The Spice Girls have confirmed that they’re reuniting for a six-date UK tour next summer, following months of relentless speculation – but they won’t be joined by their bandmate Victoria Beckham.
Mel B, Emma Bunton, Geri Horner and Mel C took to their official Twitter and Facebook accounts to announce the highly anticipated roadshow, which is set to kick off in Manchester on June 1.
In a new minute-long video unveiled on Monday afternoon, the stars are seen playfully bickering about their outfit choices as they sit in four separate studios in newsroom-style locations across the globe.
When five become four: (L-R) Geri Horner, Mel C, Emma Bunton and Mel B have finally announced that they’re reuniting for a six-date UK tour next summer. But they’ll be hitting the road without their bandmate Victoria Beckham
While Mel B and Emma were seen looking glamorous in dark gowns, Geri is seen in a shimmering blue dress, while Mel C plays up to her Sporty Spice persona in a midnight blue Adidas tracksuit.
In a statement, the stars said: ‘We are beyond excited to be reuniting next year for a stadium tour! Bringing girl power and our message of friendship and love back to the stage feels more relevant than ever. We hope everyone can join us for one big Spice Girls party!’
The tour will see the chart-topping Wannabe singers reunite for the first time since closing out the London 2012 Olympics in show-stopping style.
Give us what we want! Regardless of not being involved, Victoria Beckham is said to still be set to make a profit from the reunion, given that she owns an equal stake in the Spice Girls brand
She said: ‘[We’ve known for] like five, six months now, it’s all, the wheels are in motion, tickets go on sale on Friday. Pressure is on now, hopefully you’re going to buy some tickets’
In sharing her own statement on the reunion, Emma said: ‘It’s time to spice things up all over again!!!!! I can’t wait to perform to our forever supporting fans and a whole new spice generation! Love you all!’
Echoing that sentiment, Mel B stated: “I’ve said it sooo many times I’m beside myself it’s actually happening yipppeeee. I’m now properly screaming it from every rooftop – me and my girls will see you all on stage!!’
‘Reminiscing with the girls about how much fun we had, made me feel like it was the right time to do it all over again!’ Mel C said.
Meanwhile, Geri, who quit the group back in 1998, gushed: ‘I am so excited, together we celebrate girl power with our fans and the next generation and everyone is welcome! Hold tight it’s gonna be fun xx.’
And while Victoria won’t be a part of the lineup hitting the road, she still took time out to release a statement on the exciting announcement.
‘Being in the Spice Girls was a hugely important part of my life and I wish my girls so much love and fun as they go back on tour,’ said the mother-of-four. ‘I know they will put on an amazing show and the fantastic fans past and present are going to have a wonderful time!’
And while they showcase their many hits from yesteryear, they’ll be joined by one of today’s chart-toppers, as Jess Glynne has been announced as their guest on the tour.
Their announcement came just hours after Mel B spoke out on Loose Women just hours before an official announcement was due to be made on Monday.
Asked if they are heading back on tour, she said: ‘Yeah we are. Very exciting. [We’ve known for] like five, six months now, it’s all, the wheels are in motion, tickets go on sale on Friday. Pressure is on now, hopefully you’re going to buy some tickets.’
Victoria has opted not to join the tour but Mel is still hopeful she’ll make an appearance on the tour at some point.
She said: ‘It’s just the four of us, but she might join us at some point. I hope so. I think it would be a shame if she didn’t.
‘I don’t know why [she said no]. She’s got a full on life with her commitments and the fashion line and her kids so she’s not committing just yet. I’m hoping it’ll change.’
Ruth brought up Mel’s Halloween outfit, in which she dressed as Victoria, in a thinly-veiled nod to the situation.
Wearing a mask of Victoria’s face and a little black dress, Mel brandished an axe which had, ‘No I am not going on tour,’ written on it.
A friend, dressed as Victoria’s footballer husband David, waved around a sign that read: ‘Please please please do it for the Spice fans!’
Mel said: ‘I think she found it a bit funny, and probably hated me at the same time. We have a love/hate relationship.’
The Wannabe hitmakers went on hiatus in 2000 and reunited in 2007, but their world tour was cut short and a number of proposed legs were axed.
And Mel, who wore a sequin mini by Forever Unique, has now admitted she was the one who pulled the plug on the tour because of difficulties in her marriage to now ex-husband Stephen Belafonte.
She said: ‘I wasn’t in a very good space with my marriage and I didn’t feel I could go on any more, living in this fake world with my marriage, so I said I can’t go on.
‘I don’t think anyone knows that publicly but I don’t mind taking the blame, it was my fault so I was determined to get us back together and I’m still determined it will be five at one point.’
She added: ‘100% yeah for sure [the door is open for Victoria].’
Honest: Pictured with her ex husband in 2016, Mel said: ‘I wasn’t in a very good space with my marriage and I didn’t feel I could go on any more, living in this fake world with my marriage, so I said I can’t go on’
Though the group will unveil UK tour dates in a few hours time, Mel admitted they are hoping to take the shows global.
Asked if they’ll go outside of the UK, she said: ‘We are. I’m in trouble again. I didn’t like to say that, but we’ll go everywhere else in the world, but right now it’s just in the UK.’
While the Viva Forever singer is confident the tour will be well-received, she admitted some of her bandmates were more cautious.
She said: ‘We did have this conversation and a few of us were like “Is it gonna sell?” I’ve got an inflated ego and I was like “of course it’s gonna sell”.’
The Wannabe hitmakers unveiled dates for an upcoming stadium tour but Victoria Beckham, 44, won’t be getting involved.
Instead, Geri Horner, 46, Mel C, 44, Emma Bunton, 42, and Mel B, 43, will go ahead without her, but Posh will still make millions of pounds from the venture.
