Piers

I don't remember the specific interview, but I'm pretty sure it was during the Reason promo. Mel was asked to reflect on Forever. She said the album had beautiful ballads, but she didn't like all of the material on the album...and she listed If You Wanna Have Some Fun as her example.

I certainly don't know everything from behind the scenes...but...I've long been under the belief that a lot of what the fan sites were reporting in 1999/2000 was made up. I was checking the fan sites daily in that time. I was a kid...and it was an earlier time for the internet, so perhaps I was pretty naive. But I did believe the fan sites had real scoops. They had me convinced in the spring of 1999 that a new Spice Girls album was going to drop any week...an album to be called The Great Divide. I was kinda floored to learn that summer that the 3rd album recording sessions hadn't even happened yet. Anyway. Those Melanie C quotes about a new album being completed in spring 1999 are a fairly odd thing. But. The fan sites were often run by teens. Were they all above making up the occasional quote? Could they have been taking news from unscrupulous tabloids? I can't find anything on the existence of an LA Frontier newspaper, for example. I do remember it just being a wild time for rumors.

Going back to an earlier convo...I've always wondered what other track they could possibly be referring to that they were considering to launch the album. Holler is the obvious choice...as the best of the Darkchild material...and the song that'd make the strongest statement about their new musical direction. Right Back At Ya, I guess, would have made sense as a comeback song...but the pop version (if they were still using it at the time) wouldn't have grabbed attention like Holler...and the r'n'b version is flat-out not good enough to be the lead single. Now, midway through 2000, the Spice fan sites were claiming Let Love Lead The Way alone was the comeback single. Was that ever actually true? Granted, that's a song the girls always seemed to appreciate more deeply than the fanbase. But there again, it's no match for Holler... So. Here's how I see it. With the version of Forever we got, I can't imagine the girls/Virgin/whoever deciding on any lead but Holler. However. I do believe they could have considered a different lead when the Biffco/Elliot Kennedy tracks were still in play. Even though we've got some bits and pieces, we really don't know the true strength of the Biffco songs. And if the album was to feature more pop AND r'n'b sounds...could If You Wanna Have Some Fun have been in consideration for the lead...just because it's kinda at the midway point of the pop and r'n'b sides of the group? But then, Mel C doesn't like that song for whatever reason...sooo... Anyway. There's a whole lot of speculation from me...based on knowing absolutely nothing on what was happening behind the scenes....

I mean. It's not a big deal...but with Geri and Emma not taking part in the Holler dance battle, I probably would have preferred they just stand in superwoman poses for that section. I know it's just meant to be a quirky little moment...but with the Mels doing the most rigorous choreography of the whole show, I'd rather the other two not do anything distracting. I just imagine the audience thinking..."Wow, the Mels are on fire-wait...uh...are Geri and Emma sipping tea right now...?...no, really...are they...sipping tea?..." I've got no idea how the tea idea came about...but my guess is someone at rehearsals said..."and what will Geri and Emma do during the dance break?" "Oh, we'll just have a spot of tea!" *everyone laughs* And then it somehow made it into the show.

I definitely don't know enough about Telstar to say exactly how many people share the blame for its collapse. Their Wikipedia page mostly blames Victoria. I do think it seems plausible that Victoria would be largely responsible. She'd recorded two full albums worth of unreleased material...and was perhaps even heading toward a third collection of songs starting with My Love Is For Real. All of these (30 or so?) songs were done with big name collaborators. Furthermore, the Damon Dash tracks that did get a release sampled famous songs...namely This Groove and Resentment...(and, I think, That Dude samples something too). I don't know all the workings of a record company, but I'm assuming this was all getting expensive for them...without an actual album on the market. I'm not trying to be overly negative on her. I firmly believe VB's unreleased Open Your Eyes material is the best stuff she ever did. I think her unreleased Come Together material is the worst she did, but we'll focus on the positive. All I know is 2003 must have been wild for Telstar. Here's Victoria...back with reliable collaborator, Richard Stannard. They've developed a new sound for the album. There's great dance tracks...beautiful ballads. She's never sounded better. And then she trashes it all, wants to start over, and shows up with It's That Simple one day and wants to send THAT to radio.

