Girl Power! Live in Istanbul

Girl Power! Live in Istanbul was a two-night concert by British girl group the Spice Girls. The concerts, which were organized by Pepsi as part of the group's sponsorship deal, were performed at the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey on 12 and 13 October 1997.

Girl Power! Live in Istanbul
Concert by Spice Girls
VHS release cover
VenueAbdi İpekçi Arena
Istanbul, Turkey
Associated albumSpice
Spiceworld
Date(s)12, 13 October 1997
Spice Girls concert chronology

Background

Prior to the concerts, the Spice Girls held a press conference in Istanbul on 31 May 1997 to promote their first live show, in association with Pepsi as its official sponsor. The show was split up into 5 parts with a costume change at each one. The stage consisted of a ramp leading down to the main stage. There were two staircases at the far right and left of the stage that led to smaller platform stages. There was a small runway at the center of the main stage. The band was located at the bottom right and left of the ramp. There was a grid with the letters S-P-I-C-E on the left of the stage. There was also a large screen at the back of the stage that would rise and lower. It was used at the start of show. The Girls would enter the stage as it rose. During an interview, the girls explained that the screen broke loose while rising right at the start of the show. The girls also revealed that the screen almost hit them.

Wardrobe

One of the most iconic elements to the shows were the outfits. The concert was split into five acts with outfit changes between acts. In act one, the Spice Girls wore different outfits. Victoria wore a silver play suit with platform heels, Mel B wore a cyberpunk print catsuit with boots, Emma wore a blue sparkling halter neck dress with matching thigh high socks with her signature Buffalo boots, Geri wore a sparkling red corset which had the phrase “Girl Power” printed on it with black shorts and red platform boots similar to the ones she wore at the 1997 Brit Awards, she also wore a red tiara, Mel C wore a multicoloured belly top and orange jogging bottoms with trainers.

In the second act, in which they perform the song “Naked”, the Spice Girls entered the stage with large silk sheets which they removed once they were seated on chairs to give the impression that they were totally naked. They were interestingly wearing skin coloured underwear.

In the third act, the Spice Girls friend to the stage wearing all gold outfits.

In the fourth act, the group wore different outfits again. Mel B wore a lime green print three piece which consisted of a short skirt, boob tube and a full length jacket, she also wore matching high heeled knee high boots. Mel C wore dark coloured trousers with a white halter neck top. Victoria wore a shiny bronze coloured strapless dress. Emma wore a sparkling dress similar to the one she wore in the first act, though this time the dress was baby blue. Geri wore a red two piece costume which was decorated with red jewels all over.

In the final act, the encore. The girls returned to the stage wearing silver overalls for “Move Over” which they then ripped off to reveal their final outfits. For “Wannabe” Mel B wore a multi coloured two piece outfit which consisted of a boob tube and long trousers. Emma wore a canary yellow baby doll dress with knee high white socks and platform trainers. Geri wore a Superman logo blue vest and black skirt with white platform trainers. Mel C a blue boob tube and the same orange trousers as in act one. Lastly, Victoria wore a dark strapless dress, similar to the one she had wore in the previous act, with black stiletto heels.

Hairstyles

Another iconic element to the concert’s outfits were the hair styles. Strands of Mel B’s Afro were dyed yellow, violet and red. Geri wore fire truck red hair extensions. Mel C wore her hair in a high ponytail which had been dyed with a strange of blue. Emma’s hair also contained extensions to make the pigtails longer with pink tips. Victoria also wore extensions to give her hair extra length to her waist.

During act four, Mel’s hairstyle changed slightly as her hair had been styled into two small buns. She removed the buns for the last act.

Broadcast
See also: Spice Girls filmography

In the UK, highlights from the concert were broadcast on ITV on 25 December 1997 under the title "Spice Up Your Christmas!". The Christmas Day broadcast included a Christmas message by the group.[1]

In the US, the full concert was first aired on January 17, 1998 at 9 p.m. (E.T.) on Showtime Channel in a pay-per-view event.[2] The broadcast was titled Spice Girls In Concert Wild!

The concert was aired again in the US on Fox Family Channel on Sunday, August 16, 1998 at 6:00 PM.[3] The broadcast was titled Spice Girls—Wild! in Concert[4] and featured trivia before and after commercials and backstage footage in addition to the set list. The show was two hours in length with advertisements and managed to receive a 1.8 Household rating when it aired despite being up against a four-hour Spice Girls MTV special and a different pay-per-view Spice Girls special airing the same weekend.[3] All songs from the set list except for "Naked" were aired during the broadcast.

Set list

Act 1:

  1. "If U Can't Dance"
  2. "Who Do You Think You Are" (Intro contains samples of "Diva" by Club 69)
  3. "Something Kinda Funny"
  4. "Saturday Night Divas"
  5. "Say You'll Be There"
  6. "Step to Me"

Act 2:

  1. "Naked" (Intro contains excerpts from the film Batman Forever)

Act 3:

  1. "2 Become 1"
  2. "Stop"
  3. "Too Much"

Act 4:

  1. "Spice Up Your Life"
  2. "Love Thing"
  3. "Mama"

Encore:

  1. "Move Over"
  2. "Wannabe"

Tour dates
Date City Country Venue
Europe
October 12, 1997 Istanbul Turkey Abdi İpekçi Arena
October 13, 1997

Video release

Following the concert, a VHS of the concert was released but did not include all of the songs on the set list, omitting "Something Kinda Funny", "Saturday Night Divas", "Stop", "Too Much", "Love Thing" and "Mama". The VHS, however, includes interviews with the girls and backstage footage. Although the original concert was completely live, studio vocals were dubbed into several songs for the video version of the performance.

A DVD of the concert was made available in the UK on December 10, 2007 to coincide with the release of the Greatest Hits album and their reunion Return of the Spice Girls tour. It features the "Girl Talk" documentary, a countdown to the concert, and the 9-song concert, as previously available on VHS.[5]

Personnel

Vocals

Band
  • Simon Ellis – Musical Director / Keyboards
  • Andy Gangadeen – Drums
  • Paul Gendler – Guitars
  • Fergus Gerrand – Percussion
  • Steve Lewinson – Bass guitar
  • Michael Martin – Keyboards

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
France (SNEP)[6] Diamond 100,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[7] 5× Platinum 250,000^
United States (RIAA)[8] Platinum 100,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References
  1. UK Christmas TV. ITV Christmas TV 1997. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  2. "News - Articles - 1434499". Mtv.com. 1997-12-03. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  3. Katz, Richard (August 19, 1998). "Fox Family debuts well". Variety.
  4. Sterngold, James (August 9, 1998). "COVER STORY; A Family Channel Welcomes Black Sheep". The New York Times. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  5. "Woolworths DVD sale page".
  6. "French video certifications – Spice Girls – Girls Talk" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  7. "British video certifications – Spice Girls – One Hour of Girl Power". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2016-07-26. Select videos in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type One Hour of Girl Power in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  8. "American video certifications – Spice Girls – Girl Power! Live in Istanbul". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2016-07-26. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Video Longform, then click SEARCH. 
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