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Spiceworld (tour)

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The Spiceworld Tour (also known as Spice Girls in Concert and the Girl Power Tour '98 ) was the debut concert tour by British girl group the Spice Girls. It was launched in-support of their first and second studio albums, Spice (1996) and Spiceworld (1997), respectively. The sell-out European/North American tour ran for around six months, kicking-off in Dublin, Ireland in February 1998 and ending in Dallas, Texas in August 1998; in September of that year, after several weeks’ vacation, the Girls did a series of large football stadium concerts in the UK, two in Sheffield at the Don Valley Stadium, and two at Wembley Stadium in London, with each of the Wembley shows being attended by over 60,000 people. The final concert at London's Wembley Stadium was filmed and broadcast live on pay-per-view, for later VHS and Blu-Ray release, and eventual DVD release in 2008. The tour saw the group perform to an estimated 2.1 million fans in total, covering Great Britain, Europe, Canada and the United States. The 41-date, sold-out American leg of the tour grossed $60 million.

1 Background
2 Concert synopsis
3 Critical reception
4 Broadcasts and recordings
5.1 Setlist background
6 Tour dates
7.3 Dancers
7.4 Management and additional personnel

Background [ ]

The Spiceworld Tour was the first global tour staged by the group, and proved to be an almost instant sell-out. Tickets for the very first two shows in Ireland sold-out within two hours, and various shows on the North American leg (such as Los Angeles, Toronto and Philadelphia) sold out within mere minutes of sale. In New York City, the group set the record for the quickest ever sell-out, selling 13,000 tickets for Madison Square Garden in less than 12 minutes. Such was the interest that it led to State Attorney General Dennis Vacco (together with the co-operation of the group) to investigate whether illegal scalping to ticket-brokers had taken place – a claim that was later dropped by the Attorney General's office.

The tour started in Dublin on 24 February 1998 before moving on to mainland Europe. Days before the end of the European portion of the tour, Geri Halliwell did not appear for shows in Oslo, Norway at the Oslo Spektrum. Halliwell's final performances occurred in Helsinki, Finland at the Hartwall Arena. Promotional appearances with the new 4-piece group, promoting the release of 'Viva Forever' on the National Lottery programme, saw the group stating that Halliwell was ill and to “feel better soon”. On 31 May 1998, Halliwell officially announced her departure from the Spice Girls. Through her solicitor, and later in a recorded video message, she stated: "Sadly, I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls. This is because of differences between us. I'm sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best." The Spice Girls quickly released a statement which stated that the North American leg of the tour would continue as planned with the remaining group members.

The Spice Girls finally wrapped up the tour by performing to 150,000 fans over two gigs at Wembley Stadium in September 1998.

Concert synopsis [ ]

Against a futuristic space-age themed backdrop, the show began with a CGI video introduction of a spaceship flying through the galaxy. The introduction included William Shatner as the narrator in a parody of his famous Star Trek title sequence speech, and included samples from "Wannabe", "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1" and "Mama". The spaceship was shown to land on earth and as its doors appeared to open so did the door at the back of the stage to reveal the Spice Girls. The group members were dressed in futuristic costumes, the first of 11 costume changes. They entered the stage performing "If U Can't Dance", followed by "Who Do You Think You Are", which included an introduction sample from Club 69's "Diva" and RuPaul's "Supermodel (You Better Work)". Accompanied by the tour dancers, referred to as the "Spice Boys", the group then performed "Do It" as their third song during the European leg of the tour; for the North American leg the third song was changed to "Step To Me".

After a brief costume change, the group returns to the stage to perform "Denying". In this performance, Geri Halliwell played the role of a waitress, Mel B the role of a gambler, Victoria Adams the role of a dancer, Emma Bunton the role of a gangster's girlfriend and Melanie C the role of a club owner. The group then sang "Too Much" sat down on chairs. After another costume change, the group performed "Stop". Kenny Ho, their stylist and costume designer, dressed the group in '60s themed clothing to fit the Motown-influenced song. Halliwell's costume was inspired by Madonna's "Holiday section from her Blond Ambition World Tour. After "Stop", Bunton sang a solo rendition of "Where Did Our Love Go?" by The Supremes. Bunton had stated that "I've always been a fan of Diana Ross, that song is perfect for me, it's just the right pitch. I wouldn't want to do a song I found hard to sing." The group then performed "Move Over", portraying supermodels on a runway, dressed in outrageous, outlandish clothes. The dancers, dressed in black, play the role of photographers. Originally, they were going to have Adams wear a chainmail Versace dress with linked gold squares. However, the dress was too heavy and too impractical for maintenance. After the performance of "Move Over", there was a thirty-minute intermission.

The show ended with a '70s theme, with each group member dressed in a colour scheme arranged by their costume designer Ho to fit their style and character. Brown had a lot of patches of animal prints and greens; Halliwell's tones were different reds and purples; Bunton's were almost entirely bright red, pale blues and pink; Chisholm had very bright colours and Adams had patchwork on her corset. During the encore of the show, they sang "Never Give Up On The Good Times" and a cover of the Sister Sledge song "We Are Family". The Spice Girls exited the stage via the same doors from which they entered on top of the staircase.

Critical reception [ ]

The tour received mixed to positive reviews. Natalie Nichols of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "[t]heir energy and dedication were sincere, even though the music was all unconvincing dance grooves and slick soul-pop, lightly seasoned with funk, hip-hop and rock by a bland six-piece band." [14] On the other hand, The New York Times Jon Pareles felt that "the songs, more than the act, are their real asset. [...] These numbers are exuberant, direct and immediately likeable, and they've turned a group of hard-working but only moderately gifted performers into stars."

BBC News noted the audiences were mostly composed of families, and that even "most of the parents there seemed to be enjoying themselves". [16] Gilbert Garcia of the Phoenix New Times wrote that: "Rarely has any concert experience so carefully worked so many marketing angles at once. For one thing, the Spice Girls have managed to carve out a niche as a pop group that even moms can love, and they offered just enough nostalgia to keep beleaguered parents happy. When Baby Spice embarked on a solo version of The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go", or when the group launched into a spirited take on the Annie Lennox-Aretha Franklin duet "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves", you could see the mothers in the crowd jump up in appreciation."

Throughout the American leg of the tour, commercials were played on large concert screens before the shows and during intermissions. It was the first time advertising had been used in pop concerts and was met with mixed reactions in the music industry. Garcia wrote that the adverts were a "strange note" in a show that otherwise "delivered what it promised". He also criticised the group's performance of "Move Over", their Pepsi advert song, saying that the "rampant, near-subliminal Pepsi imagery on the video screen, seemed a tad too mercenary for even this ultracommercial setting." On the other hand, tour promoter John Scher acknowledged that, "[T]he cost of touring has become somewhat obscene. If it allows corporate sponsors to put more money into the entertainment world and allows us to see more shows, it's positive." By opening up a whole new source of revenue, industry experts predicted more acts would follow the Spice Girls' lead.

Broadcasts and recordings [ ]

The audio of the full show at Birmingham's NEC Arena was broadcast live on BBC Radio 1. Originally, Molly Dineen was meant to film a behind-the-scenes documentary with the Spice Girls during their American leg of the tour. After Geri Halliwell's departure, Dineen was called and started filming a documentary starring her instead. Another director was eventually hired to film the documentary, which was released on VHS and broadcast a year later on Channel 4 under the title Spice Girls In America: A Tour Story.

The final show at Wembley Stadium was broadcast live on 20 September 1998 on Sky Box Office and presented by Dani Behrand Georgie Stait. A full behind the scenes tour of the stage was also aired prior to the broadcast of the Wembley Stadium concert on MuchMusic in Canada. Live at Wembley Stadium, a video release of the group's show at Wembley Stadium, was released on VHS on 16 November 1998 and on DVD on 6 October 2008.

In 2007–08, a series of previously unseen videoscreen recordings from the European leg of the tour were leaked, including concerts in Madrid, Lyon, Paris and Arnhem. Complete footage of the tour with all 5 group members had been previously unseen.

Setlist [ ]

Main Set (February 24, 1998 - July 22, 1998)

"Video Introduction" (contains samples of Wannabe, Say You'll Be There, 2 Become 1 and Mama)
"If U Can't Dance"
"Who Do You Think You Are" (contains elements of "Diva" and "Supermodel") "
"Where Did Our Love Go?" (Emma Bunton solo)
"Move Over"
"The Lady Is a Vamp"
"Say You'll Be There"
"2 Become 1"
"Walk of Life"
"Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" (Mel B & Melanie C duet)
"Spice Up Your Life"
"Viva Forever" (contains excerpts from the film Blade Runner)
"Never Give Up on the Good Times"
"We Are Family"

Alternate Setlist (July 24, 1998 - August 26, 1998)

"Step to Me"

Back in Britain setlist

"Something Kinda Funny"
"Love Thing"

Setlist background [ ]

"Who Do You Think You Are" contained a sound bite from the song "Diva" by Club 69 & "Supermodel (You Better Work)". In the beginning of the song the lyrics "You have to work to get this good" could be heard.
"Naked" sampled two sound bits from the film Batman Forever. In the beginning of the song dialogue from the motion picture was included: "Relax. Tell me your dreams, tell me your fantasies, tell me your secrets, tell me your deepest, darkest, fears." In the middle 8 of the song, the Riddler's growls were heard.
"Viva Forever" sampled a sound bite from the film Blade Runner. In the beginning of the song the famous words "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you my friend, have burned so very, very brightly" spoken by Dr. Eldon Tyrell are heard. This inspired a similar, revamped sound bite that was used during "Who Do You Think You Are" on the Return of the Spice Girls. This sound bite consisted of a deep, male, American-accented voice saying "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you, my friend, have burned the brightest".
The original "London town" lyric in "Walk of Life" was replaced by the name of the city the girls were performing in. The lyrics varied depending on the pronunciation of the city name, for example "Birmingham", "Antwerp Town", or "Boston City".
During the European leg of the tour, "Move Over" featured some rather interesting lyrical changes. Instead of the usual "dedication, babynation etc...", the girls would alternate the lyrics with "penetration, menstruation, lubrication and masturbation" on various nights in the predominantly non-English speaking countries.
After Geri Halliwell's departure, a pre-recorded backing track of Geri's vocals were used during the Spanish Rap in "If U Can't Dance" and the remaining girls sang her original "Ginger" lyric in "The Lady Is a Vamp". In other songs her lines were distributed by the remaining members, with notably Victoria finally singing lead in "Wannabe" after Halliwell's departure.
Starting in Noblesville on July 24, "Step to Me" replaced "Do It", and "Walk of Life" was removed from the setlist (although “Walk of Life” was still performed on various dates for the duration of the US leg of the tour). Both of these changes were due to several dancers' injuries, as well as the (unannounced at the time) pregnancies of Mel B and Victoria Beckham, who were picked up and carried around in various positions during "Walk of Life."
As presented on Sky Box Office Live, there was no 30 minute intermission during the "Back in Britain" leg of the tour, and additional songs were added to the setlist. "Something Kinda Funny" replaced "Denying", and "Step to Me" was dropped. "Do It" was added back to the setlist, but was performed in Act 2 instead of its original spot in Act 1. "Something Kinda Funny", "Do It", and "Too Much" were retooled into their own act with a new set of outfits, replacing the restaurant act. "Love Thing" replaced "Move Over" as a one-song act, with a dancer intro and another new set of outfits.

