[Red Moon]

Looks like the reviews are going to be mixed.

Spice Girls: Embarrassing and lacklustre

The Spice Girls were sporting new diamond bracelets yesterday in Vancouver as they relaxed before the opening night of their world tour.

There were gifts from David Beckham who had flown in from New Zealand to wish his wife and the rest of the group good luck. “David was there from the beginning,” said Posh. “He feels like he's married to the five of us.”

Emma Bunton admitted she hadn't slept the night before: Baby Spice had been kept up all night by her baby, four-month-old Beau.

“It's not very rock and roll,” she laughed.

“Being a mother puts things in perspective,” agreed Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice). “I'm 35 now, and the energy is different. I have to work a lot for it.”

“To go out there as a Spice Girl, you need balls of steel,” she added.

They may have needed to up their nerve, but the 16,000-seat venue was at capacity with fans excited to see their idols.

Some of them had barely been born when the group split up: 11-15-year-old girls made up a huge number of the audience – as did their mothers.

The group's gay male following was also out in force. And they all wanted a t-shirt: the crush was so bad, the merchandising vendors had to shut up shop.

As the lights dimmed, the fans went crazy, an extended video sequence of small girls and butterflies projected onto large screens building up the hysteria.

When the group finally emerged – on individual plinths rising out of the stage – the screams drowned out the first few bars of 'Spice Up Your Life”.

While the hits were all received with enthusiasm, there were definite lulls in the performance.

New single “Headlines” was as lacklustre live as recorded, and a Las Vegas-style cabaret sequence was as bewildering as it was embarrassing.

Solo numbers were hit and miss and, perhaps acknowledging the long-held criticism of her vocal ability, Posh's spot saw her walking around the stage in sunglasses, posing for pretend paparazzi – never uttering a note.

None of that seemed to bother the crowd, who, like the Girls' themselves – Congo-ing around the stage – were going to have a party, regardless.

Source:Metro