So. About this. It's been nearly 20 years since all of this happened, so it's possible my memory is rusty...but I really don't remember the press noticing that Victoria had perhaps recorded a song admitting the David affair. It's possible the timing was just off for that. I believe that song quietly landed on the Real Beckhams DVD early in 2004...and it was later...in that spring that the Rebecca Loos story emerged. The affair allegedly happened in 2003, so it's possible Victoria had channeled her emotions into that song. Granted, Victoria did not write that track...but it did seem the lyrics were somewhat tailored to her. The Jazmine Sullivan version of the song is nearly identical lyrically...but it doesn't have the "mistress" and "rolling with you for five years" lyrics. I think the Beckhams always denied the Rebecca Loos story, so you'd think the press could have had a field day with that song. I do remember Victoria getting criticism for releasing the songs on a DVD...and some articles claiming that the release was a retreat from putting out a traditional release. But my guess is none of those writers actually listened to the songs. Perhaps for the best. While I think Resentment is excellent and actually single-worthy...That Dude and Valentine's Day should have never seen the light of day.

^ Last thought on this. Beyond V recording a TON of songs with known producers who would have fees, I've wondered to what extent Damon Dash's use of song samples could have spelled trouble for Telstar. A lot of those tracks he did for her use famous song samples...and two of those samples (the Beatles' Come Together and George Michael's Freedom) are from HUGE tracks.

Thanks for sharing this. Watched the whole thing. It starts on an overly negative note by initially dismissing Victoria's unreleased music...but as the video progressed, I think it's a lot more fair about what was good and bad in that material. What I've never understood with V's second album era is why there was such a hard-lined divide between the pop album material and the Damon Dash material. Why did she and her team believe they could only go in one direction or the other? Frankly, the fanbase itself often confuses which songs are from which sessions. I mean, yeah, Be With You is clearly straight from the pop album and It's That Simple is clearly straight from hell...but the better material, I think, slots together well enough. To me, the obvious thing to do would be to take the best of the Damon Dash material (This Groove, Resentment, So Cold)...pair it with the best pop album material (Should Have Known Better, Be With You, Full Stop, Flow, I'd Give It All Away, etc.)...add My Love Is For Real and boom. You'd have an album that not only towers over V's debut...but, I'd argue, would probably be the second best solo Spice album of the 2000-2010 decade behind Emma's Free Me. Given that Emma was a few years ahead of the curve with Free Me's sound, V's potential album might have been the most commercial solo Spice album of that decade. Now. Would it have gone that way? Would she have used her best stuff? There was enough bad material recorded that it could have been a disaster. Victoria is an intelligent person...which makes It's That Simple all the more baffling. Beyond that, Damon Dash tracks like That Dude and Take You There sound designed to use her voice in the most unflattering way possible. But then, Victoria always seemed to have a fascination with American music producers...which maybe clouded her judgement?

What's somewhat interesting is if I'd heard there'd be a Sam Smith/Madonna collab just a few years ago...I'd be expecting a very different song. But in 2023? As soon as I heard they'd be working together, I knew exactly what this would be. It's like I could just hear the chaos in my mind...and now that it's here...it brings no surprises. I don't find it offensive or anything. It's just...M used to be so good at pushing the envelope while also crafting a brilliant song. Now? Any sense of art is just gone. It's just...predictably crude. Nothing more. For me, this is easily her worst single in her 40+ year career. You're off the hook now, Hey You. I won't even try to understand how this song has seven writers...including true titans of the music industry. But. Whatever. Look, M brought the world a mountain of amazing music. Literally nothing she brings out now will make me less of a fan of all her great albums of the past...try as she might. I'm unlikely to ever totally give up on the prospect of her doing something great again. She was too good for too long for that. So. Onward, M. There's still that Max Martin stuff to look forward to. Hey, it can only go up...

