Spice Up Your Life - in Vegas! - Bakla Ako, May Reklamo?

Today we are launching something new to this blog: guest bloggers and contributors! We have toyed about this idea since we started but have never gotten around to fixing the details. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our Guest Blogger for today, NICKy.

NICKy is one of my best(est) friends in and out of work. Ka-gimik, Ka-shopping, Ka-chikahan, ka-badinga, ka-baklaan! In this post, Nicky shares with us the experience of watching the Spice Girls’ reunion concert in Las Vegas. Enjoy! - Baklang AJ

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One of the first CDs I bought in high school was SPICE, the debut album from the Spice Girls. I was not a big fan initially. They released ‘Wannabe’ and I liked it. ‘Say You’ll Be There,’ with its matching superheroine-themed video (Victoria as Midnight Miss Suki) made me take notice. But it was not until ‘2 become 1′ was released that I started loving them. I knew I wanted to own a piece of the Spice Girls to put on perennial Shuffle-and-Loop on my stereo. In the next four years that followed, up until the release of the post-Geri ‘Forever’ album in 2000, I was a huge fan. I mean, I knew all the lines to the Spice World movie! I saw it twice on its first week of release. I was familiar with all their dance steps and could describe all their costumes in their numerous Awards show performances, including the ‘Brit Awards’ when Geri first wore the Union Jack mini, and their countless live performances. I was so gayly into the Spice Girls that I thought if the world ended, I would have truly lived.

So when they announced their reunion tour, I was ecstatic. It was as if the inner gay child in me woke up. The thought of five gorgeous girls has never excited me in so many ways it’s not even funny. When they announced the Spice City contest, I voted for Manila as the additional tour stop. When they announced Toronto, it was like we had lost the bid to host the Olympics. The closest they would be in is Hong Kong. I have to admit, I played with the idea of going to Hong Kong to watch the concert. But, the process was just all too complicated. You had to reserve online, pay for it within a certain period of time and claim the tickets no later than a week before the concert date. I didn’t know if I could pull it off. So I parked that dream and satisfied my inner child cravings by reading about them and looking at pictures online.

Then there was talk about Las Vegas. You could go to ticketmaster.com and purchase tickets, print them out and go to the show. Aside from the many other reasons to go to Vegas - vacation, visiting friends, getting a US entry stamp to aid my 10-year visa renewal in a few months, taking a break from work - here was another one: Watch the Spice Girls… Live!

So off I went.

It was Tuesday, December 11. It was their last US concert date for the first leg. They said on the ticket that cameras were not allowed. I was foolish enough to believe it. So we left behind an 8MP camera with 3.5x Optical Zoom, that could have probably captured more detail and color. Instead, I used my phone, which wasn’t too bad considering I was too overwhelmed to even take any pictures.

It was incredible.

The grand T-shaped stage was gorgeous and their glittering Roberto Cavalli outfits were amazing! Some people say their songs are too pop that you need a lot of add-ons to make their show interesting. They’ve always needed elaborate sets, colorful costumes and well-enough choreography to appeal to everyone from 7 to 70. But if you’re a fan, the extras are just icing on the cake.

Geri had a rockin’ body, but you can tell she has aged more so than the other girls. Killer legs, though. Melanie C. sang the best, no surprise there. It was fun to watch her give it everything she’s got considering she was the last to sign onto the reunion tour. Mel B. seemed to have faded in the background for the most part, there isn’t much to say. Emma was a sweetheart. I never realized how often she sang on their songs. It seemed at times she had more singing lines than everyone else (well, maybe with the exception of Melanie C?). Even during times when Victoria would be left alone to sing her lines, Emma would actually sing along with her. Oh and Victoria. More about her later.

The entire concert had great production value. One of my favorite parts was after they sang Viva Forever (which had an updated Spanish flavor), Geri was lowered out of the stage, leaving the four other girls behind. Of course with four of them left on stage, they went into a performance of Holler (love that song!). Can you get any cheesier than that? They sang all their hits. It was a Spice Girls fan’s dream. They even threw in ‘The Lady is a Tramp.’ I guess if they didn’t then it would have been a short show. After all, they only had three full length albums and several singles.

With a short selection of group performances, they added solos. Scary did ‘Are you Gonna Go My Way?’ using a microphone whose other end was fashioned into a whip. Baby was all mod when she did her solo, off of her latest album. I would have screamed louder had it been ‘Take My Breath Away’ but who was I to complain? Ginger did ‘It’s Raining Men’ which is another favorite part of mine because that’s when the backup dancers, all of them male, took their shirts off. Sporty sang ‘I Turn To You’ without backup dancers or anything else to augment her performance. She, after all, can sing. And finally, Posh… Well, she really didn’t have a solo vocal performance.

However, she did one better by strutting down the catwalk. She had this long train attached to her little black dress. She donned bug-eyed sunglasses and sashayed down the runway to within several feet (8 people away to be exact) of me. And the crowd roared! She knew her strength, and that wasn’t singing, it was being fabulous.

Towards the end, they sang ‘Mama’ and I think it had a sentimental feel given that they’re all moms (well, again with the exception of Melanie C.). Emma actually made eye contact with me. I was the only dufus waving frenetically and smiling like crazy as I sang along. She waved back. For real. Scary, making what I feel was eye contact with me, is debatable. Even more so with Ginger. The other two didn’t even look to our side of the stage. But Emma definitely saw me. You’re my favorite Spice now! Next to Posh. Tee hee

Over all it was a great concert. You could feel the excitement from everyone who went there to see them perform. And the girls did seem like they were having fun. They giggled a lot, held hands, hugged each other. At one point Geri even lay on the floor after an exhausting number and the Melanies piled up on top of her. There it was onstage: camaraderie, positivity, Girl Power. Proof that friendship never ends. I See Ya, Hold Tight!

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Postcript: I toyed with the idea of watching Celine (incidentally her last performance was December 15, our last day in Vegas). I toyed with her photo instead.