Emma wasn’t giving too much away on her Heart radio show earlier on Monday.
She said: ‘It’s so exciting. Everything will be announced just after three o’clock today on social media.
‘You can go to @spicegirls but don’t look at me anymore, because I might just blurt it all out.’
Last time: The group last toured together in 2007/2008, pictured at a show in Toronto
‘After 3 o’clock today you will find out everything. I just want it out there. It will be brilliant.’
A source previously told The Sun: ‘Girl power is back! This is the biggest music comeback of the decade and tickets are expected to sell like hot cakes when they go on sale at the weekend!’
It’s also reported that the four involved Spice Girls – known affectionately as Baby, Scary, Sporty and Ginger Spice – will shoot an interview for The Jonathan Ross Show on Wednesday, set to air on ITV at the weekend.
Meanwhile, former Boyzone singer Ronan Keating as chimed in on the possibility of Victoria skipping the reunion, insisting that she doesn’t ‘need’ to be a part of it.
Speaking on his Magic Breakfast show on Monday morning, the 41-year-old said: ‘It will be great to see the girls back together. I have to say, it’s a shame Victoria isn’t coming back.
Iconic: Since splitting, the five women behind iconic songs such as Wannabe and Spice Up Your Life, have all gone on to successful business ventures
‘It’s like Brian [McFadden] not coming back to Westlife, it’s like Robbie [Williams] not coming back to Take That. It’d be nice. But I get why everyone would want to do their own thing.
‘Victoria’s a huge name now on her own, she doesn’t need it. So that’s why she’s not doing it. We need Victoria to be in the Spice Girls, because when you go to see them, you want to see them all – that’s the thing.’
Talking to his co-host Harriet Scott on the show, he explained how he bumped into Mel and Victoria at the Global Gift Gala at the weekend, but wasn’t aware of the reunion at the time, so only spoke to Victoria about ‘dresses’ – ‘[because that’s what you talk to Victoria about’.
The Spice Girls reunion tour will supposedly take place in summer 2019.
Simon Fuller – the band’s original manager, before they sacked him at the height of their fame in 1997 – was seen congregating with the girls at the meeting in February.
Victoria – who has forged a career as a fashion designer in the years since the band called it a day in 2008 – was in fact the first of the singers to post a group shot of the girls’ reunion in February, to her Instagram.
Spice Girls 3.0: This will mark the second major comeback for the group, the last one taking place 11 years ago
She followed it up with another shot, this time with Simon in the frame, thanking him for their get together and captioning it ‘exciting’.
Since this, fans have been waiting all year for further news, with whisperings developing about a potential Greatest Hits album, TV show and tour.
The reunion will be the first time the Spice Girls have performed since 2012, when all five of them sung out the Olympic Games in London.
They joined forces again later that year to launch the Jennifer Saunders-written musical, Viva Forever, based on their music.
This was a short-lived endeavor, failing to win over audiences in the West End.
Prior to 2012, they had stormed stages across the world during their 2007/2008 Return Of The Spice Girls tour, which saw Geri return to the band for the first time since she quit in 1998.
Mel B, Mel C, Victoria and Emma had carried on without her, releasing a third studio album as a four-piece in 2000, titled Forever.
This was, to date, their final album of new music together, releasing standalone track Headlines (Friendship Never Ends) in 2007 and recording bonus track Voodoo on their Greatest Hits album that same year.
Despite the gathering the girls enjoyed in February, Victoria has always insisted she won’t be part of another tour.
‘I’m not going on tour,’ she told Vogue earlier this year. ‘What does that look like in the future? It’s not me in a catsuit.’
In contrast, Mel B is wildly enthusiastically about her old costumes, having built a shrine in her bedroom to honour her Spice Girls days.
Anticipated: Official imagery, alongside the video, is expected to be released, amid expectations they will spark a huge flurry of activity across social media
The tour is believed to be put together by Modest Management, the brains behind One Direction, and the group’s original manager Simon.
The Spice Girls shot to fame in 1996 with their hit song Wannabe, which went on to top charts in 37 countries. Since splitting, the five women behind iconic songs such as Stop and Spice Up Your Life, have all gone on to successful business ventures.
Meanwhile, the band’s former publicist, Nicki Chapman told Monday’s This Morning that ‘the time is right’, teasing Victoria Beckham may join in the future.
She said: ‘I think the time is right, they’ve always wanted to do it again. But it’s got to be right for everybody.
‘And again, with Victoria, it seems with her business, the family, perhaps it isn’t quite right on timing. But she is always going to be a Spice Girl.
‘And I would say “never say never” for the future for her as well being involved.’
Nicki later added: ‘And also, let’s not forget, Spice Girls the movie [Spice World], I’m sure there’ll be a film that Simon’s [Simon Fuller] talking about in the foreseeable future as well. It’s going to be the start of something very exciting.’
Bitter Spice? Mel B was seen over the Halloween weekend, dressed up as Victoria, in a thinly-veiled nod to the situation and she said she and Victoria have a love/hate relationship
Last month, Mel B appeared on The Late Late Show With James Corden where she once again claimed the girl group will go on tour.
The America’s Got Talent judge said on the US late-night talk show it’s ‘100 percent happening’.
She went on to reveal to that three other band members are ‘for sure’ joining her back on stage.
‘I couldn’t leave all my Spice Girls clothing in a box,’ she said. ‘It sounds real self-involved, but I’m actually real proud of what us five girls accomplished.
‘So I’ve got it in my bedroom in the corner. When my friends come over we play dress up.’
Four again: Mel B, Mel C, Victoria and Emma had carried on without Geri, releasing a third studio album as a four-piece in 2000, titled Forever