Pop Buzz UK

The Spice Girls long awaited reunion (or is it goodbye) tour around the world kicked off in Vancouver, Canada last week, and was feted as a triumph, with very little going wrong.

But, it seems that it’s not all going so smoothly behind the scenes, with arguments and in fighting blighting the comeback tour so far.

The News Of the World’s Rav Singh was given exclusive access behind the scenes of the rehearsals in preparation for the tour, and reports all five of the girls were at each other’s throats in the build up to the record breaking concert run.

He reports the following as having taken place:

“Mel B shouted at Geri for mucking up the dance routine for Stop. She yelled: “You’ve got to keep it together, if you spent more attention on your routines then it would be right.”

“Posh had a pop at Mel B for dancing out of time to Spice Up Your Life. She snapped: “Next time we all have to stand in line and get it right.”

“The others rounded on Posh for spending too much time chatting with pals Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes when they turned up to watch rehearsals with baby Suri.”

There’s no surprises there really, as the attention, and expectation on the five girls must be incredible at this stage. Even though they are all older, and (potentially) wiser, you can’t pile stress on people and expect them not to clash with people close to them.

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The Spice Girls long awaited reunion concert at London’s 02 Arena has sold out in just 38 seconds. Over a million people signed up for the opportunity to buy tickets for the first of the English gigs and within a minute of the online ticket sale going live, they’d all been snapped up by over eager fans.

The 15 December gig at the 02 Arena sold out so quickly that 3 more London dates were promptly added to the legendary girl group’s World tour. The new concert dates are the 16th and 18th December as well as a later one of January 2nd 2008. Tickets for all of the English concerts cost between £55 and £75.

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The long awaited ‘Concert for Diana’ finally came to fruition on Sunday, and I have mixed feelings on the whole event. First off, the idea of it and the cause is excellent. To mark ten years since Princess Diana’s death, a concert featuring a mix of some of her favourite musicians and a new breed of stars vying to pay tribute to her is very fitting. But in my opinion there were some major problems with the whole thing.

For starters, some of the performers seemed weird choices. I can understand Elton John, Bryan Ferry, and The Feeling, but why were Pharrell Williams and Kanye West there? They just seemed slightly out of place, with their music a world away from what Diana stood for and was associated with.

Regardless of which bands and singers were on stage, the next thing to annoy me was the crowd. For 63,000 people, they really did produce a lacklustre display of singing, cheering and getting involved with the on stage performers. At one point, I thought half of the audience had fallen asleep, it was so quiet. If I’d have been there, I would have got in to the spirit of it, and had a bit of a party, although be it respectful. I think the problem was the crowd were of such diverse ages, with the people who seemed to get tickets being mostly “of an age“, to put it politely.
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The Spice Girls are back! The news that everyone has expected for months has finally been confirmed with the Spice Girls announcing a reformation for a huge world tour and Greatest Hits album.

The five’s reunion has been speculated since talks began for them to appear at the ‘Concert for Diana‘ happening this Sunday for the tenth anniversary of her death. The rumours have been rife ever since, and Geri, Mel B, Mel C, Victoria and Emma finally confirmed the tour this morning at a press conference in London.

The world tour will take place in December and January, starting in Los Angeles and ending in Buenos Aires. Here’s a full list of the cities and dates, although venues have yet to be announced…
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Those mainstays of 80s Indie rock and co-founders of the Madchester scene The Happy Mondays are back, with a brand new album and full UK tour. First, there’ll be playing two warm-up gigs, at Bristol Academy on April 20th and the Nottingham Rescue Rooms on the 21st, before going over to California to play the Coachella Festival on the 29th of this month.
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There’s soooo much going on over here in good ol’blighty that I would have had to spend all day and night keeping you up with it, so instead I’ve decided to put it into a nice friendly round up! So without further ado, what’s the latest news on British celebs, well known faces and stars? Read on to find out…

Chris Martin, known either as Coldplay frontman and talented songwriter or Gwyneth Paltrow’s husband is to record a new album and describes it as “genius“. After a two year absence following the glory of X&Y, the band are finally writing and recording again. I personally can’t wait to hear it. (more…)

This is the new video and single by new and upcoming British band ‘The Klaxons’. Called ‘Golden Skans’, it’s out now, having been released yesterday Monday 22nd January. The band from London are soon going to be very busy, with 1st album ‘Myths Of The Near Future’ out on the 29th January. From February, they will be headining the NME indie rave tour which completely sold out in a matter of days. (more…)

Princes Wills and Harry have announced plans to hold a memorial concert for their mum, the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

To mark the 10th anniversary of her death, plans are afoot to bring together a host of pop stars and celebs in a one off concert at the new Wembley stadium. The princes described the proposed choice of acts as musicians Diana loved and listened to in her life as well as some of the hottest names in pop today that both William and Harry like. (more…)

It’s happened. I can’t believe it but it’s true, Take That are back on top! Yes, 10 years after they initially split up, the former boy band and now man band are back in business and topping both the single and album charts in the UK. This is their 3rd week with the number 1 single ‘Patience’ and their first with the album ‘Beautiful World’. This new album has got rave reviews, and not just from the hardcore fans who have held on to the hope of a reunion since Robbie left all those years ago. (more…)

Almost 10 years after the death of his mother, George Michael is putting on a free concert for NHS nurses. When state carers were nursing his mother during her cancer battle in 1997, George vowed to one day repay them by throwing a free concert. He will fulfil that promise on December 20th by playing the 4,800 capacity Roundhouse in Camden, North London.

George says “The nurses that helped my family at that time were incredible people, and I realised just how undervalued these amazing people are.
And so I want to thank them with a Christmas concert, I can’t wait.”

The concert will be the last date on George’s sold out 25 live tour has already visited 49 venues across Europe. NHS nurses can apply for tickets through George Michael’s official website. (more…)