Tour dates [ ]

Personnel [ ].

Emma Bunton
Victoria Adams
Geri Halliwell – her last show before she left the group was on 26 May 1998 in Helsinki, Finland
Simon Ellis – Musical Director / Keyboards
Andy Gangadeen – Drums
Paul Gendler – Guitars
Fergus Gerrand – Percussion
Steve Lewinson – Bass guitar
Michael Martin – Keyboards

Dancers [ ]

Louie Spence
Carmine Canuso (aka Jake Canuso)
Jimmy Gulzar
Eszteca Noya
Robert Nurse
Christian Storm (until Halliwell's departure)

Management and additional personnel [ ]

Tour manager: Richard Jones
Assistant tour manager: Juliette Slater
Production manager: Julian Lavender
Show producer: Pete Barnes
Stage manager (Europe): John Armstrong
Stage manager (US): Jimmy Bolton
Choreographer: Priscilla Samuels
Costume designer: Kenny Ho
Make up artist: Karin Darnell
Booking agent (Europe): Primary Talent International
Booking agent (US): William Morris Agency

Gallery [ ]

Go to the gallery of Spiceworld (tour)

1 Spice Girls
2 Emma Bunton
3 Victoria Beckham

10 Fun Facts About Spice World

By garin pirnia | jan 23, 2018.

In 1996, the Spice Girls took the world by storm when they released the song “ Wannabe ” from their debut album, Spice . Their mantra of “Girl Power” inspired a generation of young women to “Spice Up Your Life.” After Spice sold 31 million copies worldwide, the inevitable next step was the Girls starring on the big screen. So on January 23, 1998, Columbia Pictures unleashed Spice World on American moviegoers.

In their film debut, the Girls—Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice), and Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice)—played comical versions of themselves. The plot revolved around them trying to perform their biggest show yet, at London's Royal Albert Hall, while a tabloid newspaper reporter spied on them. And their best friend went into labor. And Ginger Spice kissed an alien.

Director Bob Spiers recruited several British luminaries to cameo, with Roger Moore, Bob Hoskins, Elvis Costello, Jennifer Saunders, and Elton John among those who appeared in the film. The Spice Girls were so popular that Prince Charles and his sons, Princes William and Harry, attended the Spice World premiere.

The movie, budgeted at $25 million, grossed a robust $100 million worldwide, despite Roger Ebert giving it a half-star rating and writing that the Girls were “so detached they can’t even successfully lip-synch their own songs.”

Spice World was nominated for seven Razzies, and won one: Worst Actress, an honor shared by all five Girls. In a 2007 UK poll, it was voted the worst film ever made . But over the years the film has endured. Esquire suggested it was better than The Beatles’s A Hard’s Day Night , and the podcast How Did This Get Made ? spent more than an hour debating the film’s ridiculous plot.

Though the best-selling girl group of all time disbanded in 2000, Spice World remains a relic of Spice Mania. On its 20th anniversary, here are 10 fun facts about the film.

1. IT TOOK ONLY A YEAR FROM THE IDEA TO THE FINISHED FILM.

Barnaby Thompson, one of the film’s producers, started a production company with Annie Lennox’s husband at the time, Uri Fruchtmann. Lennox and the Girls shared the same manager, Simon Fuller. Over lunch, Fuller, Fruchtmann, Thompson, and Fuller’s brother Kim decided they’d make the movie. "We finished it within a year of that lunch," Thompson told The Telegraph . "That lunch was on November 1, 1996 and we delivered the film exactly a year later, November 1, 1997."

2. THE GIRLS STOPPED TRAFFIC IN FRANCE.

By May 1997, the Girls had four number-one singles in the UK, and were one of the most popular music groups in the world. To create anticipation for Spice World , the producers took the women to the Cannes Film Festival, even though the film hadn’t been shot yet. "We put out a photo call notice," publicist Dennis Davidson said . "The traffic on the Croisette came to a standstill, there was a screaming crowd, people hanging out of the windows, it was totally insane." An estimated 5000 to 10,000 people showed up to see the pop stars. The film shot around London between June and August of 1997.

3. RICHARD E. GRANT’S DAUGHTER FORCED HIM TO DO THE MOVIE.

Richard E. Grant’s 9-year-old daughter was a fan of the Spice Girls and when he was offered the part of the Girls’ manager, Clifford, she told him he had to do it, despite his concerns about “my acting credibility.” “And she’d say, ‘No, no, you have to. You have to because I want to meet them,’” Grant told Vulture in 2014. “So I did, and she was so thrilled. I had school playground credibility for about two semesters and then of course you dip into the other side when they go, ‘No, I was never a Spice Girls fan!’ Now that generation has all come back around again going, ‘Yeah, we love the Spice Girls!’”

4. SHAKESPEARE HELPED CAST ALAN CUMMING.

Alan Cumming played a less-than-Shakespearean role in the movie as a paparazzo-like guy named Piers Cuthbertson-Smyth. Ginger Spice was the one who suggested him to the casting department. “I remember seeing Alan Cumming performing as Hamlet [at the Donmar Warehouse],” she told The Telegraph . “When it came to Spice World , however many years later, it came to casting and we were going through pictures and I was like, ‘Let’s pick him, I saw him in Hamlet .’ It was brilliant to have that caliber of actors to be in our funny movie.”

5. YOU CAN VISIT THE SPICE BUS.

The 1978 British Leyland Bristol VRTSL3 double decker bus, covered with the Union Jack on the outside and a swing on the inside, made its debut in the movie. Though a bomb destroyed it at the end of the movie, in real life it was saved. However, after filming ended the bus fell into disrepair, until the Island Harbour Marina , located on the Isle of Wight, purchased the beauty and restored it to its original state. They put it on permanent display in July 2014. The only thing the bus is missing is Meat Loaf driving it.

6. WITHNAIL AND I CONVINCED ELVIS COSTELLO TO MAKE A CAMEO.

In an interview with The A.V. Club, Elvis Costello said he loved Richard E. Grant’s film Withnail and I . “You know, I thought, ‘If I go to IMDb, I’m only a couple of clicks away from Withnail !,’” he said . Costello, who plays a barman in the movie, said he found his role to be “ironic.” “I’d only quit drinking a couple of years before, so I think the idea of being a barman was sort of ironic in my mind.”

7. THE PRODUCTION MADE SURE THE GIRLS DIDN’T READ THE SCRIPT.

Kim Fuller wrote the script (with additional writing from Jamie Curtis), which was originally titled Five . He knew the Girls might not like the script, or even read it. He gathered the ladies in a hotel in London. “I went in and said, ‘Look, turn your phones off, this is serious. I’m going to read you the story,’” he said .

They liked the story, and Ginger Spice contributed script ideas, even when she was in Bali. “I was spending hours on the phone trying to get it all sorted out and make sure that it was right,” she said. “By the time that we started, it was almost perfect.”

8. BUT THEY DIDN’T STICK TO THE SCRIPT.

Fuller said he gave them daily script pages and then they rehearsed it. “You needed to catch them at the right moment, when the energy is there,” Fuller said . “They’re not going to do 20 takes of one line, you know, so you had to think quickly on your feet.” In the Spice World documentary, Mel B confessed that she and the Girls interpreted the script. “We contributed our own little sparkle on top of it,” she said. “There were some times when we’d say the lines wrong just to make us laugh,” Baby Spice added. But those improvisations caused the script supervisor to almost quit.

"The script lady went beserk and nearly resigned because we kept changing everything," Fuller told The Telegraph . "There were a lot of flowers and we consoled her for a while and everything was fine after that."

9. THE GIRLS RECORDED AN ALBUM WHILE FILMING.

Their first album was such a massive hit that they needed to record their sophomore album to keep up the momentum. In order to fit in filming the movie and recording Spiceworld (one word), they had a mobile studio on set. They ended up writing some of the album’s—and movie’s—songs during production.

“It was quite good doing the album at the same time as the film because we were always hyperactive after a day on set and that meant we could go in the mobile studio and vibe off each other,” Posh told The Telegraph . They managed to film during the day and record at night. Virgin Records released the album on November 3, 1997, and most of Spiceworld ’s songs made it into the movie, which meant there was an unofficial soundtrack.

10. MEL C LOVES THE MOVIE.

Mel C told The Telegraph that the film was difficult for her to watch, but when her daughter and friends wanted to watch it at a birthday party, Mel changed her mind. “I sat down with them and I actually really enjoyed it,” she said. “I laughed out loud. It brought back so many memories, and I think enough time has passed for me to be able to watch myself. You know in a way, it is brilliant. It’s very tongue-in-cheek, very silly. And the thing that I really realized was there was so much of us in it. It was very, very real.”

