The Kookoo fever

The Canadian Press:

It may have been roughly 10 years since the Spice Girls ruled the charts, but the Brit quintet proved they still have plenty of kick Sunday when they launched their comeback tour with a spectacular show crammed with hits and kitschy performances that played off their concocted personas and their fans’ unabashed nostalgia.

The inaugural concert, some two hours long, came off more like a giant dance party, exploding in glittering confetti following a night of near-continuous screaming from a young, largely female audience, many of them dressed up like the famous quintet.

It was a triumphant return to the stage for Sporty, Scary, Baby, Ginger and Posh, who several times seemed stunned by the appreciative audience, who waved glow sticks and cameras and remained on their feet for the entire show.

Bloomberg:

The five-member U.K. group, which has already sold 55 million records, sported lingerie and leather onstage and had male dancers on their knees in dog collars during an almost two-hour show.

More than 16,000 screaming fans showed many were prepared to overlook criticism of the band for reuniting in their 30s. Ticket sales for the tour so far total more than $60 million. The reunion follows others by the Police, who raised more than $171 million and also started in Vancouver, the Eagles and the Who among others. Fans of Led Zeppelin, which plays in London on Dec. 10, hope the lucrative returns may make them tour again.

The Times UK:

Dressed in gold and bronze outfits by designer Roberto Cavalli, the group – Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell – opened with the hit Spice Up Your Life, leaving pockets of the largely female audience crying excited tears.

In the two-hour show that followed, the band performed a further 22 tracks and changed costumes eight times. They sent the audience into a frenzy when they appeared on stage in outfits that paid homage to those worn at the height of their fame. Halliwell donned a rhinestone version of the Union Jack dress she once famously wore to The Brits, while Brown pulled on an animal print ensemble with knee-high boots.

Toronto Star:

These days, the 30-something women, four of them mothers, are more vampy couture than cheeky cornball. The Robert Cavalli-designed costumes were elegant and daring, and their athletic team of break dancers were a marvel to watch. Instead of filling space, they were an integral part of the show, which was a testament to the spot-on choreography as well.

The Spice Girls know their audience well, and catered to the girlie-girls with frequent, elaborate costume changes as well as their gay fan contingent with a sequence that felt like a gay disco. It was deliciously campy, and everybody did her own send-up of herself. Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham) vogued her way down the catwalk to Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” Ginger Spice (Geri Halliwell) performed her solo hit “It’s Raining Men,” wearing short shorts while being carried around by shirtless male dancers. Curvaceous Scary Spice (Mel B) pranced around in skin-tight leopard spots and cracked a whip.