Pop Culture – The Ouchii Guy

*80% of the original Spice Girls in front of their now grown up audience at Wembley Stadium.*

I realized I better get blogging faster, as I just came back from Hawaii and will probably have to blog about that, and it has now been two months since my London trip.

Before I get into the Spice Girls show, let it be known that the Spice Girls are my favorite band ever, bar none. Music snobs, you can spare me your lectures about why you think the Spice Girls suck or they aren’t real artists, or that Destiny’s Child, the Pussycat Dolls, the Supremes, TLC, (or insert whatever girl group name here) is better.

The Spice Girls are the biggest girl group in history in recent memory – facts. You can’t argue with data. Supposedly the Andrews Sisters (who rose to fame int he 1920s) have recently reclaimed the title, but let’s look at it from this perspective: the Spice Girls were a huge moment in pop music in the late 90s, who together with the Backstreet Boys arguably opened the doors for the next big pop movement consisting of Britney Spears, N’Sync, Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore, 98 Degrees, so on and so forth. Collectively, they have sold more records than any of the above girl groups – more impressively, they sold the vast majority of those records in two short years with two albums.

So yeah, haters – the Spice Girls are kind of a big deal. They also don’t reunite very often. So when Ginger left in 1998, and the remaining four toured the United States, it was only a matter of time before the Spice bubble burst. As a 10 year old, my chances of seeing them were non-existent.

In 2007, Ginger (Geri Halliwell) decided to rejoin the girls, and after years of rifts finally got back on the same page and launched a massive reunion tour. Being 21 at the time, I was not about to miss out on that opportunity, and I saw them twice – once in San Jose and the other in Las Vegas.

After the tour was over, they did a few projects as a group to keep their legacy alive, most notably a failed Westend Musical created by the same woman who did Mamma Mia and a critically acclaimed performance at the London Olympics. But after 2012, it was more or less dead in Spice World – with the girls continuing their solo projects.

Cut to now. The girls decided to reunite – 25 years later since they started. Victoria decided to sit out of this tour, which I was fine with (she seems like she’s been mentally checked out of being a Spice Girl since 2012 anyway). As I mentioned in the previous blog entries for London, I convinced my cousins to go and we made a vacation out of it.

The Night of the Show:

We started the evening by quickly getting ready after some gallivanting through London. My three cousins, Jackie, Kriselle & Chrizia opted to wear custom girl power tanks that Chrizia had made by Piedmont High School in San Jose. I opted to wear a vintage tee from their last reunion tour, and my Spice World hoodie I had purchased prior to the show from their online store (a whopping 80 USD).

We took the tube, and started the walk to Wembley Stadium. We grabbed a quick meal, (I forget what the cuisine was, but I had steak. Freaking good!) and continued on our journey. Walking over, it was very clear there was a Spice Girls show everyone was en route to. Girls and guys alike were decked out in Spice Girls costumes – pig tails, pony tails, sports wear, leopard print, union jacks galore. Conservatively dressed folks (there’s a phrase I thought I’d never use to describe myself) opted for Spice Girls graphic tees.

*Famous Spice World Bus used for exterior shots in Spice World: The Movie (1997).*

Upon arrival at the stadium – it was insane to look back over my shoulder and see a literal army of tens of thousands of Spice Girls fans all walking in the same direction. I had completely forgotten that we had a mission to complete first, which was to find the original Spice Girls bus used in Spice World the movie. I couldn’t spot it on my own and I had to ask multiple stadium employees about its location. To my frustration, none of them knew what the hell I was talking about, which was so odd because it’s a damn double decker bus, plastered with the union jack all over it… it’s kind of hard to miss. After some investigative work, we were able to find it parked outside the stadium about half a block down – surrounded by Spice fans taking pictures of course. I found a nice gay couple to take my photo. 🙂

Once we actually got into the venue, it was packed. Jess Glynn opened for the girls – whom I actually like a lot. We unfortunately missed her entire portion though because we were desperate to get our Spice merch before they sold out of things. I may have gotten carried away. My cousin Jackie surprised us all by buying us Spice World drawstring bags (thanks Jack!) We also got VIP package merch that came with the tickets we bought.

