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Old Spice, ancient Take That
By Valentine Low, Evening Standard 16.11.07It is as if the 21st century had never happened. Here are the Spice Girls performing in front of a star-studded audience for the first time in seven years while a few thousand miles away, the reformed Take That kick off the British leg of their hit tour.
Suddenly it is 1996 all over again - except with better frocks (and the odd bit of cosmetic surgery).
The Spice Girls - average age 32 years, eight months - were on stage at the Victoria's Secret lingerie fashion show in Los Angeles. Kitted out in military-style outfits the girls performed their hit Stop as models such as Heidi Klum wearing rather less paraded up and down the catwalk.
Judging by the applause, the audience - including Enrique Iglesias, Eva Longoria, Hilary and Haylie Duff, Hayden Panettiere, Slash and Jason Statham - loved it, and if anyone noticed that the girls seemed to be lipsyncing they were too polite to mention it.
"They were fantastic," said one fan. "It's like they've never been away and they all look simply stunning."
Did the girls enjoy themselves? "It's very emotional to be back on stage together, it evokes a lot of memories," said 31-year-old Emma Bunton - which she probably meant in a good way, but you never know.
The Spice Girls had Hollywood: Take That - average age 37 years, four months - had Birmingham. It was their first UK date after spending a few weeks touring Europe, and as they went on stage at the NEC Mark Owen told the 14,000-strong audience: "It's good to be back on home soil."
Like the Spice Girls, they were surrounded by scantily-clad sexy young things a good decade younger than them.
Howard Donald, now 39, managed some energetic dancing, which was something of an achievement given that he was admitted to hospital in Austria a month ago with a chest injury after hurting himself on stage. It caused him to pull out of a European performance.
He told the crowd: "I am going to partake in the dancing. I'm going to see how it holds out. I think it will be OK. The doctor said it should be OK."
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