My general feeling with their solo career single picks is that while I would make a few modifications, they generally *DID* release the one song on each album with the most commercial potential. To me, the major exceptions to this would be Victoria with I Wish (for the VB album) and Geri with Love Never Loved Me (for the Passion album). So. I guess my take is that they were hampered a lot more by their overlapping solo Spice album eras...than they were the actual single choices. But all that said, I do agree with a lot of the same picks that Mr. X and Spiceboy have made. I won't go through everything, but here's a few thoughts: Spice Girls - Forever 1. Goodbye 2. Holler 3. If You Wanna Have Some Fun/Oxygen I basically like Let Love Lead the Way, but I'd limit it to two ballads to represent the album as singles...and I just think Oxygen is stronger. It's also a fairly unique group ballad, I think...with it managing to be autobiographical from four different perspectives...even working in Victoria's child and Mel B's marital troubles. Melanie C - Northern Star 1. Go! 2. Northern Star 3. Never Be The Same Again 4. I Turn To You 5. Closer Either Go! or Gaga for the first single. I lean Go! just because William Orbit was such a hot producer at the time...and Gaga'd already been heard on a movie soundtrack. Melanie C - The Sea 1. Think About It 2. Stupid Game I feel like no one ever talks about Stupid Game, and I *love* that song. It's easily in my top ten Melanie C songs. I do think Think About It was her best shot at a hit on that album...and when that failed, nothing else was going to break through either. But I'd consider Stupid Game her second best bet. Melanie B - LA State of Mind 1. In Too Deep I mean. Nothing on this album was going to set the charts on fire...but to me, this song came the closest to being a mainstream pop track...and with a different production, could have *maybe* had some minor hit potential? Personally, I think it's far better than Today...which I find a bit meandering.

Based on the 1999 recordings, I feel the original plan for Forever would have given us an album similar to Britney Spears' 2001 Britney album. There's a mix of edgier material (Slave 4 U, Boys) and the pop she was more identified with (Anticipating). I think Britney shares something with Madonna and Janet Jackson...in that each of them handled the four albums after their breakthroughs extremely well. They all had a sort of gradual musical evolution. They got edgier over time, but it always felt natural. I think that careful evolution plays a big role in why the three of them outlasted a lot of their contemporaries who were just as talented. My guess is the Spices were faced with something of a conundrum. Based on what we've heard from leaks so far, Holler was the single strongest track they'd recorded for the project...and while all the other 1999 material gelled together well enough, Holler was an outlier. It's the clear choice for an album launcher...but none of the other 1999 material really carries its vibe. Hence...why they felt the need for the 2000 recordings. That's my guess anyway. The 2000 material is a mixed bag for me. I flat out don't like Time Goes By. The new Right Back At Ya is "fine", but it's clearly not as good as the pop version. I like Get Down With Me and Wasting My Time...but my opinions on them aren't as strong as most of this forum. I'd include them on the album but not release them as singles. Tell Me Why is the one I'm most conflicted about. I do think it's a good song...deserving of a single even. But. I don't know. Geri'd up and left them in the middle of a tour and caused them legal troubles. The rest of the girls had every right to feel salty about it. Buuut...if Goodbye is the group taking the high road, then Tell Me Why is the equivalent of the girls having a few too many drinks and saying "...but this is how we really feel." I don't love them singing about another woman's hopes and dreams not reaching their potential or whatever. I guess I just feel...it's a good song...but it's off brand for the Spice Girls.

The girls definitely took a break at probably the most inconvenient time in pop. I don't know if it was the same way everywhere in the world...but in the US, 1999 just felt like a major shift in pop music. Maybe the most dramatic shift in pop music all at once that I've seen. Britney, BSB, and NSYNC ascended to a whole other level of fame here...and they got a bigger media push in the US than I remember the Spices ever getting. Those three acts dominated...but a ton of similar acts also suddenly emerged. The Max Martin sound (or something that sounded a lot like it) was everywhere. While it would have been nice to get Forever in November of 1999, I do wonder if the girls even being absent for the first half of the year would have made it impossible for them to catch up. I remember thinking the Spices and Hanson (who'd dominated 1997...and whose popularity had carried through 1998) seemed like practically ancient history by mid-1999.