*VIP merch that came with our ticket package plus everything else I bought.*

When we actually got to our seats, it all began to sink in that the girls were about to hit the stage! Once their dancers came out, I nearly lost my shit. Once the screens lit up and started teasing us with vintage photos and the opening bars to “Spice Up Your Life” started, the stadium roared. They went through all their major singles with little to no breaks. Mel B and Mel C in particular were in top form, physically and vocally. Emma held her own and Geri… was Geri (basically uncoordinated and confused as she’s always been – hey its part of her charm). The one thing missing from Geri was her loud personality – I suppose marriage has tamed her down. While I would have loved Victoria to be there, you quickly forgot she was missing within a few minutes.

*Up Close! We were in the closest tier of seats to the stage: “VIP – Say You’ll Be There” Package which included limited edition merch in the ticket price.*

Everything about the show was amazing. I want to say it was possibly even the best and biggest show they’ve ever done. It being a stadium tour versus arenas in itself says something about the magnitude of the show. Wembley Stadium specifically could house 90,000 people!

*The beautiful set that played heavily on 90s Spice Girls nostalgia. The Spice Girls dancers can be seen starting to work the crowd up.*

*An explosion of rainbow graffiti after “Who Do You Think You Are” is performed.*

The theme of the whole show played heavily into 90s nostalgia with bright colors on all the designs of their props, costumes and screen videos. Their costumes specifically played heavily into their Spice Girl personas and holistically looked bad ass. The girls took advantage of the show being open air and launched fireworks several times throughout the show in addition to smoke and confetti. The stage design featured the theme of a globe to remind us of the Spice World theme and featured a humongous ring to tie in the “Spice Ring” from their first album. The ring also had the ability to change designs and acted as another screen.

I also attached the video of the moment before their encore, where they each had a confessional to talk the audience about what being a Spice Girl means, and what we as fans meant to them. It was a moment where I wanted to bawl like a baby (pretty sure everyone felt the same way) as it encapsulated every possible thing I’ve ever felt about the band since I was a kid. I filmed the entire segment which can be viewed below.

Spice Girls Confessional Segment – One of the highlights of the show, hands down.

As the show went on, the sun began to set, and we were given little wristlets that would light up and sync to their music. That was also a nice touch. I could go through the entire set list and meticulously detail everything that had happened, but there is really no point. Instead, I compiled a highlight video from the footage I captured during the show which can be viewed below!

Spice Girls – SpiceWorld 2019 Tour, Wembley Stadium Highlights

When the Spice Girls (aka the biggest selling girl band of all time – true story) announced they were reforming as a 4 piece without Victoria Beckham to tour the UK, I initially was unsure if I wanted to attend. I had previously seen them with their complete line up as a 5 piece on their last reunion tour in 2007 – and that was obviously one of the best nights of my life as it fulfilled a fantasy that I never thought would happen (they had last toured the states as a 4 piece after Ginger Spice had departed in 1998 and I was only 10 years old at the time with no money).

As more details started leaking about what the tour would be and they released a teaser video, whatever doubt I had disappeared and I said to myself, “What the f*ck are you thinking? It’s the mother f*cking Spice Girls!” And so, like that, I decided I was going to fly my ass to London and see them perform at Wembley Stadium and hopefully some of my cousins who also grew up with them would come with. It didn’t take much convincing – they were down.

Cut to a few months later, it was finally time for the trip. We all flew in separately due to our busy schedules. I flew with Air Canada, stopping first in Montreal for a layover and then straight to London from there. The flight was something around 12 hours or so when combined. Long, for sure. I enjoyed the lounge at Montreal – it was cozy, but uncrowded and had great food! As anyone who knows me knows, I will gravitate toward Asian food 9/10 times, so the fact that they had an Asian noodle bar put me in a fantastic mood. Especially knowing that I was in for another 9 hour flight, and hate airline food.