Spiceworld Tour

The Spiceworld Tour (also known as Spice Girls in Concert and the Girl Power Tour '98 ) was the debut concert tour by English girl group the Spice Girls . It was launched in support of their first two studio albums , Spice (1996) and Spiceworld (1997). The sell-out European/North American tour ran from February to August 1998, after which it returned to the UK in September 1998 for a series of stadium shows. The final concert at London's Wembley Stadium was filmed and broadcast live on pay-per-view , for later VHS release in 1998 and eventual DVD release in 2008.

Concert synopsis

Critical reception, broadcasts and recordings, setlist background, further reading.

The tour saw the group perform to an estimated 2.1 million fans over 97 total shows, covering the UK, continental Europe and North America. [1] The 41-date sold-out North American leg of the tour played to over 720,000 fans and grossed $60 million. [2] [3] The first UK portion of the tour saw the group play 20 arena shows to over 350,000 fans; [4] the second UK portion of the tour saw the group play two Don Valley Stadium shows to 76,000 fans, [5] and two Wembley Stadium shows to 150,000 fans. [6] The 1998 Spiceworld Tour remains the highest-grossing tour ever by a female group. [1]

The Spiceworld Tour was the first global tour staged by the group, and proved to be an almost instant sell-out. Tickets for the first two shows in Ireland sold out within 2 hours, [7] and various shows on the North American leg such as Los Angeles, Toronto and Philadelphia sold out within mere minutes of sale. [ citation needed ] In New York City, the group set the record for the quickest ever sell-out, selling 13,000 tickets for Madison Square Garden in less than 12 minutes. Such was the interest, it led to State Attorney General Dennis Vacco (together with the co-operation of the group) to investigate whether illegal scalping to ticket brokers had taken place – a claim that was later dropped by the Attorney General's office . [8] [9]

The tour kicked off in Dublin , Ireland on 24 February 1998 before moving on to mainland Europe. Days before the end of the European portion of the tour, Geri Halliwell did not appear for shows in Oslo, Norway. [10] [11] Halliwell's final performances occurred in Helsinki, Finland at the Hartwall Arena. Promotional appearances with the new 4-piece promoting the release of 'Viva Forever' on the National Lottery also claimed that Halliwell was ill. On 31 May 1998, Halliwell announced her departure from the Spice Girls. Through her solicitor she stated: "Sadly I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls. This is because of differences between us. I'm sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best." [12] The Spice Girls quickly released a statement which stated that the North American leg of the tour would continue as planned with the remaining group members. [13]

The Spice Girls finally wrapped up the tour by performing to 150,000 fans over two gigs at Wembley Stadium in September 1998. [6]

Against a futuristic space-age themed backdrop, the show began with a CGI video introduction of a spaceship flying through the galaxy. The introduction included William Shatner as the narrator in a parody of his famous Star Trek title sequence speech , [14] [15] and included samples from " Wannabe ", " Say You'll Be There ", " 2 Become 1 " and " Mama ". The spaceship was shown to land on earth and as its doors appeared to open so did the door at the back of the stage to reveal the Spice Girls. The group members were dressed in futuristic costumes, the first of 11 costume changes. [15] They entered the stage performing "If U Can't Dance", followed by " Who Do You Think You Are ", which included an introduction sample from Club 69 's "Diva" and RuPaul 's " Supermodel (You Better Work) ". Accompanied by the tour dancers, referred to as the "Spice Boys", [15] the group then performed "Do It" as their third song during the European leg of the tour; for the North American leg the third song was changed to " Step To Me ".

After a brief costume change, the group returns to the stage to perform "Denying". In this performance, Geri Halliwell played the role of a waitress, Mel B the role of a gambler, Victoria Adams the role of a dancer, Emma Bunton the role of a gangster's girlfriend and Melanie C the role of a club owner. The group then sang " Too Much " sat down on chairs. After another costume change, the group performed " Stop ". Kenny Ho , their stylist and costume designer, dressed the group in '60s themed clothing to fit the Motown -influenced song. Halliwell's costume was inspired by Madonna 's " Holiday section from her Blond Ambition World Tour . After "Stop", Bunton sang a solo rendition of " Where Did Our Love Go? " by The Supremes . [15] Bunton had stated that "I've always been a fan of Diana Ross , that song is perfect for me, it's just the right pitch. I wouldn't want to do a song I found hard to sing." The group then performed " Move Over ", portraying supermodels on a runway, dressed in outrageous, outlandish clothes. The dancers, dressed in black, play the role of photographers. Originally, they were going to have Adams wear a chainmail Versace dress with linked gold squares. However, the dress was too heavy and too impractical for maintenance. After the performance of "Move Over", there was a thirty-minute intermission. [15]

The second segment begins with "The Lady Is a Vamp". For this performance, the group wore tailcoats while the dancers wore bowler hats . Then they perform Say You'll Be There , dancing with canes. The group performed "Naked" next, singing from behind chairs to give the illusion that they were naked. [15] The group then sang "2 become 1" wearing velvet catsuits. Ho wanted something luxurious, but not too over the top and felt that velvet was perfect, and it matched the song's feel as well, which was quiet and atmospheric. After "2 Become 1", they performed "Walk of Life". Mel B & Melanie C then covered " Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves ", which was originally sung by Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin . The group then returned to the stage and sang "Wannabe", " Spice Up Your Life " and "Mama". For their performance of "Mama", they set on steps above the stage, with three huge video screens projecting childhood photos of each member. [14] In their next performance of " Viva Forever ", all five group members were dressed in white clothing, [14] as their costume designer Ho wanted their outfits to reflect a sense of purity and spirituality to fit the song. They were originally going to put dry ice on the stage, but the idea was dropped because it would have made the stage slippery, dangerous and very hard to dance on. During later performances of "Viva Forever", Chisholm would ad-lib the line "Spice Girls forever", in place of the lines "Viva Forever", towards the end of the song. [14] The show ended with a '70s theme, with each group member dressed in a colour scheme arranged by their costume designer Ho to fit their style and character. Brown had a lot of patches of animal prints and greens; Halliwell's tones were different reds and purples; Bunton's were almost entirely bright red, pale blues and pink; Chisholm had very bright colours and Adams had patchwork on her corset. During the encore of the show, they sang "Never Give Up On The Good Times" and a cover of the Sister Sledge song " We Are Family ". The Spice Girls exited the stage via the same doors from which they entered on top of the staircase. [16]

Total attendance for the Spiceworld Tour was estimated to be 2.1 million over the 97 shows in the UK, mainland Europe and North America. [1] The 41-date North American leg of the tour grossed $60 million and saw the group perform to over 720,000 fans. [2] [3] The first UK portion of the tour saw the group play 20 arena shows to over 350,000 fans; [4] the second UK portion of the tour saw the group play two Don Valley Stadium shows to 76,000 fans, [5] and two Wembley Stadium shows to 150,000 fans. [6]

The tour received mixed to positive reviews. Natalie Nichols of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "[t]heir energy and dedication were sincere, even though the music was all unconvincing dance grooves and slick soul-pop, lightly seasoned with funk, hip-hop and rock by a bland six-piece band." [17] On the other hand, The New York Times Jon Pareles felt that "the songs, more than the act, are their real asset. [...] These numbers are exuberant, direct and immediately likeable, and they've turned a group of hard-working but only moderately gifted performers into stars." [18]

BBC News noted the audiences were mostly composed of families, and that even "most of the parents there seemed to be enjoying themselves". [19] Gilbert Garcia of the Phoenix New Times wrote that: "Rarely has any concert experience so carefully worked so many marketing angles at once. For one thing, the Spice Girls have managed to carve out a niche as a pop group that even moms can love, and they offered just enough nostalgia to keep beleaguered parents happy. When Baby Spice embarked on a solo version of The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go", or when the group launched into a spirited take on the Annie Lennox-Aretha Franklin duet "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves", you could see the mothers in the crowd jump up in appreciation." [14]

Throughout the American leg of the tour, commercials were played on large concert screens before the shows and during intermissions. It was the first time advertising had been used in pop concerts and was met with mixed reactions in the music industry. [20] Garcia wrote that the adverts were a "strange note" in a show that otherwise "delivered what it promised". He also criticised the group's performance of "Move Over", their Pepsi advert song, saying that the "rampant, near-subliminal Pepsi imagery on the video screen, seemed a tad too mercenary for even this ultracommercial setting." [14] On the other hand, tour promoter John Scher acknowledged that, "[T]he cost of touring has become somewhat obscene. If it allows corporate sponsors to put more money into the entertainment world and allows us to see more shows, it's positive." By opening up a whole new source of revenue, industry experts predicted more acts would follow the Spice Girls' lead. [21]

The audio of the full show at Birmingham's NEC Arena was broadcast live on BBC Radio 1 . [22] Originally, Molly Dineen was meant to film a behind-the-scenes documentary with the Spice Girls during their American leg of the tour. After Geri Halliwell's departure, Dineen was called and started filming a documentary starring her instead. [23] She was replaced by Ian Denyer who directed the documentary, broadcast on Channel 4 and subsequently released on VHS under the title Spice Girls In America: A Tour Story . [24] [25]

The final show at Wembley Stadium was broadcast live on 20 September 1998 on Sky Box Office and presented by Dani Behr and Georgie Stait. [26] A full behind the scenes tour of the stage was also aired prior to the broadcast of the Wembley Stadium concert on MuchMusic in Canada. Live at Wembley Stadium , a video release of the group's show at Wembley Stadium, was released on VHS on 16 November 1998 and on DVD on 6 October 2008. [27]