Think back to 1997/first half of 1998. What were your expectations of each of the girls' solo careers? Were your expectations anywhere close to what they ended up doing? Geri/Victoria - Honestly, I never expected solo albums out of them. It's not that I didn't like their voices. In fact, both of them often have my favorite parts of Spice songs. But with the way they were used in the group...I just didn't see either of them carrying an entire album. So. Both their solo ventures exceeded my expectations by miles. Out of Your Mind was probably the biggest surprise for me as I didn't expect Victoria to do anything that bold. As for Geri...I do have a bizarre memory. As a kid, the only song I pictured her singing was Fame (the one from the film/TV series of the same name). That was a truly odd thought as...the song is wrong for Geri, actually...and as it turned out, Geri would use the Fame film as a basis for the It's Raining Men video. Also. The first line of that song is "baby, *Look At Me*". Anyway. Hardly a premonition. But still weird. Mel C - In the early days, the uniqueness of Mel's voice kinda reminded me of Alanis Morissette...so I guessed Mel's solo output could be a little similar to Alanis' Jagged Little Pill album. So, when we first heard Gaga from Mel...I kinda figured that was, indeed, what we were getting. Now, I couldn't have guessed just how varied Mel's debut album (and career in general) would turn out to be. I do think moments of Mel's career have a slight kinship to Alanis. Goin Down doesn't sound like You Outta Know...but both are revenge songs that shed a previously more pop-y image. I'd also say Mel's Why has a similar vibe to Alanis' Uninvited. Mel B - I was kinda expecting something close to the lighter/most commercial songs by TLC. Mel could sing low and raspy like T Boz...and Mel could also rap and sing ballads. She just seemed like...one woman TLC to me? She carried some traits of all that group's members. I wasn't completely off. Hot has some of the same collaborators TLC used. I Want You Back sounds edgier than what I was expecting...but I'd also say that I loved Mel's first four singles, and they all surpassed my expectations (even if the album itself didn't) Emma - I was expecting very young sounding pop. A World Without You and the A Girl Like Me album track are very in line with what I was expecting. I figured her stuff would be good, but there's a maturity to the best of her work that I didn't expect. I didn't predict the more adult contemporary stuff like What Took You So Long...or that she'd create something as artful as the Free Me album.

Super random observation...but it appears they were referring to 2 Become 1 as "Two Become One" on this early version of the cassette.

Thanks for sharing this, Jay! I agree with all of you. I'm just glad to see her up and performing...in whatever way we can get that. I think this is by far her best appearance in this Masked Singer franchise. I think she was genuinely trying to stump the judges in the other performances...and she ended up being dull by hiding all the characteristics of her performance style. Here, she lets that natural charisma shine through. For me, this kinda continues a trend going for 20+ years in her solo endeavors where her material isn't 100% right for her voice...but she pulls this one off well enough. Oh. I don't speak the language, so I'm curious. Were the judges told this was one of the Spice Girls? It seems odd to me they'd just independently come up with Mel B, Geri, and Emma as their guesses.

There actually would have been a little precedence for the Spices going by their nicknames as solo artists...and that precedence is TLC. They released some solo stuff as "T-Boz" and as "Lisa Left Eye Lopes". It made some business sense. In the US in the late 90s, if I started talking about Rozonda Thomas and Tionne Watkins, no one would know who I was referring to. T-Boz and Chilli, though...they would. The Spice Girls had a similar situation in the US where they were far better known as their nicknames in the 90s. The inherent problem I see is unlike "T-Boz" and "Left Eye", the Spices' nicknames were somewhat limiting. How much of the girls' debut solo albums reflected their nicknames? I think you could say Victoria's was somewhat Posh Spice...and Geri's was somewhat Ginger Spice (though she quite obviously wasn't going to use that). But the others? I guess A World Without You/A Girl Like Me are a bit Baby Spice...and I Want You Back/Step Inside are a bit Scary Spice...but their albums as a whole were more reflective of their full character. For me, releasing What Took You So Long under the name Baby Spice seems...off. Releasing Goin Down under the name Sporty Spice seems...even more off.

This is my perception too...but it is an interesting thought. How would Feels Like Sex have fared as a lead single? My general thought is the Spice Girls had a basic level of edginess that was expected/accepted by their fanbase. It was a level that included the outfits of the Say You'll Be There video, the safe sex lyrics of 2 Become 1, Geri's parade of pink underwear men at the Brits, etc. The very few times they went edgier than that...I don't think it really paid off for them. I'm specifically referring to Mel C's Goin Down and Mel B's original Word Up video and Hot album. Granted, I say that while knowing the Hot album's biggest problem was releasing so close to Forever. But I also don't believe the parental advisory sticker exactly helped sell copies. Some of the girls were pulling from Madonna's playbook, but my guess is the fanbases were a bit different...and controversy didn't equal sales for the girls with quite the same effectiveness it often did for Madonna. It's not that I think Feels Like Sex is really all that edgy. But a song with that title was going to draw a lot of attention. Tabloids would have been clutching their pearls. Would it have translated to sales? We'll never really know, but I *think* it would have made the lower end of the top 10 like Scream and Calling did. Another question. What would a video for this song look like...?

