Fans complain about first Spice Girls’ reunion concert despite ‘off the scale’ excitement

Dublin: Fans from near and far got what they really, really, really wanted on Friday night when the ultimate 1990s girl band, the Spice Girls, opened their long awaited reunion tour at last in Dublin.

"We have been fans for 20 years at least… but we have only been to see impersonators. This is our first time with the real live Spice Girls," said Erica Rozario, 32, from Toronto, in Baby Spice-esque pigtails and a Scary Spice leopard-skin top.

"Are we excited? We're off the scale!"

The Spice Girls, minus Posh Spice, warm up for their concert at Croke Park, Dublin.Credit:Instagram/Mel B

More than 70,000 people attended the group's first gig in seven years at Croke Park on Friday night, local time. It opened with fireworks and the hit song Spice Up Your Life.

But some fans said the sound was so bad they could barely hear the music. Some claimed they saw people leaving in droves.

Singer Melanie Brown, otherwise known as Mel B, thanked fans for attending the Dublin show in a video message on her Instagram story and promised to improve the sound.

"We will see you in Cardiff. And hopefully the vocals and the sound will be much, much better, pfft," she said.

Others said the concert was the one of the best shows they'd ever attended.

The British pop group, which shot to global fame telling you what they "really really want" in their bouncy debut single Wannabe in 1996, announced their reunion tour last year.

Brown (Scary Spice), Geri Horner (Ginger Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice) and Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) will play 13 dates over the next few weeks, starting with Dublin before performing in cities around Britain.

The fifth member, Victoria Beckham, now a successful fashion designer and part of a global celebrity family brand with soccer-player husband David, is not joining them but wished "good luck to the girls" on Instagram on Friday.

Most gigs, including the last three in London, are sold-out. Fans, many dressed in the girls' signature outfits, swarmed around Croke Park, Ireland's largest stadium.

"It's 21 years in the making. I saw them on TV in 1998 and cried because I couldn't go," said 32-year old fan Aisling Leahy. Her brother Emmet, 27, said he was devastated his "idol" Posh was not performing.

But Mandy Phelan, 23, who was walking to the stadium in a short Union Jack dress and orange platform boots, was less fussed: "We're not mad on Posh, to be honest. If they were missing Baby or Ginger that would be a problem," she said.

She added: "It'll be 90s nostalgic great."

The 13-date tour is the latest reunion for the band which broke up in 2000. They reunited for a tour in 2007-2008 and also performed at the closing ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics.

Earlier this week, Brown told fans she had suffered a health scare from inflamed eyes. Sharing a picture of a bandaged eye, she said she now had to get "a very cool Scary eye patch".

"I can't tell you how excited I am about getting this tour on the road!" Bunton wrote on Instagram on Thursday beside a picture of herself at Dublin's Croke Park stadium.

Reuters, The Sydney Morning Herald

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