"Video Introduction" (contains samples of Wannabe , Say You'll Be There , 2 Become 1 and Mama )
"If U Can't Dance"
" Who Do You Think You Are " (contains elements of " Diva " and " Supermodel ") "
" Too Much "
" Where Did Our Love Go? " ( Emma Bunton solo)
" Move Over "
"The Lady Is a Vamp"
"Say You'll Be There"
"2 Become 1"
" Walk of Life "
" Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves " ( Mel B & Melanie C duet)
" Spice Up Your Life "
" Viva Forever " (contains excerpts from the film Blade Runner )
"Never Give Up on the Good Times"
" We Are Family "
" Step to Me "
"Something Kinda Funny"
"Love Thing"
"Who Do You Think You Are" contained a sound bite from the song "Diva" by Club 69 & " Supermodel (You Better Work) " by RuPaul . In the beginning of the song, the phrase "You have to work to get this good" can be heard. The same sound bite had been used previously in televised concerts in Istanbul in 1997.
During the European leg of the tour, " Move Over " featured some rather interesting lyrical changes. Instead of the usual "dedication, babynation etc...", the girls would alternate the lyrics with "penetration, menstruation, lubrication and masturbation" on various nights (in the predominantly non-English speaking countries).
"Naked" sampled two sound bites from the film Batman Forever . In the beginning of the song, dialogue from the motion picture was included, saying "Relax. Tell me your dreams, tell me your fantasies, tell me your secrets, tell me your deepest, darkest, fears." In the middle of the song, the Riddler's growls were heard.
The original "London town" lyric in "Walk of Life" was replaced by the name of the city the girls were performing in. The lyrics varied depending on the pronunciation of the city name, for example "Birmingham", "Antwerp Town", or "Boston City".
"Viva Forever" sampled a sound bite from the film Blade Runner . In the beginning of the song the famous words "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you my friend, have burned so very, very brightly" spoken by Dr. Eldon Tyrell are heard. This inspired a similar, revamped sound bite that was used during "Who Do You Think You Are" on the Return of the Spice Girls . This sound bite consisted of a deep, male, American-accented voice saying "The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you, my friend, have burned the brightest".
After Geri Halliwell's departure, a pre-recorded backing track of Geri's vocals were used during the Spanish Rap in "If U Can't Dance" and the remaining girls sang her original "Ginger" lyric in "The Lady Is a Vamp". In other songs her lines were distributed by the remaining members, with notably Victoria finally singing lead in "Wannabe" after Halliwell's departure.
Starting in Noblesville, Indiana on July 24, " Step to Me " replaced "Do It", and "Walk of Life" was removed from the setlist (“Walk of Life” was still performed, sporadically, during various dates for the duration of the US leg of the tour). Both of these changes were due to several dancers' injuries, as well as the (unannounced at the time) pregnancies of Mel B and Victoria Beckham, who were lifted and carried around by dancers during "Walk of Life."
As presented on Sky Box Office Live, there was no 30-minute intermission during the "Back in Britain" leg of the tour, and additional songs were added to the setlist. "Something Kinda Funny" replaced "Denying", and "Step to Me" was dropped. "Do It" was added back to the setlist. "Something Kinda Funny", "Do It", and "Too Much" were reimagined into their own second act, with a new set of suit-like outfits, replacing the restaurant act. "Love Thing" replaced "Move Over", in the middle of the show, as a one-song act with a dancers’ intro and another wardrobe change. [28]
Emma Bunton
Victoria Adams
Geri Halliwell (until 26 May 1998 live but her studio vocal remained in "If U Can't Dance")
Simon Ellis – Musical Director / Keyboards
Andy Gangadeen – Drums
Paul Gendler – Guitars
Fergus Gerrand – Percussion
Steve Lewinson – Bass
Michael Martin – Keyboards
Louie Spence
Carmine Canuso (aka Jake Canuso )
Jimmy Gulzar
Eszteca Noya
Robert Nurse
Christian Storm (until Halliwell's departure)

Spice Girls to release 25th anniversary edition of ‘Spiceworld’ album — will there be a tour?

The spice girls are releasing 25 tracks to celebrate 25 years of ‘spiceworld’.

By Margaret Darby

The Spice Girls are “Never going to give up on the good times.” The iconic ’90s group has reunited to release a 25th anniversary edition of their 1997 hit album “Spiceworld.”

Driving the news: The Spice Girls announced on Tuesday that they will release a new and expanded version of their second album, “Spiceworld.” The album will be released to the public on Nov. 4 and can be preordered now on their website.

“The ‘Spiceworld’ era was such a fun time for us,” the Spice Girls — which includes Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell Horner — said in a press statement. “It’s crazy to think that 25 years have passed.”
A demo version of “Step to Me,” a track the Spice Girls performed for a Pepsi campaign, will be released to the public for the first time as part of the 25th anniversary album. The Spice Girls have already released “ Step to Me (lyric video). ”
The new “Spiceworld” album will be available in various formats such as a 2LP Deluxe Edition, clear vinyl and cassette tape.
In addition to the album, the Spice Girls also released a line of 25th anniversary merchandise, with T-shirts, hoodies and even a stress ball.

What they’re saying: Die-hard Spice Girls fans are ecstatic to celebrate 25 years of “Spiceworld.”

Happy 25th anniversary to the band that formed my entire personality @spicegirls 👩🏻‍🦰👩🏽‍🦱👩🏻👧🏼👩🏻 #SpiceGirls25 #Wannabe25 pic.twitter.com/DtX3bmW9j7 — Carl (@CarlosSmith) July 8, 2021

25 years ago I drank A LOT of Pepsi and sent off 20 pink ringpulls to get this CD single of 'Step To Me' by the @spicegirls , which has never seen the light of day on music streaming services until today! It's an exciting day in Spiceworld!!! 🪜✌️🙋‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/17hFmawuph — 𝙉𝙊𝙍𝙈𝙎𝙆𝙄 (@_Normski) September 27, 2022

I assume everyone’s preordered their Spice Girls Spiceworld 25 stress ball? pic.twitter.com/rfq5kGY8WA — Michael Cragg (@MichaelCragg) September 27, 2022

Not every Spice Girls fan is pleased with the album. Some fans shared their disappointment at the 25th anniversary album’s lack of new tracks.

One fan commented on the Spice Girls Instagram announcement, “What a disappointing tracklist. And the worst is you try to make us believe it’s new when everything has been on Youtube for years and years. Not buying this, sorry.”
“I hate remixes. HATE IT. I wish there was a live album of unreleased songs. I’m so frustrated,” another fan commented.
“Where are the unreleased songs @spicegirls?” another fan wondered.

Will there be a tour with Posh Spice? Fans are hopeful that they will get to see the girl group live on stage once again.

In 2019, the Spice Girls reunited for a tour across the U.K., without Victoria Beckham (known as Posh Spice). The reunion tour was disrupted by the pandemic.
Melanie Chisholm told Entertainment Tonight another tour “has to happen.” Chisholm added, “At some point, I think Posh Spice will be back onstage.”

Christmas in Spiceworld Tour

1999 concert tour by the spice girls / from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, dear wikiwand ai, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:.

Can you list the top facts and stats about Christmas in Spiceworld Tour?

Summarize this article for a 10 year old

Christmas in Spiceworld Tour was the second concert tour by English girl group the Spice Girls . The eight-show tour was launched following "solo projects, marriages, motherhood and another round of slagging in the press", as a reunion for the girls. [1] The eight-show tour was attended by more than 153,000 people, grossing $5.7 million in ticket sales. The first four shows saw the group play at Manchester Evening News Arena to over 72,400 fans, grossing $2.6 million; the second portion of the tour saw the group play another four shows at Earls Court Arena to 81,300 fans, grossing $3.1 million. [2]

spice up your life

SPICE UP YOUR INBOX

Spiceworld25

Celebrating 25 years of the Spice Girls' second album

Spiceworld25 celebrated of 25 years of Spiceworld and is available on multiple formats, out now.

Spice Up Your Life (2:53)
Stop (3:24)
Too Much (4:31)
Saturday Night Divas (4:25)
Never Give Up On The Good Times (4:30)
Move Over (2:46)
Do It (4:03)
Denying (3:46)
Viva Forever (5:10)
The Lady Is A Vamp (3:10)
Step To Me (7” Mix) (4:05)
Outer Space Girls (3:58)
Walk Of Life (4:16)
Step To Me (Demo Version) (4:50)
Too Much (Live in Toronto, July 1998) (5:29)
Stop (Live in Madrid, March 1998) (3:24)
Move Over (Live in Istanbul, October 1997) (3:37)
Spice Up Your Life (Live in Arnhem, March 1998) (4:11)
Viva Forever (Live in Manchester, April 1998) (5:57)
Spice Up Your Life (Morales Radio Mix) (2:50)
Stop – Morales Remix / Edit (5:52)
Too Much – Soulshock & Karlin Remix (3:54)
Viva Forever – John Themis Ambient Mix (5:43)
Step To Me – Extended Mix (5:41)
Spice Girls Party Mix (14:44)

Music Video

Spice Up Your Life (Alternative Video)

SPICEWORLD25 2CD + HARDBACK BOOK

SPICEWORLD25 T-SHIRT

SPICEWORLD25 NOTEBOOK

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Spice Girls to Release 25th Anniversary Edition of 'Spiceworld' Album: 'Such a Fun Time for Us'

"It's crazy to think that 25 years have passed," said the Spice Girls in a statement about Spiceworld 25 , which features previously unreleased bonus tracks from the 1997 album

Get ready to "Spice Up Your Life" — again!

On Tuesday, the Spice Girls announced that multiple new and expanded versions of the English girl group's iconic Spiceworld album — featuring the hit singles "Spice Up Your Life," "Too Much" and "Stop" — will be released later this year in celebration of the chart-topping album's 25th anniversary.

"The Spiceworld era was such a fun time for us," said the Spice Girls — Victoria Beckham , Melanie "Mel B" Brown , Emma Bunton , Melanie "Mel C" Chisholm and Geri Halliwell Horner — in a press statement. "We'd just had a number one album with Spice , we were traveling all over the world and meeting our amazing fans, we released our second album AND we had our very own movie! Who would've thought it? It's crazy to think that 25 years have passed."

In addition to the album's original 10 songs, Spiceworld 25 will include "Step to Me (7" Mix)" — which first premiered in a Pepsi ad campaign — as well as the previously released bonus tracks "Outer Space Girls" and "Walk of Life."

The expanded project also features never-before-released songs including the demo version of "Step to Me," live versions of several Spiceworld from concerts in 1997 and 1998, five remixes and a "Spice Girls Party Mix" — aka 15 minutes of remixed Spice Girls hits.

Available in digital deluxe, 2CD with a hardback book, picture disc vinyl, clear vinyl, 2LP deluxe, and double cassette editions, Spiceworld 25 can be pre-ordered now ahead of its Nov. 4 release via UMC and Virgin Records.

