British girl band the Spice Girls is easily one of the most recognizable, most memorable and most iconic faces of UK pop music in the 1990s. With the distinctive personas and styles of its five members, the group became one of the focal points of the “Cool Britannia” culture phenomenon. While having gone their separate ways since 2000, Mel B, Mel C, Emma, Geri and Victoria have gone on reunion tours on and off the first two decades of the 21st Century, particularly during the 2012 London Olympics. Now, four of the Spice Girls are on a 2019 concert tour through the UK and Ireland, and fans are obviously happy. Now if only something can be done about the sound.
The Spice Girls’ “Spice World 2019 Tour” kicked off with its first concert at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland last Friday, May 24 according to Entertainment Tonight. Even with the absence of Victoria Beckham due to scheduling conflicts, the remaining foursome of Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell, and Melanies Chisholm and Brown, were more than enough to whip up the audience in a whirlwind of nostalgia, including updated versions of their unforgettable nineties wardrobe as they sang familiar favorites like “2 Become 1,” “Spice Up Your Life,” “Viva Forever” and “Wannabe.”
At least ideally, that was what was supposed to happen last week. Unfortunately as CNN reports, there were technical difficulties in terms of sound quality. The outlying sections of Croke Park were seen in social media posts as having some of the 70,000 strong Spice fans sitting down instead of being on their feet like with the nearer seats. Some Twitter posts on the first concert night decried the performance audio as “awful” and that some of the attendees were actually leaving early instead of sitting through the whole show.
There’s something wrong when the crowd at @spicegirls concert are all sitting down because no one has a clue what song is on because the sound really is THAT bad. @mcd_productions @CrokePark @IrishTimes @LovinDublin #SpiceWorldTour #SpiceGirl
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Following the Dublin show, Mel B quickly went to Instagram to address the complaints and promised that the sound bugs would be fixed for their tour’s second concert stop in Cardiff, Wales this Monday, May 27. But in what The Daily Mail describes as a Strike 2, the sound issues followed the Spice Girls to Wales, and this time the frustrated portion of concert-goers were a bit more venomous on social media. Also slammed was the venue of Principality Stadium, which had left its retractable roof open when the concert night actually had scattered rain-showers.
@spicegirls Cardiff sound isn’t working! Need to sort as you’re losing your audience! X
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Substandard audio aside, those who were lucky enough to hear the Spice Girls were thoroughly entertained, particularly with the updated take on the group’s advocacy of “Girl Power” as symbolized by Geri’s latest take on her signature UK-flag dress. Their backup dancers were also divided into five squads kitted in each girl’s respective looks: Emma’s “Baby” colors, Mel C’s athleisure gear and Mel B’s cheetah-print.
There are six more stops in the Spice World 2019 Tour, which will terminate in London on June 15. Stop 3 for the Spice Girls is in Manchester, where they are booked at the Etihad Stadium for three consecutive nights starting this Wednesday, May 29.
Image courtesy of Forbes
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