliwell then enters the stage wearing a sequin Union Jack dress, while Bunton wears a small pink coat, and Chisholm appears wearing a sports track suit. Beckham then appears wearing a little black lace dress, while Brown wears her trademark leopard print catsuit, and the group perform "Who Do You Think You Are". The song symbolises the height of the Spice Girls in their heyday. Beckham is then left on stage giving a Catwalk / Runway dance to a remix of "Like a Virgin" by Madonna and "Supermodel (You Better Work)" by Ru Paul. Brown then performs solo, taking a male member of the audience and subsequently chains him to a ladder as she performs a cover of "Are You Gonna Go My Way" by Lenny Kravitz. Bunton gives a 1960s inspired performance of her 2004 hit "Maybe".
Following a cape dance interlude, "Viva Forever" is performed with a Latin theme and tango/fan dance break, the song ends with Halliwell exiting the stage early, acknowledging her leaving the band in 1998. "Holler" is then performed by the four remaining members, with a dominatrix theme similar to the video of the song. Halliwell then returns solo to perform her single "It's Raining Men", followed by Chisholm who performs her song, "I Turn to You". Brown, Chisholm, Bunton, and Beckham then perform "Let Love Lead The Way" dressed in white and silver. Halliwell returns from under the stage at the end of the song. The five girls come together holding hands and walk to the center stage, raising their hands to signify the reunion as a five piece and their bond. They then perform "Mama" with personal photographs of themselves with their mothers and children.[10][11] For the British shows, fifty young girls from the Capital Children's Choir dressed in white came out from a platform and lined the stage against the backdrop screens to sing with the Spice Girls.[13] This was then followed by the "Celebration Medley", a mash-up of "Celebration", "Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)", "That's The Way (I Like It)", and "We Are Family". The girls then perform "Goodbye".
The encore begins with a Humpty Dance interlude by the dancers as it segues into "If U Cant Dance" with the girls wearing a different coloured robe. The girls then take off their robes to reveal glittery outfits: Brown in gold, Halliwell in blue, Chisholm in orange, Beckham in green, and Bunton in pink. They then perform their biggest hit and debut single "Wannabe". Finally they perform a heavily remixed version of "Spice Up Your Life". At the end, a cannon exploded showering the stage with pieces of gold, white and black paper strips, while flags from different countries flashed across the backdrop screens.[11][12]
Controversy[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Spiceupyourlifetoronto1_cropped.jpg/240px-Spiceupyourlifetoronto1_cropped.jpg)
In late 2007, a fake email was posted by blogger Perez Hilton on his site, stating that the Spice Girls had cancelled the Buenos Aires date,[14] causing an official statement to be released saying that Buenos Aires and the other world tour dates were being finalized.[15] Due to the expansion of the British and American legs of the tour, it was finally announced on 1 February 2008 that the tour would end in Toronto, on 26 February 2008, meaning that the dates in South America, Asia, Australia and Africa were cancelled.[16] Many media outlets reported that it was due to Melanie Chisholm and Melanie Brown leaving the group,[17] but this was denied in an official video message.[18] The band suffered fan backlash, with some fans creating Facebook hate groups speculating that the official announcement was "indirect" and that "the Spice Girls and their management knew the dates were cancelled even before they added 16 dates at the O2, deciding to announce it near the end of the tour to minimize controversy."[19]
Broadcasts and recordings[]
BBC Radio 2 recorded the shows in London on 15 and 16 December 2007. An hour-long "highlights special" was broadcast on 22 and 31 December 2007, that included eleven of the twenty-two songs performed.[20] It was confirmed on the Spice Girls official website that there would not be a DVD release.[21] The lack of an official DVD released caused negativity.[22] After many e-mails from fans to the management, it was officially announced that no official DVD had been recorded at all. However, Melanie Brown confirmed on her website that footage of the tour was recorded but the quality was poor and they felt it was wrong to release a DVD for local distribution.[22] In 2017, Melanie Chisholm clarified in a YouTube interview that although several performances were recorded for the screens and promotional purposes, a DVD was never recorded due to "poor organization". Because the tour sold out quickly, it was impossible to have empty seats and make room for cameramen and extra lighting, making it impossible to film a high quality DVD.[23]