Upon its initial release on Nov. 3, 1997, Spiceworld spent three weeks at No. 1 in the UK and sold over a million copies throughout the nation in eight weeks. The album also reached No. 1 in eleven other countries and earned top-10 chart positions in the US, Canada and Japan. Today, the record has sold over 14 million copies worldwide and become certified five-times platinum in the UK as well as four-times platinum in the US.

Spiceworld was accompanied by the Spice World movie, which grossed around $100 million worldwide, and a massive 1998 Spiceworld Tour, during which the group performed to over 2 million fans across North America and Europe.

During an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last year, Mel C, formerly known as Sporty Spice, 47, assured the Spice Girls' loyal followers that she's "constantly" in communication with Mel B, Halliwell and Bunton about getting the group back together for another reunion tour.

"I really hope so," Chisholm told guest host Howie Mandel. "We're talking about it. We are talking about it constantly. It was always the plan. We did these amazing stadium shows in the U.K. islands two years ago. It was the best thing we've ever done. The creativity was so incredible. We had the best time."

"But we've got to come back. Because we love the U.S. Our fans here are amazing," she added.

Chisholm previously told PEOPLE another tour " has to happen " after the success of their 13-date U.K. tour in 2019, and she's even hoping to get Victoria Beckham (a.k.a. Posh Spice) onboard this time.

"At the moment, it's only the four of us. We're working on Victoria. She might be sucked into the idea at some point," she said on PEOPLE (the TV Show!) in October 2021.

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

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Inside the Absolutely Impossible, Iconic Spice World Bus, 25 Years Later

By Matthew Jacobs

A general view of the Spice Girls Tour Bus to celebrate 25 years of The Spice Girls with Spotify at St Pancras...

Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want: the bus from Spice World. The double-decker that transported the Spice Girls through London in 1997 had its own ecosystem. It was a world away from the world, a gaudy enclave personalized for each of the five chicas (to the front and otherwise, slamming as instructed in “Spice Up Your Life”) whose collective girl power would make them the biggest-selling female group in history.

Nothing about the bus made sense. It was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside, like the time machine from Doctor Who. It kind of felt like its own time machine, in fact—one with toilets that constantly needed unclogging. Somehow there was ample room for Baby Spice’s swing, Posh’s catwalk, Sporty’s workout equipment, Scary’s functioning aquarium, and Ginger’s ’60s decor. Despite the bus having a hodgepodge of colors, its abundant silver seemed space age-y, as if the engine might rocket them to another planet at any moment. ( The Spice Girls did meet a few aliens in the movie, after all .) At the end of the film, it was destroyed by a bomb. In real life? It’s as alive and well as a bus can be.

Twenty-five years after Spice World opened in theaters, the bus has a permanent residence on the Isle of Wight, a popular travel destination in the English Channel. A superfan named Suzanne Godley renovated the interior in 2019 and sometimes lists the bus on Airbnb for overnight rentals. The quirks have been sanitized, swapping whimsy for polish and making it a little more practical for the non-pop-star set, but the bus’s façade still bears the Union Jack insignia that the movie’s production designer, Grenville Horner, came up with after seeing Geri Halliwell, a.k.a. Ginger Spice, wear a striking British-flag minidress at the Brit Awards in 1997.

When I spoke to Horner via Zoom last week, he held up his copy of the original script, which featured Spice World ’s working title, Five. He still owns his original sketches and other memorabilia from the film, and he had earmarked a page where screenwriter Kim Fuller described the bus in extraordinary detail.

Inside the Absolutely Impossible Iconic ‘Spice World Bus 25 Years Later

“There are no seats,” Horner read aloud. “Instead, the whole area is luxuriantly carpeted and sectioned off into areas for each girl, each of these being designed according to their Spice character. Note: There should be five of everything. Five towels, five bathrobes, five toothbrushes, five clothes racks. Emma: fluffy chair, pink wall, lots of teddies and My Little Ponies. Mel B: mystical, Gothic, leopard-skin throws and oriental wall hangings. Geri: ’60s pastiche, posters of Charlie’s Angels. Mel C: exercise bike, posters of Liverpool Football Club. Victoria: Vogue -ish, sleek, rail of expensive clothes. There is also a kitchen area with drinks and food vending machines.”

Horner had already worked with Spice World director Bob Spiers on multiple British comedy series, including French and Saunders and A Bit of Fry and Laurie. With three daughters of his own, he loved the Spice Girls’ 1996 debut album. But what really spoke to him was the movie’s homage to the Beatles’ similarly nonsensical pseudo-documentary A Hard Day’s Night. The Liverpool lads’ madcap adventures felt like a fantasy, which meant everything in Spice World could too. Scenes set inside the bus were even shot at Twickenham Studios, the same place where portions of A Hard Day’s Night and its follow-up, Help!, set up shop in the mid-’60s.

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Designing the bus took an army. ( No boot camp required .) Horner collaborated with a variety of craftspeople—quilters, drape makers, metal workers, set decorators—to perfect the tiniest details of the bus before production began on the Twickenham soundstage. For inspiration, he looked at the work of architects Norman Foster and Richard Rogers, both known for high-tech expressionism. “It was a mobile dollhouse for grown-ups,” Horner said. And certain decorative aspects ended up being happy accidents. If the design of the carpet looks, in his words, “quite vaginal,” well, he promises that was not intentional.

Horner has another valuable souvenir in his possession: the miniature-toy version of the Spice Bus, seen in cheeky close-up as Posh raced across Tower Bridge en route to the group’s concert at Royal Albert Hall. The drawbridge was being raised so that a boat could cross the River Thames, putting the singers’ lives in Posh’s well-manicured hands. To maintain the movie’s fantastical tendencies and keep CGI costs down, the flying-bus stunt was executed using a small model that Horner hand-painted. The visibly low-tech charm was a sort of wink to the audience. When he turned the little bus over, superglue once attached to a wire that pulled it across the bridge was still visible.

The Spice Girls apparently loved the bus’s design so much that they hung out on that particular soundstage during breaks, Horner said. It was like the haven the bus in the film promised, far from the frenzy of the paparazzi. Their sophomore album was on its way to selling 3.2 million copies within 11 months of being released. Spice World producers went to great lengths to keep the women’s whereabouts secret from tabloid photographers and obsessive fans, including using what Horner called “stockades” of vehicles to block any outdoor setups. “I think it’s the most secure set I’ve ever been on,” he recalled.

Critics weren’t kind to Spice World 25 years ago. “What can you say about five women whose principal distinguishing characteristic is that they have different names?” Roger Ebert asked in his blistering review . But millennials have turned the film into a generational touchstone. No, the Spice Girls weren’t meant to be movie stars, but, frankly, neither were the Beatles. Today, the spirit of the movie endures, as does the fun that Horner and his colleagues had while creating something that totally understood its audience. “ Spice World didn’t have to make sense,” Horner said. “If people were looking for a serious movie, forget it.”

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Cast & crew
User reviews

Spice World

World-famous pop group the Spice Girls zip around London in their luxurious double-decker tour bus having various adventures and performing for their fans. World-famous pop group the Spice Girls zip around London in their luxurious double-decker tour bus having various adventures and performing for their fans. World-famous pop group the Spice Girls zip around London in their luxurious double-decker tour bus having various adventures and performing for their fans.

Spice Girls
Jamie Curtis
Emma Bunton
277 User reviews
42 Critic reviews
34 Metascore
3 wins & 11 nominations

Scary Spice
(as Melanie Brown)

Sporty Spice
(as Melanie Chisholm)

Ginger Spice
(as Geraldine Halliwell)

(as Victoria Adams)

TV Director

Hospital Parent

Elvis Costello

The Dream Boys

All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

Trivia This movie is listed amongst the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John WIlson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.
Goofs During the Last scene during their concert, the girls finish their routine by "freezing" in poses which change between shots.

[Geri and Mel B are playing chess on the Spice Bus]

Ginger Spice : Check!

Scary Spice : What do you mean check?

Ginger Spice : I mean, check. My bishop's got your king.

Scary Spice : Where?

Ginger Spice : There! You've either got to move it in front, or move it out of the way.

Scary Spice : Well I'll move that fairground horse to there. Sort that out!

Ginger Spice : You can't do that!

Scary Spice : Says who?

Ginger Spice : Says Mr. Chess! It's been in the rules for thousands of years!

Scary Spice : Well I'm gonna break the rules and set this little fairground horse free amonst all these little square fields, like that. There!

Ginger Spice : I'm gonna slap you in a minute!

Scary Spice : [Sarcastically] Oh.

Crazy credits The Spice Girls talk to the audience while the credits start to roll, saying things like 'Hey, look at those two in the back row snogging', and 'Hey, you - no, not you, the person behind you. . . I like your dress'.
Alternate versions A special live song that was cut from the film is added at the end of the VHS release.
Connections Edited into Spice Girls: Too Much - Spice World Movie Version (1997)
Soundtracks Wannabe Written by Spice Girls (as The Spice Girls), Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard Performed by Spice Girls (as The Spice Girls) Produced by Richard Stannard and Matt Rowe Courtesy of Virgin Records Ltd.

User reviews 277

elfgirl_amek
Jun 18, 2007
How long is Spice World? Powered by Alexa
Where can I find the soundtrack to the movie?
But there is music that doesn't appear on either CD! What should I do?
Is there anything after the movie?
January 23, 1998 (United States)
United Kingdom
Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
Fragile Films
Icon Entertainment International
Polygram Filmed Entertainment
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$25,000,000 (estimated)
$29,342,592
$10,527,222
Jan 25, 1998
$29,344,278

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 33 minutes
Dolby Digital

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‘We ran out of parts for people’: How Spice World became the ‘must be in’ movie of the Nineties

Mark beaumont finds out why a homage to beatles films made at the height of the spice girls’ fame got panned by critics only to become a cult classic, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

‘We wanted to do a film that was very much in the spirit of the girls, and they didn’t take themselves seriously’

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey

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A s the yacht drew into Port de Cannes and the camera shutters went into overdrive, it seemed from a distance that five disparate versions of Audrey Hepburn were making the grandest of entrances. Sporting the sunglasses and headscarves of 1950s starlets – variously paired with leopard-print chiffon, rainbow crop-tops and sports-branded underwear – this was a ragtag bunch of ingenues. There was an elegant one, a redheaded one, a childlike one, one who looked a bit angry about something, and one seemingly fresh from a set of mixed doubles.

