Never have I been more proud of my womanhood.
The Spice Girls brought their brand of minidress-and-platform-boot feminism to the Staples Center on Friday night, giving a “totally mayjah” (read: “major”) performance to thousands of screaming, dancing, glittery fans. While the Spice Spectacular had its incredibly corny, slightly skanky moments, the night was a thrilling assault on the senses and proved that Girl Power is still sexy and cool. I knew it was going to be a good night when I saw a girl changing out of regular shoes in the parking lot into a pair of white patent leather platform boots, Ginger Spice’s trademark footwear.
The scene on Figueroa looked like it could have been from a Fellini film ““ a wild mess of electric, costumed, crazed people running and shrieking in the streets with reckless abandon. There were girls (and boys) in Union Jack minidresses (Ginger Spice), knee socks and pigtails (Baby Spice), leopard print tracksuits (Scary Spice) and “trainers” (Sporty Spice), and “fancy” black attire (Posh Spice). It was like reliving the West Hollywood Halloween parade, but with more teen-to-twentysomething females than drag queens. Scratch that ““ there were plenty of drag queens.
Forty-five minutes after the slated start time, the spectacle began when the Spice Girls dramatically rose out of the floor like metallic, high-heeled Christ-figures and erupted into their international anthem, “Spice up Your Life.” They slammed it to the left, shook it to the right and chica’d to the front just like we remembered they could. The energy was intense and unpretentious, and even from the nosebleeds at Staples Center, the Girls were still adorable, charismatic and totally hot ““ even though four out of the five are now “mummies.”
In between a half dozen costume changes, the Spice Girls performed a standard catalogue of greatest hits, including “Stop,” complete with the original, elementary dance moves from their 1998 music video. “Say You’ll be There” was another classic crowd favorite, as was “Too Much,” especially when Sporty concluded with the revelatory, inspirational line: “I want a man, not a boy who thinks he can.” Sing it, sister!
“2 Become 1″ was lovely and sensual, with the girls coyly singing behind lush, oversized white feathers and slithering around candy-cane-striped stripper poles (for the holidays). Looking back, I’m not sure it was totally appropriate for me to be singing along with that when I was 10.
Since the entire Spice Girls catalogue isn’t that extensive, there was a portion in the middle of the show where each member (except for Posh) performed a solo. It was obvious that this was the weaker part of the performance, since the solos mainly consisted of bad or boring covers. Scary’s solo was particularly memorable because it was the most uncomfortable to watch. Maybe she just wanted to show off her post-baby body (you are a fool, Eddie Murphy), but her performance was more provocative than sassy, though her microphone that doubled as a whip is going on my Christmas list. The audience witnessed thrilling pyrotechnics when flame-haired Ginger performed her cover of “It’s Raining Men.” Smoke and glitter burst from the stage as every girl and gay man sang along.
When the Spice Girls closed with “Goodbye,” the first song they made without Ginger back in 1998, the audience knew it wasn’t really the end. Something had yet to be played.
The moment everyone had been waiting for came with “Wannabe” – the most major part of the night. It’s hard to convey the overwhelming nostalgia felt when hearing this song live, but it was pretty incredible to sing along (verbatim, obviously) to this Girl-Power-fueled anthem with thousands of people.
The Spice Girls may have aged, but their performance proved Girl Power will always be in style. “Zig-a-zig-AH!”
““ Devon McReynolds
E-mail McReynolds at dmcreynolds@media.ucla.edu.