Spice Girls in Toronto twice? Nice

Sun learns Brit pop tarts planning 2nd event

Mayor Mel Lastman's pleas to the Spice Girls may not have fallen on deaf ears.

Plans are in the works for the British pop tarts -- playing a sold-out show at Molson Amphitheatre on July 11 -- to take part in a second event in T.O. the next day, The Toronto Sun has learned.

"The girls want to make it up to Toronto," Bill Banham, Virgin Music Canada's vice-president and general manager, said last night.

It's still unconfirmed, Banham said, but "efforts are being made to do a special outdoor event" involving CHUM-FM and the city of Toronto the day after the Amphitheatre show, which sold out in minutes. "The girls would like to do something special because of what happened in Toronto back in January."

That would be Jan. 19, when the Spices -- who then numbered five, before Ginger quit -- were to attend an autograph-signing in downtown Toronto. The group cancelled when Sporty came down with food poisoning.

At the time, Lastman said he was "devastated" and felt hurt for all of Toronto's young fans. Since then, he said he has been working on finding a way to make it up to fans. When Ginger left the band in June, Lastman wrote a letter pleading with the band to "work things out" and urging Ginger to rejoin the group for Toronto's July 11 show.

Last night, Lastman said he couldn't comment on the July 12 event until Monday, when he will make an official announcement with CHUM and MuchMusic.

One rumor said it might be a free concert at Mel Lastman Square but Banham said: "They do not want to do a free concert, I will tell you that right now. It has to be something special, it has to be something where security is so prepared -- it has to be perfect ... If you tied something into a special event, which could be followed by a short performance, something might excite the band enough to do it."

Like maybe an Intimate And Interactive on MuchMusic? Banham wouldn't comment and MuchMusic isn't saying anything.

A press conference is set for Monday at the CHUM-FM studios on Yonge St.