Waving to the hordes of screaming fans on the docks, the Spice Girls swept ashore at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival ready to strut, pose, backflip and karate-kick their way right through the silver screen. A global phenomenon, they had arrived at the celebrated movie conference to promote their debut cinematic endeavour, Spice World: The Movie , released 25 years ago this week, and even somewhere as star-studded as Cannes had rarely seen such scenes of frenzied fandemonium.

“The Cannes Film Festival is quite an earnest place, and it brought this burst of colour into a black-and-white world,” says Barnaby Thompson, Spice World ’s co-producer. “We put them on the roof of the Hotel Martinez and there’s 10,000 people outside. I don’t know what Beatlemania was like, but there was a real sense of excitement about everything.”

The buzz around the band – who’d had four UK No 1 hits in the previous 12 months and hit the US top spot with “Wannabe” during filming – would make the movie a $100m (£83m) success on the back of a $5m (£4.13m) budget, not bad for a largely plot-free hodgepodge of celebrity cameos, surrealist dream sequences, Tardis tour-buses, movie pastiches, Girl Power wisecracking, and close encounters with horny aliens, which was panned by critics at the time.

Over the intervening quarter-century, however, its stature has grown to that of credible cult classic: an end-of-innocence snapshot of an unrepeatable moment in both British cinema and pop music, when pop stars could still be a little magical and unreal, and their movies pure primary-coloured lark.

Much of the retrospective appeal of Spice World is a result of the unashamed debt it owes to classic Ealing comedy and the cinematic oeuvre of The Beatles. “ A Hard Day’s Night was always one of my favourite films,” says Thompson. “And so the idea of doing A Hard Day’s Night with a female group was very appealing.”

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In fact, Spice World was more of a catch-all homage to all of The Beatles’ films. Its scenes of Spicemania were pulled straight from the Hard Day’s Night playbook, but the girls’ tour bus – a union-flag-festooned double-decker from the outside; inside, the size of a small house, with individual quarters for each Spice that allowed Victoria Adams a full mirrored wardrobe and Emma Bunton a swing and a slide – was a flagrant nod to the Fabs’ communal house with four front doors in Help! .

Likewise the comic-book character work, including Richard E Grant’s role as the Spice Girls’ manager, clad in the bright-coloured suits of a mid-ranking Batman villain, and Richard O’Brien as a creepy paparazzo climbing out from under beds and inside toilets to try to snap the girls.

The more bizarre sequences, meanwhile, could have fallen straight out of the drug-drenched script of Magical Mystery Tour . Take Michael Barrymore’s turn as an unintelligible drill-sergeant-cum-choreographer called Mr Step, a flash-forward of the girls as middle-aged mums, or the iconic scene in which aliens descend to meet the band then try to feel up Mel B.

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It all worked, Thompson believes, because of the postmodern “movie within a movie” framework of the film – “There’s basically a producer and a writer pitching the movie to the Richard E Grant character as it’s unfolding” – a premise that allowed Spice World to shoot off at self-parodic tangents without becoming too much of a mess. “We wanted to do a film that was very much in the spirit of the girls, and they didn’t take themselves seriously,” Thompson says. “There’s the Roger Moore character, who is very much a satirical take on [then-manager] Simon Fuller, so everyone was happy to make fun of themselves.”

“The Beatles did the whole thing about being pursued by the reporters, and it was very much a caper,” says the film’s co-writer Kim Fuller, brother of Simon and at one time a regular contributor to TV comedy shows such as Alas Smith and Jones , Spitting Image and The Tracey Ullman Show . “But Spinal Tap was partly what I was thinking of – it was an ironic send-up.”

That Spice World became such a madcap blitz of a movie was largely down to Disney’s addiction to schmaltz. The Spice Girls had been eyeing up the big screen ever since they took control of their own “manufactured” band after having been put together by audition in 1994. “When we got together ... one of the first things we said was ‘It’d be really great if we could do a movie,’” Emma Bunton said in 1997. “We said to ourselves, ‘We’re not just a band, we want to try everything.’” “We always wanted to go out and conquer the world,” added Melanie Chisholm. “We’re just pushing it to the boundaries and seeing how far we can go.”

As their star ascended with “Wannabe” in 1996, Simon Fuller touted them around Hollywood studios and sold an option on a Spice Girls film to Disney. “I read it and it was very much in the Disney mould,” says Kim, who was denied the chance to contribute to Disney’s script. “It shows their family relationships, one’s from a single parent... it was very much a progressive Disney story, and they all come together and they all overcome their issues and become a famous band.”

The Spice Girls rejected the proposal. “Although the perception was that they were brought together and manufactured, they were actually very much in control of what they would and wouldn’t do,” says Kim. “So turning Disney down was fine.” Instead, once Disney’s option had expired in November 1996, Fuller was granted free rein to work on a script, spending time with this “force of nature” of a band to get “an angle on their characters and lives, where they’d come from, and what their attitudes were”.

The writing process was a back-and-forth collaboration. “We got the idea of ‘Let’s send up a week in their lives,’” Kim says, “and I would go to them and say, ‘What do you feel about this?’, because I wasn’t necessarily sure that they would happily show themselves up in this slightly mad, over-exaggerated way. They would come back with ‘How about if we do this in that scene?’, so it worked in that way, more like a dialogue backwards and forwards... I remember saying ‘I want to do something where someone falls in the river’ because it’d be funny if they’re doing a stunt on a boat. And Geri said, ‘Victoria should do that.’ The whole concept was there in front of me, the celebration of female friendship – it was them; they did that – and I put it into a structure and made it daft and funny.”

‘The whole concept was there in front of me, the celebration of female friendship – it was them, they did that’

Thompson, who had previously worked on Wayne’s World and Coneheads with Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, stresses the simplicity of the film as being key to its success. “The simple idea that they’ve got this concert to do at the end of the week. They’ve got the press after them. And that’s kind of the plot. That very much came from the purity of A Hard Day’s Night . Nothing happens in A Hard Day’s Night . Ringo gets sulky, goes off for a wander. It was about creating a vehicle for the girls’ personalities, their outlook on the world.”

By January 1997, the script was semi-complete and the Spice World ball was rolling. Impressive names began to leap aboard the union jack bus, with the girls themselves doing their fair share of casting. “Geri and Emma said, ‘You are going to be in this film, aren’t you?’” Grant recalled at the time. “I was flattered they even knew of my existence.”

Barry Humphries took the role of media-chief villain Kevin McMaxford, Jason Flemyng his newsroom sidekick, and O’Brien his sinister agent stalking the girls. “It does represent that we have been hounded since day one by the press,” Halliwell said in 1997. “They’re everywhere,” Chisholm added. “You wonder when you go to bed at night if there’ll be one hiding under your bed.”

Roger Moore signed on as the band’s record-label chief, Elvis Costello as a barman, and Meat Loaf as the girls’ bus driver when the original choice, Frank Bruno, stormed off set because the band wouldn’t sign autographs for a young family member. “I found out what his biggest hit was, ‘I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’, so we’ve got to put that in somehow,” Kim says. The thing Meat wouldn’t do for the Spice Girls, in one of the movie’s most memorable lines, was unblocking the bus toilets. “I said, ‘Do you mind saying that?’ And he said, ‘No, I’ll say whatever you want.’”

Meat Loaf in ‘Spice World’

“At a certain point we could ring up anyone,” says Thompson. “Bob Hoskins is in it, and Bob Hoskins had not worked his whole career so that he could get to be in a telephone box with the Spice Girls. But he was clearly told by the young and, I suspect, female members of his family that it was not an opportunity that he could turn down.” There were only a few high-profile near misses. “Joan Collins was up for it, and by the time she said she’d do it, it was too late,” says Fuller, while Thompson believes they almost bagged Tony Blair. “There was a scene that we had at the beginning of the film which was outside No 10,” he grins. “There were lots of chats with Downing Street, but it didn’t come through in the end.”

Competition for roles was fierce. Alan Cumming, who played a documentary director following the girls throughout the movie, admitted: “I bludgeoned my way into this. It is like my dream come true to work on this film.” Naoko Mori, who had played Saffy’s friend Sarah in Absolutely Fabulous , provided the emotional heart of Spice World as the girls’ pregnant friend Nicola, left behind amid the maelstrom of pop stardom. She was told that virtually every female actor in their twenties had gone up for her part. “Bob Spiers, the director, said they had people fainting meeting the girls,” she laughs. “I didn’t faint, so that was probably a tick.”

If you wanted to be the Spice Girls’ co-star you had to get with their friends, so Mori was adopted into the girl gang from day one. “Instantly they were so friendly,” she laughs. “They would all talk at once, which is so cute. Geri was straight in: ‘What’s your name, we love you, have you got a boyfriend?’” Victoria even asked Mori to talk to her boyfriend David, a fan of Mori’s work, on the phone. Having flown in from Japan to audition knowing little about the band beyond their music, it was three days before Mori realised she’d had a chinwag with Golden Balls himself.

Such was the clamour for screen time that, according to Fuller, “We ran out of parts for people,” and he began writing in cameo scenes as the filming progressed. Backstage corridor encounters with Elton John, Jools Holland as the gig’s musical director, fantasy scenes featuring Stephen Fry as a judge and Hugh Laurie as Hercule Poirot. Bob Geldof and Jennifer Saunders were among the famous faces to be spotted in a party scene, and a four-minute cameo from Gary Glitter was removed pre-release after he was arrested for possessing images of child sexual abuse.

The girls with Elton John: ‘At a certain point we could ring up anyone’

Jonathan Ross recalled the celebrity mentality around Spice World in 1997. He described how, reading a newspaper article listing the many famous names appearing in the film, he had scoffed: “‘Who are these fools that are taking part in this movie? There’s no way I’d do it...” He continued: “Secretly, inside, I was weeping. Then that morning I bumped into the director, who said ‘Would you like to be in the film?’ I said ‘Bob, I’d love to!’”

