"Five minutes, girls" said the production assistant. She had a walkie-takie in on had, and a clipboard in the other. They were backstage at the Point in Dublin, preparing for the first concert of the world tour. Outside the arena there were six thousand fans waiting for them.
The production assistant appeared again. "We're ready for you now."
The five of them stood together backstage behind the screen and began a little chant that had become part of the buildup. They would repeat over and over, "Tonights going to be great!" getting louder and louder.
The Music to "If You Can't Dance" was playing, slowly building up in volume, until the crowd was at a fever pitch. The screen in front of them consisted of two massive doors that slid back as though they were part of a spaceship.
The 5 of them stood in a lone. Mina was at the end, beside Raye, Lita B. was in the middle, then Serena, then Lita C. next to her.
Suddenluy, the voice of William Shatner filled the auditorium as he recited the opening lines to Star Trek. Only this time they had been rewritten with a Girl Power theme that had them voyaging "where no woman had been before."
The doors slowly opened and the crowd roared. What a rush! They held themseleves perfectly still, silently counting down 12 bars of eight. The timing had to be perfect.
They strutted down to the edge of the stage.
This was a totally different show from Istanbul. It had a space-age theme and loads of videographics and special effects. It had three costume changes in the first thirty minutes.
They ended the show with Mama and came back onstage to do an encore of "Viva Forver, Never Give Up" and "We Are Family."
Mina's voice began echoing through the arena: "Spice Girls, calling Spice Girls. Return to the mother ship."
There were loud booms from fireworks and the drums started beating. They all pretended to be pulled backward up the ramp as though being sucked into the mother ship. Playfully spinning around and sometimes crashing into one another, they dragged the final scene out, not wanting to leave. Then the doors slowly began sliding shut. It was over.
From Ireland, they flew by private jet to Switzerland from a concert in Zurich. From they moved on to Frankfurt. A coach met them at the airport and drove them to the hotel. Mina sat by herself with Raye in the seat opposite and Mel C. in front. Serena and Lita B. were sitting together. Light rain began falling a trickeled down the window.
The Girls had began talking about what they'd do after September. "First, I'm taking a long holiday," said Lita B.
"Me too," echoed Raye. She was flicking through music magazines.
"But we can't leave it too long," said Lita C. "We have to keep the ball rolling."
There were tentative plans to extend the world tour to Asia and Australia. On top of this, the two Litas had talked about each doing a solo project. There was no sugguestion of the group splitting up. They would simply do individual things and then come back together as the Spice Girls.
The rain had grown heavier. Mina watched the pedestrians huddled under umbrellas or dashing between shop doorways. A businessman held a briefcase above his head and dashed to a waiting taxi.
"I'm thining about not countining after September," Mina said. Staring out the window. The others suddenly stopped talking.
"What?"
"Well, I'm not sure. I'm just thinking...."
"Why? What are you going to do?" asked Lita C.
"I don't know. I just think September would be a nice place to finish. Don't you think? In front of our home crowd..."
She threw it out there but nobody reacted. The girls simply assumed that she was joking or having a bad hair day.
She said nothing more, but she now realized that none of the others had any thoughts of calling it quits after the world tour.
The production assistant appeared again. "We're ready for you now."
The five of them stood together backstage behind the screen and began a little chant that had become part of the buildup. They would repeat over and over, "Tonights going to be great!" getting louder and louder.
The Music to "If You Can't Dance" was playing, slowly building up in volume, until the crowd was at a fever pitch. The screen in front of them consisted of two massive doors that slid back as though they were part of a spaceship.
The 5 of them stood in a lone. Mina was at the end, beside Raye, Lita B. was in the middle, then Serena, then Lita C. next to her.
Suddenluy, the voice of William Shatner filled the auditorium as he recited the opening lines to Star Trek. Only this time they had been rewritten with a Girl Power theme that had them voyaging "where no woman had been before."
The doors slowly opened and the crowd roared. What a rush! They held themseleves perfectly still, silently counting down 12 bars of eight. The timing had to be perfect.
They strutted down to the edge of the stage.
This was a totally different show from Istanbul. It had a space-age theme and loads of videographics and special effects. It had three costume changes in the first thirty minutes.
They ended the show with Mama and came back onstage to do an encore of "Viva Forver, Never Give Up" and "We Are Family."
Mina's voice began echoing through the arena: "Spice Girls, calling Spice Girls. Return to the mother ship."
There were loud booms from fireworks and the drums started beating. They all pretended to be pulled backward up the ramp as though being sucked into the mother ship. Playfully spinning around and sometimes crashing into one another, they dragged the final scene out, not wanting to leave. Then the doors slowly began sliding shut. It was over.
From Ireland, they flew by private jet to Switzerland from a concert in Zurich. From they moved on to Frankfurt. A coach met them at the airport and drove them to the hotel. Mina sat by herself with Raye in the seat opposite and Mel C. in front. Serena and Lita B. were sitting together. Light rain began falling a trickeled down the window.
The Girls had began talking about what they'd do after September. "First, I'm taking a long holiday," said Lita B.
"Me too," echoed Raye. She was flicking through music magazines.
"But we can't leave it too long," said Lita C. "We have to keep the ball rolling."
There were tentative plans to extend the world tour to Asia and Australia. On top of this, the two Litas had talked about each doing a solo project. There was no sugguestion of the group splitting up. They would simply do individual things and then come back together as the Spice Girls.
The rain had grown heavier. Mina watched the pedestrians huddled under umbrellas or dashing between shop doorways. A businessman held a briefcase above his head and dashed to a waiting taxi.
"I'm thining about not countining after September," Mina said. Staring out the window. The others suddenly stopped talking.
"What?"
"Well, I'm not sure. I'm just thinking...."
"Why? What are you going to do?" asked Lita C.
"I don't know. I just think September would be a nice place to finish. Don't you think? In front of our home crowd..."
She threw it out there but nobody reacted. The girls simply assumed that she was joking or having a bad hair day.
She said nothing more, but she now realized that none of the others had any thoughts of calling it quits after the world tour.