Spice Girls announce tour for December, January

Spice Girls announce tour for December, January

LONDON -- The Spice Girls wannabe stars again.

Following a calculated publicity buildup, the original Girl Power group of the 1990s announced Thursday that they have agreed to reunite for 11 concerts around the world in December and January.

The shows will be their first concerts since breaking up in 2001, and the first with all five of the original group since Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell quit to pursue a solo career in 1998.

The group said shows would be in:
Los Angeles on Dec. 7;
Las Vegas on Dec. 8;
New York on Dec. 11;
London on Dec. 15;
Cologne, Germany, on Dec. 20;
Madrid, Spain, on Dec. 23;
Beijing on Jan. 10;
Hong Kong on Jan. 12;
Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 17;
Cape Town, South Africa, on Jan. 20;
and Buenos Aires, Argentina on Jan. 24.

Halliwell appeared with Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham, Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm, Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton and Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown to pose for photos and announce tour plans.

"We wanted to say thank you to our fans. It just feels very right for us," Chisholm said.

"Obviously it's nostalgic. But equally, if new fans want to come along, that's fantastic," Halliwell said. "I like to think our songs are universal and they are timeless."

The group's first single, "Wannabe," was released in 1996 and was followed by a string of No. 1 hits.

But their last album, "Forever," released in 2000 and without Halliwell, fared poorly.

You could now call them the Spice Mums. Beckham said the tour will be designed to accommodate the band members' seven children. Bunton is now pregnant with her first child.

"Our priority is going to be our families. We want to have fun," said Beckham, who has three sons with her husband, soccer star David Beckham. "That's one of the many reasons for this, for our children to see what we used to do."