There is a certain philosophy of music criticism that would argue that reviewing a Spice Girls concert is sort of like doing a foodie review of McDonald’s, that the product on display is so pre-packaged, manufactured and predictable that it would be a pointless exercise. Having gone to the girls’ tour kick-off last night at GM Place I figured it was for the best that I did, and allowed the review to act either as an apocalyptic warning driving some away from future tour dates, or for some or a siren’s call for others enticing them towards the shallows to catch the last gasp of the 1990s’.
Think of the things we have now that did not exist at the height of the Spice Girls popularity, before their long breakup that their record label struggled against following the departure of Geri Halliwell. We have iPods, Wikipedia, The War In Iraq II, September 11th, lol cats, cellular telephones with tiny cameras in them, the word “blog” and Paris Hilton. The Spice Girls meanwhile have been frozen in carbonite, ready to be unleashed again when the moment is right.
Or maybe not frozen in carbonite, though career wise they might as well have been. Instead they’ve been having babies, sleeping with Eddie Murphy, marrying footballers, “acting”, helping the United Nations, releasing solo albums and engaging in ridiculous reality television shows. It’s hard out there for a C-list celebrity, especially when as a group they attract A-list crowds and sell out stadiums with the sort of regularity as an act with eight times their back catalogue.
Which brings us to last night, the first show on their reunion tour at Vancouver’s GM Place and the night where tens of thousands of screaming girls went to see their former heroes (without their parents this time). The thirteen year olds for whom “Girl Power” had been more than a slogan on posters had grown ten years and largely seemed to have embraced the new girl power of Paris Hilton and her ilk.
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