Once I was back on the plane, I immediately took a sleeping pill (Unisom – HIGHLY recommended) and knocked out the entire flight. I’d wake up occasionally due to my butt falling asleep and not feeling comfortable but then would immediately fall back asleep. Next thing I knew, I was in London! The sleeping pill worked out perfectly, as the time difference was 8 hours ahead, so by the time I had arrived, it was almost as if I was already on their schedule because I had a solid 8 hours of sleep and landed at 11 AM ready to explore.

While going through customs it’s always customary to ask what the purpose of the trip was and when the nice British guy asked I responded with “the Spice Girls show!” and he quickly laughed and we had a nice moment. From there, it was fairly easy to find the trains to get to wherever you’d need to go. For me, I needed to get to Paddington station (yes, Paddington like the bear) and my cousin Chrizia gave me the tip to take the express train that would get me there in 20 minutes or less. The train was extremely clean, and smooth – comparable to Cal Train, but nicer and with a nice purple color scheme.

Once I got to the station, I found an exit and walked over to the hotel I’d be sharing with my three cousins who decided to go. The hotel was nothing fancy, it did what it needed to do and was cost efficient for us. My cousin, Chrizia took the lead and had called ahead to let them know I’d be arriving first to check in (She really is the best person to help you travel). The streets around the area were super nice and clean. I immediately felt like I was in a movie for whatever reason.

Upon arriving at the hotel, the clerk welcomed me in. She told me I wasn’t able to check in early, but she was expecting me and I could leave my luggage and come back. Check in was at 2. I was a little saddened by that because I was hoping I could rest for a bit until the remaining 3 arrived, but with no choice there wasn’t much I could do so I asked to use the bathroom first before I adventure off. She looked at me puzzled, and then I quickly realized that I would have to use all the British terminology that I learned from my years of obsessing over the Spice Girls. I corrected myself, and said “toilet” and she laughed and pointed me in the right direction. Once I finished doing my business, she surprised me by telling me she was able to get the room ready for me faster and the maid was just finishing up “hoovering” it. I was elated, and expressed my fondness for the clerk immediately.

After I dozed off, the three remaining cousins arrived shortly after. We all agreed that the first day would be mellow, and we’d relax and just walk around and eat. The girls decided they wanted Indian food and Chrizia was recommended a place called “Dishoom” – a popular Indian franchise in London.

We decided to go to the main location located just off the West End / Picadilly Center. We each got an Oyster card (the card required to get on and off the Tube) and thanks to my cousins were able to find our destination easily.

Full disclosure: I have no problem taking a back seat and letting others lead. I’m so used to having to take the steering wheel and over time I Iearned that it is 100% okay to be a passenger sometimes.

Dishoom Restaurant — *Dishoom, a popular upscale Indian fusion restaurant in London. Expect to wait up to 90 minutes during peak dinner hours!*

The wait was a good 90 minute wait, in the cold. They offered us tea while waiting in line, which I thought was nice – I don’t recall ever being offered tea while waiting to eat in the States.

When we were finally seated, I observed the restaurant had nice dim lighting and the pricing was a little high for smaller portions – so basically… nothing out of the ordinary for an upscale fusion restaurant. The food was tasty, and we all were hungry. The three cousins I traveled with are not unlike me in that we are all fit and workout regularly, but also love to eat. And boy, did we eat.

Because we are Asian, and the three all have sweet tooths, we made it a point to find a boba place. It was clear upon arriving in London that the UK is not unlike the US in that there is a vast array of food from all over the globe widely available. Thank god!

Once we returned back to the Columbus hotel, we got ready for bed and had some great conversation. We reminisced about our youth, as we always do. We talked about our spouses. We talked about old rifts and current ones. I made a comment talking about how I used to babysit them and how they learned a lot from me, but funny enough as adults, I find myself in awe of everything they’ve achieved and how much I am learning from them. It was a nice realization.

The next day I knew was going to be fantastic, because we were going to see the Spice Girls in the evening at Wembley Stadium – a venue with a max capacity of 90k, and the same venue that they last played when they were at the height of their fame in the late 90s. All we needed to do was get some rest first.

The Ouchii Guy

Artist. Ouchii. Certified Fitness Professional. Credentialed Public Educator. Friend to All.

Category: Pop Culture

London Day 2: Spice Girls Show

My Vacation in London: Part 1