Tuesday, April 10, 2001
Life after Spice
Melanie C sticks to her own material during solo show
By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun
MEL C
Guvernment, Toronto
Monday, April 9, 2001
TORONTO -- There was a Spice Girl in our midst last night.
Or was there?
Melanie C, aka Sporty Spice, the group member who has wavered the most on her status in the biggest musical export from England since the Beatles, put on her second solo show in Toronto at the Guvernment.
And her casual style -- a pink sleeveless T-shirt, jeans and runners -- stripped-down stage and lights, and no-nonsense five-piece band were about as far away from Spice Girls' flash as you could get.
But that didn't stop many very young girls -- accompanied by their parents -- from turning out for last night's performance, which was almost a carbon copy of the one Mel C delivered a year-and-a-half ago at the same club around the time her solo debut, Northern Star, was released.
One big difference is that she refused to trot out a Spice Girls song -- last time it was a rocked-up version of their huge hit Wannabe --and stuck to her own solo material, including some enticing dance remixes of Feel The Sun and I Turn To You, plus her duet with Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, When You're Gone.
Adams, of course was no where to be found so Mel C asked the healthy, if not sold-out, crowd: "Will you be my Bryan?"
The answer, naturally, was a resounding: "Yes!"
Particularly after Mel C went on about how much she liked our country.
"I have this thing for Canadians," she said.
To be fair, there was a lot more animation in her performance this time out, but despite some Flashdance-worthy moves, this girl is a singer, not a dancer.
In fact, when the Spice Girls were still a going concern, she was widely considered the only one with a decent set of pipes.
Other highlights included the uptempo pop songs Go and Ga Ga, and the pretty, poignant song about the homeless, If That Were Me.
Not so good was the ill-executed rocker, Goin' Down.
Hopefully, too, as Mel C continues her solo career -- work on her second solo album is scheduled to start next month -- she'll get a bit of style.
With her messy blond hair and tattooed arms, she looked more like a pool shark than an entertainer, so when it came time for her to emote during such slow songs as Northern Star, it was kind of hard to take her seriously.
Her lack of formality certainly didn't stop audience members, a few carrying placards and wearing "I Love Melanie C" headbands, from waving their arms over their heads in time to the song.
Spice love, it seems, is forever in some quarters.
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