In May 2020, two previously unseen videoscreen recordings in New York and Philadelphia were uploaded online by Ivan "Flipz" Valez, who was one of the dancers.[24][25]
Set list[]
The following set list is representative of the show on 2 December 2007. It is not representative of all concerts for the duration of the tour.[26]
- "Spice Up Your Life"
- "Stop"
- "Say You'll Be There"
- "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)"
- "The Lady Is a Vamp"
- "Too Much"
- "2 Become 1"
- "Who Do You Think You Are"
- "Like A Virgin" / "Supermodel (You Better Work)" (Victoria Beckham solo interlude)
- "Are You Gonna Go My Way" (Mel B solo)
- "Maybe" (Emma Bunton solo)
- "Viva Forever"
- "Holler"
- "It's Raining Men" (Geri Halliwell solo)
- "I Turn to You" (Melanie C solo)
- "Let Love Lead the Way"
- "Mama"
- "Celebration" / "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" / "That's the Way (I Like It)" / "We Are Family" (disco mix)
- "Goodbye"
- Encore
- "If U Can't Dance"
- "Wannabe"
- "Spice Up Your Life" (reprise)
Tour dates[]
Date | City | Country | Venue | Attendance | Revenue |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
North America[27][28] | |||||
2 December 2007 | Vancouver | Canada | General Motors Place | N/A | N/A |
4 December 2007 | San Jose | United States | HP Pavilion | ||
5 December 2007 | Los Angeles | Staples Center | 24,502 / 24,502 | $2,673,311 | |
7 December 2007 | |||||
8 December 2007 | Las Vegas | Mandalay Bay Events Center | N/A | N/A | |
9 December 2007 | |||||
11 December 2007 | |||||
Europe[27] | |||||
15 December 2007 | London | United Kingdom | The O2 Arena | 256,647 / 256,647[a] | $33,829,250[a] |
16 December 2007 | |||||
18 December 2007 | |||||
20 December 2007 | Cologne | Germany | Kölnarena | N/A | N/A |
23 December 2007 | Madrid | Spain | Madrid Arena | ||
2 January 2008 | London | United Kingdom | The O2 Arena | —[a] | — [a] |
3 January 2008 | |||||
4 January 2008 | |||||
6 January 2008 | |||||
8 January 2008 | |||||
9 January 2008 | |||||
11 January 2008 | |||||
12 January 2008 | |||||
13 January 2008 | |||||
15 January 2008 | |||||
16 January 2008 | |||||
18 January 2008 | |||||
20 January 2008 | |||||
22 January 2008 | |||||
23 January 2008 | Manchester | Manchester Evening News Arena | 41,323 / 41,323 | $5,388,122 | |
24 January 2008 | |||||
26 January 2008 | |||||
North America[27] | |||||
30 January 2008 | Boston | United States | TD Banknorth Garden | N/A | N/A |
31 January 2008 | Montreal | Canada | Bell Centre | ||
3 February 2008 | Toronto | Air Canada Centre | 58,368 / 58,368[b] | $6,396,302[b] | |
4 February 2008 | |||||
6 February 2008 | Uniondale | United States | Nassau Coliseum | 22,622 / 24,207 | $2,427,714 |
7 February 2008 | |||||
10 February 2008 | Newark | Prudential Center | 23,430 / 25,143 | $2,565,726 | |
11 February 2008 | |||||
13 February 2008 | East Rutherford | Izod Center | N/A | N/A | |
15 February 2008 | Chicago | United Center | |||
16 February 2008 | Auburn Hills | The Palace of Auburn Hills | |||
18 February 2008 | New York City | Madison Square Garden | |||
19 February 2008 | Philadelphia | Wachovia Center | |||
21 February 2008 | Washington, D.C. | Verizon Center | |||
22 February 2008 | Hartford | XL Center | |||
24 February 2008 | Montreal | Canada | Bell Centre | ||
25 February 2008 | Toronto | Air Canada Centre | —[b] | —[b] | |
26 February 2008 | |||||
Total | 581,066[1] (45 shows) |
$70,100,000[1] (45 shows) |
Cancelled dates[]
Date | City | Country |
---|---|---|
Asia[27] | ||
10 January 2008 | Beijing | China |
12 January 2008 | Hong Kong | |
Oceania[27] | ||
17 January 2008 | Sydney | Australia |
Africa[27] | ||
20 January 2008 | Cape Town | South Africa |
South America[27] | ||
24 January 2008 | Buenos Aires | Argentina |
Personnel[]
Vocals[]
Band[]
- Simon Ellis – Musical Director / Keyboards
- – Guitars
- Greg Hatwell – Guitars
- Nick Nasmyth – Keyboards
- Scott Firth – Bass
- Sudha Kheterpal or Thomas Dyani – Percussion
- – Drums
Dancers[]
- Gus Carr (Dance Captain)
- Scotty Nguyen (Dance Captain)
- Alex Larson
- Antonio Hudnell
- Cassidy Noblett
- Dougie Styles
- Ivan "Flipz" Valez
- Leo Moctezuma
- Victor Rojas
- Vinh Bui
Main crew[]
- Musical Director: Simon Ellis
- Creative Director: Jamie King
- Production & Lighting: LeRoy A. Bennett
- Assistant Director: Carla Kama
- Supervising Choreographer: Stefanie Roos
- Video Director: Dago Gonzalez for Veneno, Inc.
