Spice Girls @ Earls Court - December 12th, 1999


What a miserable evening to be stood outside an arena, waiting for the
doors to open.  It's cold, it's windy, it's raining...  but do we care?
Well, maybe just a little :-)  Still, in a little over two hours time
we'll be in our seats, the lights will go down, and the show will
begin!  Until then, we'll just have to amuse ourselves, which isn't
difficult to do when "ourselves" consists of 50% of the posse from
Melanie's Astoria gig...  BIG hiyas to Donna and Sarah, making the
trip down from Norfolk to London once again, and happy birthday to
Kaz, who I'm sure you're all surprised to learn was there too ;-)

And for those of you who know Kaz, and are therefore puzzled as to why
I'm wishing her a happy birthday in December, just trust me, there is
a good reason for it.  I know what it is.  She knows what it is.  The
rest of you...  go read her review again!


Anyway, after an hour or so outside huddled together under umbrellas,
the doors opened and in we poured, dripped, and squelched...  Passing
by the programme sellers just outside the front door (who's bright
idea was it to try selling programmes outside, in the rain???), we
quickly got through the ticket and security checks  at which point we
were then faced with even more programme sellers.  OK OK, we give in!
Purses and wallets were opened, moths released, and money exchanged.
Then, onwards and upwards into the main foyer just outside the arena
itself.  Oh look, *more* chances to spend our money at the
merchandising stalls...  With that over, we found ourselves a quiet
little spot to stand and chat for a while, before finally deciding
it was time to head for our seats.

Entering the arena and seeing the seating/stage layout, it was pretty
clear that no matter where you were seated, you wouldn't be so far
away from the stage that the girls looked like specks on the horizon.
Additionally, with the 360 degree seating arrangement, no matter where
you looked you could see part of the audience, and that made me more
aware of the number of people present.  At traditionally laid-out
concerts, you only really notice the people sat in front of you, so
if you're near the front you don't get much sense of numbers unless
you deliberately take the time to look around.  Not so here, wherever
you looked you saw people.  Lots of people.  Lots of people of all
ages.  Of the three concerts I've been to, this is the first time
the audience has been comprised of such a wide range of people.  Nynex
was predominantly young girls, Wembley Stadium was much the same.
Here though, it seemed like there were just as many (perhaps even
more) teenagers and adults, of both sexes, as there were pre-teens.
Maybe this has something to do with the Girls' older fans being
prepared to wait longer for new releases, whereas the younger fans
have drifted off onto the next big thing in pop...

I guess, having made passing reference to the layout above, I should
now actually describe it for anyone who isn't already aware of how
the arenas are laid out.  Quite simply, you stick a circular stage
in the middle of the floor, and arrange the seats all around the
stage - about 30 rows on the floor itself, then another 30 or so
rows behind on tiers.  Earls Court also features balconies above the
arena, and they were used for the concert as well.  In order to allow
access to the stage, there was a raised catwalk running from one
corner of the arena out to the stage.  And that, essentially, was it.


So, now we all know what the setting was like, it's time to settle
back in our seats and wait for the lights to go down...


...which, at 8pm more or less precisely, they did.  A couple of
minutes of lights and lasers to build up the anticipation, and then
there they were, striding out along the catwalk towards the stage,
and the start of the show!


The first part got under way with Spice Up Your Life followed by
Something Kinda Funny, and then, with a gorgeous acapella intro
which had their voices mixing together in the sweetest of harmonies,
it was Say You'll Be There.  The first of their promised three new
songs was next, Right Back Atcha.  I know it reminds me of another
song, I just can't think what it is (isn't that always the case?).
Of the three new songs they did, this was easily my favourite.

Back to the well-known with Step To Me, then out with the stools,
and a quick break from all that running around the stage, for Mama.
Too Much was next, and once again Melanie stole it completely with
her "boy who thinks he can" line - I'm sure she holds that note
longer every time I hear her perform this song!

More new stuff with Woman, which I'd have liked better if only it
didn't remind me so much of the old ad jingle for the magazine of
the same name... "double-u, oh, emm, ay, enn" (I'm sure *someone*
out there must know what I'm on about ;-)  Finally for part one,
Two Become One.


Short break time to let the Girls change outfits, in Melanie's case
from a pale blue tank top and pedal pushers to a more or less
identical outfit (only this time in a shiny silvery material), and
for some rollerskaters to whizz round the stage a few times, and
then it was on with the show.

Stop.

Huh, I said on with the show...

No, that's what they sung next.

Ohhhh...  [departs, red faced :-]

And after Stop, we got new song number three, which appears to be
called Holler.  I'll wait until I hear the album version before
deciding whether I like it or not, my thoughts on it based purely
on this one live rendition are inconclusive.  It didn't sound bad,
it just didn't seem to have the instant appeal of Right Back Atcha
or Woman.

So, with the new stuff out of the way, it was back to the classics
to see out the remainder of the show.  Who Do You Think You Are
(still one of my favourite Spice songs) led into Never Give Up On
The Good Times, and then, at last, the one song they're legally
obliged (or so it seems :-) to perform at every concert... Wannabe!
Finally, for now, we got a lovely performance of Goodbye, complete
with fake snow falling all around the stage.


But wait, there's more!

Another quick costume change (red top and trousers, and a white
boa) and it's encore time!!!  Starting with Viva Forever, which
pleased Kaz no end, and got me soooooo close to tears yet again...
it's still a beautiful song.  But we can't end the show feeling
blue, can we?  No!  So let's have a quick karaoke session and sing
along to some classic Christmas tunes.  Well, if you insist, it
*is* Christmas after all!  And besides, who could say no to
Melanie :-)  And finally, just to round off the evening, another
rendition of Wannabe, in it's slightly more rocked-up form.


Strange though, although they performed 17 songs, plus the
karaoke session, the whole concert seemed to go by in no time at
all, and we'd barely seemed to have sat down before it was time
to get up and go.  In fact, it seemed to take longer to get
across the road and into the tube station than it did for the
entire concert!  But that's perhaps an indication of how
enjoyable it was - the old "time flies when you're having fun"
saying would never have come about if there wasn't some truth
in it...



To sum it up, the Girls are BACK in town!  And if this was a
taster of what's to come from them next year, then all those
ex-fans who've decided to move onto new bands will be kicking
themselves, because the future is looking bright in Spiceworld.