Comedy Store Players founder and Whose Line Is it Anyway? regular Neil Mullarkey had a similarly last-minute casting experience. “[Co-writer Jamie Curtis] rang me on the Sunday night,” he remembers. “He said, ‘Have you got a suit? Can you be in Chiswick tomorrow morning?’ ‘Yeah, OK.’ That was the casting couch.”

If the plot was designed as a movie within a movie, the shoot itself added another layer of meta. While producers were filling London streets and the Albert Hall with screaming extras to recreate the mania around the band, beyond the barriers the chaos was happening for real. Legions of fans would besiege studios and locations. “It was a bit daft,” says Fuller. “Instead of using extras we could have just filmed the real crowd half the time.” During a location shoot at a stately home near a farm, paparazzi even disguised themselves as a pantomime cow to try to get shots of the girls on set.

“The security was crazy,” says Mori. “Everywhere we went there was just a sea of fans and paparazzi. If we were moving from one place to the other, we would literally be putting blankets over our head and there’d be tarpaulins so people couldn’t peek in.”

Paparazzi even disguised themselves as a pantomime cow to try to get shots of the girls on set

In the eye of what Halliwell called “one massive tornado”, the Spice Girls themselves were surprisingly unflappable. “Everything’s quite normal to us, it’s just everybody on the outside’s going a bit ‘Waaah!’,” Chisholm said on set. Despite early starts and constant wrangling over lines, the band revelled in scenes where they were transformed into superheroes or dressed as each other for a day, and gave largely merit-worthy performances on camera. Thompson found them to be the very antithesis of pop divas.

“They all shared a trailer, and for the first time I think they all got separate cars,” he says. “I think they were a bit lost, they didn’t know quite what to do.” “We were all sharing the green room,” adds Mori, “so there wasn’t that sort of hierarchy thing of ‘You have to go into that tiny room over there because the girls are here’.”

Such was their work ethic that, between takes, the band would conduct promo interviews, perform for international TV shows, greet competition winners, or sequester themselves in the on-hand studio truck to record the accompanying, 14-million-selling Spiceworld album, sometimes delivering tracks for use in the film with hours to spare.

“We made it very much on the run,” says Thompson. “We were writing the script whilst we were shooting it. They were recording the songs whilst we were shooting. Some of the songs, like ‘Spice Up Your Life’ – literally, we were played that the day before. We could have got very uptight about the fact that we’ve got 5,000 people in the Albert Hall and we don’t have a song yet, but there was a level of trust that they would deliver. It made it a very exciting film to make... we were just reacting to things that were happening. It was very liberating.”

The thrown-together attitude pokes through at times. Witness the circle of stage lighting covered in smoke machines that was called in at the last minute because no one had been asked to build a spaceship for the alien arrival scene. Or the miniature cardboard model of Tower Bridge created for the climactic moment when Victoria jumps the speeding tour-bus over the Thames to get to the show in time.

But Spice World ’s fantastical, knockabout feel is part of the charm of the finished film, and key to its subsequent cult status. As the New Labour dream turned sour, 9/11 darkened the dawn of the 21st century, and the drive towards social media “relatability” stripped pop stars of their mystique, with the vibe becoming more confessional than celebratory, this piece of Nineties cash-in fluff began to make the Cool Britannia era look like a golden age, its colour and carefree humour recalling the equally corny documents of Sixties British psychedelia.

Cool Britannia: ‘Spice World’ made the Nineties era look like a golden age

“It’s difficult to imagine that the late Nineties was an innocent time, but it was a period of enormous hope and positivity,” says Thompson. “We’d had all the Thatcher years, and it was felt that there was a positive government – a lot of things that we don’t have right now. The country felt very together, people felt very proud to be British or English. We had that great 1996 Euros. It was an amazing time. And I think that gave a kind of positivity, which the girls epitomised. We set out to capture that moment. If an alien was to land 50 years from now and say ‘What was 1996 or ’97 like?’, that’s what we’d show them.”

Fuller is proud of Spice World ’s “innocent spirit”, and that it purposefully avoided any “dodgy” innuendo or casual misogyny that might have undermined its “girl power” ethos. He points out that it passed the Bechdel test with flying colours, and bottled the lightning of a phenomenon that was swiftly sparking out. By the time of the film’s release – just one year on from the deal being struck – the band had fired Simon Fuller as manager. Within six months, Halliwell would depart, setting in motion the band’s collapse 18 months and one final album (2000’s ironically titled Forever ) later. The unified girl gang of Spice World was, almost immediately, a thing of the past, caught in celluloid aspic.

By capturing that fleeting moment, the film has become a gleaming relic of the brief peak period of mid-Nineties poptimism, alongside Blur vs Oasis and Pulp at Glastonbury. And for the generation of pop fans who had their life spiced up by it, it represents the essence of pre-millennial youth, the sheer, exuberant zig-a-zig-ah-ness of the Nineties teenage experience. “I can’t tell you how many people I meet now, who are in their thirties and forties, for whom it was a massive film in terms of their life,” Thompson smiles. “Adele was a huge Spice Girls fan. I think that for a lot of young girls in particular, they’d just never seen anything like that.”

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Spice World

1997, Musical/Comedy, 1h 32m

What to know

Critics Consensus

Spice World 's lack of cohesive plot will likely lose most viewers, but for fans of the titular girl group there's more than enough fun to be had in their wacky -- albeit superficial -- whirlwind of an adventure. Read critic reviews

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Spice world photos.

Hang on to your knickers, pump up your platforms and fasten your seat belts, because the Spice Girls - Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice), Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice) and Victoria Addams (Posh Spice) - are taking center stage in their feature film debut "Spice World," a roller coaster ride which will spice up your life and open your eyes very wide!

Rating: PG (Some Vulgarity|Language|Brief Nudity)

Genre: Musical, Comedy

Original Language: English

Director: Bob Spiers

Producer: Uri Fruchtmann , Mark L. Rosen , Barnaby Thompson

Writer: Kim Fuller , Jamie Curtis

Release Date (Theaters): Jan 23, 1998 wide

Release Date (Streaming): Apr 25, 2013

Box Office (Gross USA): $29.6M

Runtime: 1h 32m

Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Production Co: Fragile Films, Columbia Pictures, Icon Entertainment International, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment

Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby A, SDDS, Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby SR

Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

Cast & Crew

The Spice Girls

Richard E. Grant

Alan Cumming

Piers Cuthbertson-Smyth

George Wendt

Martin Barnfield

Claire Rushbrook

Mark McKinney

Richard O'Brien

Roger Moore

Barry Humphries

Kevin McMaxford

Jason Flemyng

Michael Barrymore

Bill Paterson

Jools Holland

Musical Director

Stephen Fry

Richard Briers

Jamie Curtis

Uri Fruchtmann

Associate Producer

Simon Fuller

Executive Producer

Peter McAleese

Co-Producer

Mark L. Rosen

Barnaby Thompson

Victoria Beckham

Original Music

Emma Bunton

Melanie Chisholm

Geri Halliwell

Paul Hardcastle

Clive Tickner

Cinematographer

Andrea MacArthur

Film Editing

Simone Pereira Hind

Vanessa Pereira

Grenville Horner

Production Design

News & Interviews for Spice World

10 Pop Star Movies That Failed to Launch Big Screen Careers

Is Spice World Worth Another Look?

High School Musical Cast Enters Senior Year

Critic Reviews for Spice World

Audience reviews for spice world.

Stupid film, Pointless, Boring, None of them can act it's made for one thing only, To make the rich richer.

As a young fan of the Spice Girls, I loved being able to see my hero's. Now however, I can see it's terrible and should be forgotten about.

Childhood favourite and a classic!

Obviously, "Spice World" is a deplorable film, but as a time capsule we can use to return to a time when they thought it was ok to make a feature film starring a popular all girl pop band, it works wonders! The film is just so, flat out, strange that you simply marvel at the sheer ineptitude on screen. Everything from an apartment-like tour bus to alien encounters to sexual innuendoes galore, "Spice World" is just so trashy and odd. But, one curious aspect is how meta the film is. Like, do kids even understand this?

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Spiceworld Tour

Background [ edit ]

The Spice Girls finally wrapped up the tour by performing to 150,000 fans over two gigs at Wembley Stadium in September 1998. [6]

Concert synopsis [ edit ]

Against a futuristic space-age themed backdrop, the show began with a CGI video introduction of a spaceship flying through the galaxy. The introduction included William Shatner as the narrator in a parody of his famous Star Trek title sequence speech , [14] [15] and included samples from " Wannabe ", " Say You'll Be There ", " 2 Become 1 " and " Mama ". The spaceship was shown to land on earth and as its doors appeared to open so did the door at the back of the stage to reveal the Spice Girls. The group members were dressed in futuristic costumes, the first of 11 costume changes. [15] They entered the stage performing "If U Can't Dance", followed by " Who Do You Think You Are ", which included an introduction sample from Club 69 's "Diva" and RuPaul 's " Supermodel (You Better Work) ". Accompanied by the tour dancers, referred to as the "Spice Boys", [15] the group then performed "Do It" as their third song during the European leg of the tour; for the North American leg the third song was changed to " Step To Me ".

After a brief costume change, the group returns to the stage to perform "Denying". In this performance, Geri Halliwell played the role of a waitress, Mel B the role of a gambler, Victoria Adams the role of a dancer, Emma Bunton the role of a gangster's girlfriend and Melanie C the role of a club owner. The group then sang " Too Much " sat down on chairs. After another costume change, the group performed " Stop ". Kenny Ho , their stylist and costume designer, dressed the group in '60s themed clothing to fit the Motown -influenced song. Halliwell's costume was inspired by Madonna 's " Holiday section from her Blond Ambition World Tour . After "Stop", Bunton sang a solo rendition of " Where Did Our Love Go? " by The Supremes . [15] Bunton had stated that "I've always been a fan of Diana Ross , that song is perfect for me, it's just the right pitch. I wouldn't want to do a song I found hard to sing." The group then performed " Move Over ", portraying supermodels on a runway, dressed in outrageous, outlandish clothes. The dancers, dressed in black, play the role of photographers. Originally, they were going to have Adams wear a chainmail Versace dress with linked gold squares. However, the dress was too heavy and too impractical for maintenance. After the performance of "Move Over", there was a thirty-minute intermission. [15]

Reception [ edit ]

Box office [ edit ].

