Golden girls kick off world tour

The Spice Girls, one of the biggest acts of the Nineties, kicked off their worldwide reunion tour last night, performing in Vancouver in front of a 15,000-strong audience. The show was the first with all five of the original group since they last performed in Birmingham in 1998, shortly before Geri 'Ginger Spice' Halliwell quit to pursue a solo career. The Spice Girls broke up in 2001 after their last album, Forever, sold badly.

The concert opened with a video of five young Spice lookalikes - all dreaming of growing up to be pop stars - and then a montage of newspaper headlines charting the group's history. When the group took to the multi-level stage at Vancouver's General Motors Place, the famous quintet sparkled in gold and bronze outfits by Italian designer Roberto Cavalli. They opened with their signature song, Spice Up Your Life, before going on to sing two more Nineties hits, Stop and Say You'll Be There. The frenzy died down somewhat - and the fans stopped singing along - as the Girl Power gang launched into their latest single, Headlines. The pace picked up however, thanks in part to crowd-pleasing performances by 10 male back-up dancers and several impressive costume changes. The outfit that really got the crowd talking was Geri's orange-red bodysuit, worn with white go-go boots, which showed off her newly sculpted body.
 
Celebrities in the audience included Canadian singers Celine Dion and Avril Lavigne – and, of course, Posh Spice's husband David Beckham, who had flown in from his LA Galaxy tour of New Zealand.
 
The Spice Girls recently gave their first public performance as a quintet in nearly a decade when they sang Headlines for the BBC Children in Need appeal from Los Angeles in mid-November. The song has the dubious distinction of being the worst-selling Children in Need single in history, but when it comes to live performances the Spice Girls have proved they can still pull in the crowds. More than 750,000 tickets have been sold for 'The Return of the Spice Girls' tour which takes in some 40 concerts on five continents over the next few months. All UK dates sold out within 38 seconds of being released in October.
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