The Return of the Spice Girls Tour

In June 2007, the Spice Girls held a press conference at the O2 Arena in London, formally announcing their intention to reunite as a group, a plan that had long been speculated on by the media. 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. Initially, eleven dates were announced, spanning 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. Sixteen additional dates in London were eventually added, all selling out within one minute. ==Concert synopsis==

, in Toronto; wearing tight metallic coloured outfits designed by Roberto Cavalli. 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, and the five girls all wish to become pop stars when they grow up. 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. 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: Mel B in gold, Halliwell in blue, Melanie C in red, 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. == Controversy ==

In late 2007, a fake email was posted by blogger Perez Hilton on his site, stating that the Spice Girls had cancelled their Buenos Aires date, prompting an official statement to be released, stating that Buenos Aires and the other world tour dates were "being finalized". However, due to the extending of the British and American legs of the tour, Hilton's claim was ultimately confirmed to be true; on 1 February 2008, the tour was announced as officially ending in Toronto, Ontario, on 26 February 2008. This confirmed that the originally planned shows in Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Hong Kong, Sydney and Tokyo, among other potential locations, were cancelled. Many media outlets reported that the tour’s shortening was due to Melanie Chisholm and Melanie Brown leaving the group, although this was not the case and was later denied in an official video message. Still, the band suffered international fan backlash, with some creating Facebook hate- and slander-groups, speculating that the official announcement was "indirect" and vague, and that the Spice Girls and their management "knew the dates were cancelled", even before they added 16 dates at London’s O2, and that they strategically decided to announce the change near the end of the tour to "minimize controversy". == 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. It was confirmed on the Spice Girls official website that there would not be a DVD release. The lack of an official DVD released caused negativity. After many e-mails from fans to the management, it was officially announced that no official DVD had been recorded at all. However, Mel B 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. In May 2020, two previously unseen video-screen recordings in New York and Philadelphia were uploaded online by Ivan "Flipz" Valez, who was one of the dancers. == Set list ==

The following set list is representative of the Vancouver show on 2 December 2007. It is not representative of all concerts for the duration of the tour. • "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)" • "Are You Gonna Go My Way" • "Maybe" • "Viva Forever" • "Holler" • "It's Raining Men" • "I Turn to You" • "Let Love Lead the Way" • "Mama" • "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" • "Wannabe" • "Spice Up Your Life" == Tour dates ==

Vocals • Mel B • Emma Bunton • Geri Halliwell • Victoria Beckham • Melanie C Band • Simon Ellis – Musical Director / Keyboards • Paul Gendler – Guitars • Greg Hatwell – Guitars • Nick Nasmyth – Keyboards • Scott Firth – Bass • Sudha Kheterpal or Thomas Dyani – Percussion • Vinnie Lammi – 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 ==