Spice Girls for sale: Despite the hype, concert is NOT a sell-out

Tickets to see the Spice Girls at the O2 were still available when they struck up their opening number on Monday night - despite the hype surrounding their sold-out first performance.

It seems Girl Power is on the wane as the group's second performance, on Sunday, was reported to be less than full and Monday's had plenty of seats available.

Saturday's show at the O2, the Spice Girls' first performance together in the UK for eight years, was boasted to have sold all 23,000 tickets in 38 seconds.

The girls, included Mel B who was spotted at Cipriani with husband Stephen Belafonte on Sunday night, then added 16 more dates because of the overwhelming enthusiasm.

But the initial rush on tickets was not all it seemed as the internet touts, who bought thousands, started selling them for less than a third of their face value.

And audience members at the venue on Sunday said it was noticeably empty, with one saying there were "a couple of hundred" spare seats. On Monday, seats were available on the O2 website.

An O2 spokesperson said: "I can't comment on what someone said about empty seats, but Sunday's show was sold out."

She added: "A handful of production seats are released from time to time, so there are a few seats available for tonight (Monday). There are also a couple of shows in January that aren't sold out yet."

The Spice Girls' performances have been praised by critics for the slickness of the choreography, though most agreed the singing has been lacklustre and the group's trademark energy had lessened since they first burst on the pop scene in 1996.