Yeah, definitely those two. It took me years to warm up to Here It Comes Again...so at the time, I thought On The Horizon was getting things back on track for Mel. Admittedly, I wanted Emma to release High On Love or Better Be Careful for her next single. But. Geri'd had a big hit with a Latin-tinged single...and Mel C had a big hit with a remixed single...so...We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight seemed like a good release to me at the time. I also remember the fanbase being pretty enthusiastic about Not Such An Innocent Girl before the release...and (perhaps the most significant change in fan perception that I remember) Calling. There were A LOT of fans claiming that song was Geri's best single leading up to the release. After the release, seemingly no one was saying that anymore. I wouldn't say we were never critical of a release. I think we always knew If That Were Me and Lullaby were mistakes...largely because both Mels had such better songs to choose from. Anyway. Getting back to Geri and Passion. I don't feel the fans dislike Ride It today, per se. But I do wish it were generally better regarded. Fans seemed to really, really like it when the clip first got out there.

Right. Even though I firmly believe Love Never Loved Me is Geri's best solo song, I do wonder what its reputation would be today if it were the song that tanked on the charts instead of Desire. It's been so many years that I think some things get forgotten...but a large part of Desire's problem was the total media blackout. I remember it actually doing well enough in video plays on various pop sites...but completely lacking radio support was going to sink any song...especially in that era. Also. Let's not forget that fans were given the choice between Love Never Loved Me and Desire as the next single...and Desire got the vote. The general public may not have known about the vote, but the hardcore fans certainly did. Now. Granted, to my memory, what we heard of both songs were earlier demo versions...and Love Never Loved Me didn't sound to the full perfection that the final version would be. I remember still preferring Love Never Loved Me...but also, I wasn't mad that Desire got the vote. I liked both. And Desire's one of the *many* solo Spice songs that I remember the fanbase liking a whole lot better before the chart position came out. But. Anyway. A media blackout happened because people just found Geri so outrageously annoying because she rode a horse down a city street or something. Everything she did for promotion seems so quaint and non-offensive to me...especially when stacked next to antics of certain reality show star/social media-clout-chasing celebs of today.

This story has kinda faded into obscurity over time...but does anybody else remember Girls Aloud doing some interviews, offering Geri to tour with them? This would have been just after she cancelled her tour amidst the low ticket sales story, I think. What I don't remember is how serious Girls Aloud were about it. It may have been as simple as some off-handed remarks..."oh, she'd be welcome to tour with us" or something. Anyway. Let's say for the sake of argument, they were serious. Would that have been a good idea? I'm sure it would have been a blow to Geri's ego...having had a very impressive chart run at one point...and then not being able to headline a tour a few years later. But. I don't know. I know a lot of people would find this to be a horrendous idea, but I think maybe a two-act tour would have genuinely helped Passion and given Geri a little more longevity? I'm sure Geri would have essentially been the opening act, but billing it as co-headliners would perhaps make it go over better. There does exist a connection there with Geri having played a certain role in the creation of the group. Maybe Girls Aloud could have come out to perform a Spice Girls medley with Geri? I do realize this arrangement's very lopsided. Geri would have significantly more to gain from it than GA.

I've always been of two minds about that. I do really like the song. It's definitely good enough to be one of their singles (it's Elton John, after all). But. I lean toward preferring it not being a single just because it's an outlier in a few ways. The girls didn't have a hand in writing it, for one. Then there's the subject matter. I like that they weren't particularly materialistic in their music. Pop stars have definitely been flaunting their wealth in songs for the past two decades...dropping name brands...and sometimes literally telling broke people to stay home. You can find a small handful of materialistic references in the Spices' work...(Victoria briefly mentions a dude's car model in I Wish), but by and large, that's not what they were about in their music...group or solo. So. For me, the lyrics of My Strongest Suit are a bit antithetical to who they are...and especially to who Mel C is (who took the bulk of the solo lines). Because I am two minds on it...I guess you could also argue that the girls could make it quite clear the song's not supposed to be taken 100% seriously...just like Madonna did with Material Girl. And within the context of the AIDA show/soundtrack, the song does make sense. It also would have been nice for people to hear a more substantial collab between the girls/Elton...something better than Elton's blink-and-miss-it cameo in SpiceWorld or their six-person duet (?) of Don't Go Breakin My Heart.