Critical reception [ edit ]

The tour received mixed to positive reviews. Natalie Nichols of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "[t]heir energy and dedication were sincere, even though the music was all unconvincing dance grooves and slick soul-pop, lightly seasoned with funk, hip-hop and rock by a bland six-piece band." [17] On the other hand, The New York Times Jon Pareles felt that "the songs, more than the act, are their real asset. [...] These numbers are exuberant, direct and immediately likeable, and they've turned a group of hard-working but only moderately gifted performers into stars." [18]

Throughout the American leg of the tour, commercials were played on large concert screens before the shows and during intermissions. It was the first time advertising had been used in pop concerts and was met with mixed reactions in the music industry. [20] Garcia wrote that the adverts were a "strange note" in a show that otherwise "delivered what it promised". He also criticised the group's performance of "Move Over", their Pepsi advert song, saying that the "rampant, near-subliminal Pepsi imagery on the video screen, seemed a tad too mercenary for even this ultracommercial setting." [14] On the other hand, tour promoter John Scher acknowledged that, "[T]he cost of touring has become somewhat obscene. If it allows corporate sponsors to put more money into the entertainment world and allows us to see more shows, it's positive." By opening up a whole new source of revenue, industry experts predicted more acts would follow the Spice Girls' lead. [21]

Broadcasts and recordings [ edit ]

Setlist [ edit ]

"Video Introduction" (contains samples of Wannabe , Say You'll Be There , 2 Become 1 and Mama )
"If U Can't Dance"
" Who Do You Think You Are " (contains elements of " Diva " and " Supermodel ") "
" Too Much "
" Where Did Our Love Go? " ( Emma Bunton solo)
" Move Over "
"The Lady Is a Vamp"
"Say You'll Be There"
"2 Become 1"
" Walk of Life "
" Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves " ( Mel B & Melanie C duet)
" Spice Up Your Life "
" Viva Forever " (contains excerpts from the film Blade Runner )
"Never Give Up on the Good Times"
" We Are Family "
" Step to Me "
"Something Kinda Funny"
"Love Thing"

Setlist background [ edit ]

"Who Do You Think You Are" contained a sound bite from the song "Diva" by Club 69 & " Supermodel (You Better Work) " by RuPaul . In the beginning of the song, the phrase "You have to work to get this good" can be heard. The same sound bite had been used previously in televised concerts in Istanbul in 1997.
During the European leg of the tour, " Move Over " featured some rather interesting lyrical changes. Instead of the usual "dedication, babynation etc...", the girls would alternate the lyrics with "penetration, menstruation, lubrication and masturbation" on various nights (in the predominantly non-English speaking countries).
"Naked" sampled two sound bites from the film Batman Forever . In the beginning of the song, dialogue from the motion picture was included, saying "Relax. Tell me your dreams, tell me your fantasies, tell me your secrets, tell me your deepest, darkest, fears." In the middle of the song, the Riddler's growls were heard.
The original "London town" lyric in "Walk of Life" was replaced by the name of the city the girls were performing in. The lyrics varied depending on the pronunciation of the city name, for example "Birmingham", "Antwerp Town", or "Boston City".
"Viva Forever" sampled a sound bite from the film Blade Runner . In the beginning of the song the famous words "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you my friend, have burned so very, very brightly" spoken by Dr. Eldon Tyrell are heard. This inspired a similar, revamped sound bite that was used during "Who Do You Think You Are" on the Return of the Spice Girls . This sound bite consisted of a deep, male, American-accented voice saying "The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you, my friend, have burned the brightest".
After Geri Halliwell's departure, a pre-recorded backing track of Geri's vocals were used during the Spanish Rap in "If U Can't Dance" and the remaining girls sang her original "Ginger" lyric in "The Lady Is a Vamp". In other songs her lines were distributed by the remaining members, with notably Victoria finally singing lead in "Wannabe" after Halliwell's departure.
Starting in Noblesville, Indiana on July 24, " Step to Me " replaced "Do It", and "Walk of Life" was removed from the setlist (“Walk of Life” was still performed, sporadically, during various dates for the duration of the US leg of the tour). Both of these changes were due to several dancers' injuries, as well as the (unannounced at the time) pregnancies of Mel B and Victoria Beckham, who were lifted and carried around by dancers during "Walk of Life."
As presented on Sky Box Office Live, there was no 30-minute intermission during the "Back in Britain" leg of the tour, and additional songs were added to the setlist. "Something Kinda Funny" replaced "Denying", and "Step to Me" was dropped. "Do It" was added back to the setlist. "Something Kinda Funny", "Do It", and "Too Much" were reimagined into their own second act, with a new set of suit-like outfits, replacing the restaurant act. "Love Thing" replaced "Move Over", in the middle of the show, as a one-song act with a dancers’ intro and another wardrobe change. [28]

Tour dates [ edit ]

Personnel [ edit ], vocals [ edit ].

Emma Bunton
Victoria Adams
Geri Halliwell (until 26 May 1998 live but her studio vocal remained in "If U Can't Dance")

Band [ edit ]

Simon Ellis – Musical Director / Keyboards
Andy Gangadeen – Drums
Paul Gendler – Guitars
Fergus Gerrand – Percussion
Steve Lewinson – Bass
Michael Martin – Keyboards

Dancers [ edit ]

Louie Spence
Carmine Canuso (aka Jake Canuso )
Jimmy Gulzar
Eszteca Noya
Robert Nurse
Christian Storm (until Halliwell's departure)

References [ edit ]

^ a b "Ginger Spice's Departure Marks "End of the Beginning" " (DOC) . Rolling Stone . 2 June 1998 . Retrieved 26 May 2012 .
^ a b Rogers, Danny (5 October 1998). "The Spice trade" . Brandweek . Vol. 39, no. 37. pp. 32–36. ProQuest 218071431 . Retrieved 26 March 2021 – via ProQuest .
^ a b "Life at the top" . Music Week . 5 December 1998. p. 21. ProQuest 232185535 . Retrieved 14 April 2021 – via ProQuest .
^ a b c Solomons, Mark (25 April 1998). "Newsline...". Billboard . Vol. 110, no. 17. p. 50. ISSN 0006-2510 .
^ a b c "Girl Power coming to Wembley" . BBC News . 18 September 1998. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016.
^ "Spice Girls Sell Out ... In Two Hours" . Rolling Stone . 3 February 1998. Archived from the original on 14 April 2009.
^ "Spice Girls' Speedy Sell-out Prompts Ticket Probe" . MTV News . 23 April 1998.
^ "Spice Girls' 12-Minute Sellout Draws Probe" . Billboard . 22 April 1998. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007.
^ "Ginger Spice Quits Spice Girls" . MTV News . 31 May 1998.
^ "Spice Girl hires lawyers over 'split' " . MTV News . 30 May 1998.
^ "Spice Girls Become a Foursome as Ginger Quits" . The New York Times . 1 June 1998 . Retrieved 17 November 2007 .
^ UK: GERI HALLIWELL TO LEAVE THE SPICE GIRLS UPDATE . AP News Archive . 31 May 1998.
^ a b c d e f Garcia, Gilbert. "Close Encounters: Spiceworld review" . Phoenix New Times . 27 August 1998. Retrieved on 19 February 2017.
^ a b c d e f "The Girls Are Alright" . Chicago Reader . 6 August 1998.
^ "Spiceworld tour Info!!!" . Archived from the original on 2016-03-05 . Retrieved 2014-05-19 .
^ Nichols, Natalie (17 August 1998). "Spiceworld Taps Dollar Power and Girl Power at Forum" . Los Angeles Times .
^ Parales, Jon (27 June 1998). "POP REVIEW; Girl Power (and Merchandise)" . The New York Times .
^ "It's not the end of the Spiceworld" . BBC News . 21 September 1998.
^ "The Spice Girls – after this break" . BBC News . 24 August 1998 . Retrieved 19 February 2017 .
^ "What, No Old Spice Commercials?" . Los Angeles Times . 23 August 1998 . Retrieved 19 February 2017 .
^ "BBC Programme Index" . 3 May 1998.
^ "Spice Girls In America: A Tour Story (1999 Documentary)" . YouTube. 2014-08-24 . Retrieved 2017-09-28 . [ dead YouTube link ]
^ IMDB. Spice Girls: Live in Your Living Room (1998) . Retrieved 11 November 2016.
^ "Live at Wembley Stadium" . Amazon UK . 6 October 2008.
^ "Spiceworld Tour" . Spicepedia.
^ a b "FACTS" . Spice Girls . Retrieved 21 March 2013 .
^ "Spice Girls Announce U.S. Tour Dates" . MTV News . 15 April 1998 . Retrieved 10 October 2015 .

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Spiceworld (tour)

Background [ ]

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10 Fun Facts About Spice World

1. IT TOOK ONLY A YEAR FROM THE IDEA TO THE FINISHED FILM.

2. THE GIRLS STOPPED TRAFFIC IN FRANCE.

3. RICHARD E. GRANT’S DAUGHTER FORCED HIM TO DO THE MOVIE.

4. SHAKESPEARE HELPED CAST ALAN CUMMING.

5. YOU CAN VISIT THE SPICE BUS.

6. WITHNAIL AND I CONVINCED ELVIS COSTELLO TO MAKE A CAMEO.

7. THE PRODUCTION MADE SURE THE GIRLS DIDN’T READ THE SCRIPT.

8. BUT THEY DIDN’T STICK TO THE SCRIPT.

9. THE GIRLS RECORDED AN ALBUM WHILE FILMING.

10. MEL C LOVES THE MOVIE.

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Spiceworld Tour

Background [ edit ]

Concert synopsis [ edit ]

Reception [ edit ]

Critical reception [ edit ]

Broadcasts and recordings [ edit ]

Setlist [ edit ]

Setlist background [ edit ]