Saturday, July 11, 1998

Spice heats up fans

Girl power sends Montreal into frenzy during Canuck tour kickoff

"Spice. The final frontier."

The commanding voice boomed across the vast Molson Centre as an image of galaxy projected itself upon what appeared to be a giant version of the Ten Commandments tablets. And the crowd, numbering 14,500, screamed the scream that only a massive gathering of 13-year-old girls can produce.

Then an image of a Spiceship (get it?) appeared, in a scene ripped out of the opening shot of Star Wars, sailing through the galaxy like a comet sent to destroy all life on this planet. And the screams got louder.

Then the voice said, "They will boldly go where no woman has gone before."

And the screams reached levels that tormented dogs across La Belle Province.

The tablet things finally pulled apart and, looking every bit like the four horsewomen of the apocalypse, the Spice Girls appeared. And my eardrums burst.

Dressed to the nines, in the first of a never ending stream of costumes, the girls immediately broke into If You Can't Dance, a fine, but forgettable dance number.

They follow up with hits like Stop, 2 Become 1 and a Baby Spice solo take on the Supreme's hit, Where Will Our Love Go. The singing and choreography were fine, but that was not the point.

The Spice Boy dancers, in matching outfits, were not the point. Even the sign language man, who occupied a small circle in the corner of the giant screens and in between signing all the deep profound lyrics, he boogied down, was not the point.

The point was fun. After all, that's what the Spice Girls are about. It is something that cynical music reviewers, like myself, can't really grasp. It's not about the music and it never was. The Spice Girls have created a universe of fun that small girls and boys (and the occasional big ones) can enjoy, free of all worries simply by repeating mantras such as Girl Power and zig-a-zig-ah!

Throughout the day, the girls of Montreal recreated that universe on the streets of the city. Spice Girl sightings were rampant throughout the day, although most consisted of smaller version of the Spice Bunch. Ten-year-olds with make-up painted onto their tiny faces dressed as their favorite Spice Girl -- wearing khaki power suits, baby-doll dresses with pig-tails or Fila sports gear and fake arm tattoos drawn with Crayola markers.

They lined up early to buy Spice paraphernalia like shirts, posters, $20 programs, necklaces, rings and lollipops. You name it and you could buy it. And people did.

"Only the Spice Girls could bring such an unnatural weather phenomenon," said Meagan Gagnon, 18, as a brief torrential downpour degenerated into hail.

Gagnon and her three friends (all from Ottawa and between 16 and 18 years of age) were a bundle of energy, still on an adrenaline high after almost meeting the Spice Girls. Tipped off by a security guard, they witnessed two Spices entering the Molson Centre through the garage.

"I don't want to say this," said Gagnon, looking genuinely pained, "but they're kinda bitchy. They didn't even acknowledge our existence." Of course, she quickly dismissed any grudge by flatly stating: "It was still really cool."

Gagnon and company are on a quest. They call it the Ultimate Spice Girls Score ("contact is the name of the game") and made sure to write in their Spice diary about how they made "semi-contact" yesterday afternoon.

The girls are pretty ambivalent about the recent departure of Ginger Spice.

"I think its going to be better now," said Victoria Dekergommeaux, 16, as she hopped around like she had recently ingested way too much sugar. "Even tough she was, like, 40, they'll be more mature now that she's gone."

As the girls ignored me and argued among themselves about the contradiction between "Girl Power" and the Spice Girls decidedly, um, skimpy mode of dress, the rest of the mingling crowd of two hundred or so fans began singing the song Stop as television cameras pointed their way.

Three 14-year-old girls from Montreal had better luck meeting their heroines. Domenica Torie, Jennifer Romeo and Lisa Triestino discovered that the Spice Girls were staying at the Vogue hotel and saw Baby and Sporty, both of whom said hello and let them take photos.

The only thing that threatened to dim these girls' smiles was their lack of tickets.

"We're hoping to get them from scalpers for cheap, after the show starts."

Another miniature Spice girl, Ivana Faucher, 9, looked kind of dazed as the ever increasing crowds continued to gather. Faucher, who's father was in the process of buying tickets from a scalper, is on vacation from Nanaimo, B.C. When asked why she likes the Spice Girls, Faucher timidly responded: "Um, I like their music."

She looked positively giddy at the possibility of seeing her favorite Spice, Baby. She confided that if she gets into the concert: "It will be the best part of my holiday."

But not all the members of the throng were female. Allen Pilon, 18, held aloft an enigmatic sign that read "Emma is my cure" and had a photo of Baby Spice.

Pilon explained that he tried to give blood the other day and was refused for having a pulse rate that was too high. He claimed to have thought about Baby Spice for a few moments and when his pulse was checked again, it had slowed. Pilon was able to possibly save lives, thanks to the Spice Girls.

In the Spice universe, Girl Power will heal all who pray at their altar. Hallelujah.

Set List