I was always a bit puzzled by the If That Were Me release just because I view it as easily the weakest song on Northern Star. I don't doubt Mel's sincerity on the subject. Geri's If Only even talks about she and Mel's care for people living without homes. It's just that the song has some genuinely clunky lyrics (that irked me even as a kid)...and doesn't have the punch of most of the other tracks on the album. I actually think she had several songs that didn't make the album cut that are far better than If That Were Me (namely Follow Me), but if the subject was that important to Mel, I get why she'd want it on her record. Probably what was most irksome was Mel barely promoting Holler (Forever's best new track with major hit potential) to spend her time pushing If That Were Me (Northern Star's worst track that's lucky to have managed #18). What would I have released instead as a fifth single? I think it would have to be a double a-side. What the four previous releases did extremely well was show different sides of Mel as an artist. So. Maybe Closer/Go! as the final single? I don't know if I'd release them as stand-alone singles, but Be The One and Suddenly Monday do have something of a classic feel to me...and they might have made for nice promo videos or something.

I could say Goin Down wasn't right for the first single because it's not indicative of the whole album...but then, really, no one song on Norther Star is indicative of the whole album. I've always liked Goin Down. Liked it then. Like it now. But I wouldn't have released it as a single. To me, it's one of the songs on the album (like Why, Suddenly Monday, and Be The One) that are really effective at setting a mood and showing another side of Mel's character...but they're best as album tracks. What should she have led with? If it hadn't already appeared on the Big Daddy soundtrack, Gaga probably would have been my choice. Radio friendly...but also establishes Mel as an artist separate from the Spice Girls. It's a less dynamic statement than Goin Down...but I also think it's the better, more substantial song. But then, the fans had known the song for months because of the Big Daddy soundtrack...and I get the importance of releasing something fresh. I think Go! also had more commercial potential than Goin Down. Also. People seem to rarely talk about this song...but in some alternate universe where the slickly produced, Bend It Like Beckham soundtrack cut of Independence Day already existed in 1999...I think that would have been a pretty perfect debut single. The version we DID have in 1999 might not have made that big of a splash...but my feeling was always that Bend It Like Beckham version had hit written all over it.

I will say this, though. For all the flack the girls got for their ads, I actually do prefer how they did it to how some music icons handled ads before them. Move Over (and to a lesser extent, Power of 5) sound pretty good when stacked up next to, say...Paula Abdul's Diet Coke song from a few years earlier. Then there's Madonna's Pepsi commercial set to Like A Prayer. It wouldn't have aired much...because it was yanked down over the controversy of the song's real video. But. Still. It's super weird now watching a video with one of M's signature songs have PEPSI PEPSI PEPSI flashed through it. Worst of all to me is Michael Jackson...who changed the lyrics of classics Billie Jean and Bad to be literally ABOUT Pepsi. Woof. Granted, those songs would have been new when the ads were created...and not yet viewed as some of the most recognizable pop songs ever. But. Wow, do those adapted lyrics seem weird now.

Saw them in July 1998. Nashville. They would have recorded Goodbye at a local studio during this same stop. I remember quite a bit about it, really. Ate at Planet Hollywood that day...and they were playing a "Spice Girls at Planet Hollywood" video on the screens. My guess is that was probably part of their video loop that summer...and not just playing because of the show that night. But. Anyway. I was young and dumb enough to ask a parent to take me to the big fancy hotel in town and ask the front desk if the girls were staying there. "No, but you might check the Motel 6." Rude. It was an amphitheater. Got the black tour shirt with the girls' faces projected onto buildings. Before the show they played a couple music videos...namely 5ive's When The Lights Go Out and Natalie Imbruglia's Torn (incidentally, those were the only major hits each act had in the US). They also played a super short version of the Aprilia ad...some murky footage of the girls set to Spice Up Your Life. You could barely tell if Geri was in the footage or not. In the US, the Spice Girls were far more famous as a complete unit than as individuals...so I don't remember the crowd being especially phased by Geri's absence. Keeping in mind, the Union Jack dress and patting of Prince Charles' butt were bigger cultural moments in the UK...so...I don't think Geri was viewed as quite as essential in the US. It was my first major show, so I didn't realize that it was outside the norm for a main act to take an intermission...and also feature a sign language interpreter on the screen. I haven't been to a show since that has done either of those things. Of course, the show was fab. Favorite moments? The If U Can't Dance opening was EPIC in the amphitheater. Always loved that band's live take on Say You'll Be There, and it sounded really damn good live. Sisters with the Mels was great. In terms of pacing, it honestly was an excellently created show.