- Costume Design: Roberto Cavalli
- Manager: Simon Fuller
- Executive Producer: Spice Girls and 19
Notes[]
References[]
- ^ a b c Frankenberg, Eric (27 June 2019). "Spice Girls Earn $78 Million On 2019 Reunion Tour". Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ Beech, Mark (25 May 2019). "Spice Girls Defy Music Business Logic With Record-Breaking Tour". Forbes. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
- ^ Waddell, Ray (11 December 2008). "Bon Jovi Scores 2008's Top-Grossing Tour". Billboard. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
- ^ "Top 25 Boxscores – Billboard Year In Music 2008". Billboard. Archived from the original on 12 December 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
- ^ "Spice Girls Set Date to Reveal Plans". The Washington Post. 22 June 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
- ^ Finn, Natalie (8 June 2007). "Spice Girls Reunion a Well-Seasoned Rumor". E! Online. E! Entertainment Television, Inc. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
- ^ "Spice Girls announce reunion tour". BBC News. 28 June 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
- ^ "Fans snap up Spice Girls tickets". BBC News. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2007.
- ^ Randall, David K. (11 August 2008). "Spice Girls, Prince Rake in Concert Cash". ABC News. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
- ^ a b Derdeyn, Stuart (2 December 2007). "Spice Girls kick off world tour in Vancouver – fans get what they really, really want". National Post. Postmedia Network Inc. Archived from the original on 2 December 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
- ^ a b c Hudson, Polly (4 December 2007). "The Spice Girls are back!". The Mirror. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
- ^ a b Sinclair, David (4 December 2007). "Spice Girls review: 'they remain consummate entertainers'". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 12 August 2010.
- ^ Bray, Elisa (17 December 2007). "Girl Power back to give fans what they really really want". The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
- ^ "Perez Hilton: Las Chicas Picante Cancelan". PerezHilton.com. 24 November 2007.
- ^ "Perez Hilton: They Were Hacked!". PerezHilton.com. 25 November 2007.
- ^ "Spice Girls Official Website". Spice Girls LLP. 1 February 2008.
- ^ "Spice Girls cancel world tour 'after Mels quit' – Entertainment – NZ Herald News". NZ Herald. APN Holdings NZ Limited. 1 February 2008.
- ^ "Spice Girls Official Website". Spice Girls LLP.
- ^ "Spice Girls Hate Groups Online: Spice Girls Reunion Tour Cancellation Internet Hate Campaign". PopCrunch.com.
- ^ "Spice Girls in Concert". BBC Radio 2. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ "SPICEY THANK YOU". TheSpiceGirls.com. 2 April 2008. Archived from the original on 5 April 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ a b Daly, Bridget (8 April 2008). "The Spice Girls Disappoint". HollyScoop. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ "MEETING MELANIE C! The 004 VLOG #2". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
- ^ "Spice Girls - The Return Of The Spice Girls (Live in New York)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
- ^ "Spice Girls - The Return of The Spice Girls (Live in Philadelphia)". YouTube.
- ^ Jane Stevenson. "CANOE – JAM! Music – Artists – Spice Girls – Concert Review: GM Place, Vancouver – December 2, 2007". Jam.canoe.ca. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g "THE RETURN OF THE SPICE GIRLS TOUR 2007/2008". www.thespicegirls.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ "Concert Boxscore for the 2008-04-02 issue". Reuters. 2 November 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- Spice Girls concert tours
- 2007 concert tours
- 2008 concert tours
- Reunion concert tours