Alive and kickin'

What's the secret of the Spice Girls' staying power?

It's a Spiceworld, as the saying goes, and the rest of us just buy into it.

The Spice Girls (currently -- as even the MIR cosmonauts must be aware -- a lighter, less filling four-pack) will be performing tonight in Montreal, as part of their on-going North American invasion, er, tour.

But the real mystery, and the reason for the the Spice Girls immense pop-cultural significance, is how they've managed to not fade away.

Try and and explain the phenomenon, go ahead I dare you. It simply can't be done. Unlike other bubble-pop bands (New Kids on the Block, Bananarama, Menudo, etc.), the Spice Girls refuse to die.

The traditional life span of such teeny-bopper fodder is approximately one year. Just enough time to sell a gazillion albums, toys, lollipops, lunchboxes, yada, yada, yada. Then the backlash kicks in and it's buh-bye.

But the Spice Girls, through sheer marketing brilliance, haven't gone away. When the backlash kicked in (around the time the Spiceworld album was released last year) the media immediately wrote them off as just another scantily-clad musical footnote.

But the girls rode out the negative press by turning to self-deprecation. They told jokes about themselves on Jay Leno (Sporty: "What do you call a Spice Girl with two brain cells? Pregnant."). They released a damn funny movie (also called Spiceworld) that featured credibility building cameos from the likes of Bob Geldof, Elvis Costello and Elton John.

Then, as fast as you can say wham, bam, thank you ma'am, the backlash was over, the movie made money and both albums soared back into the Billboard Top Ten.

But tragedy struck once again, as front pages around the globe splashed the news of the departure of my favorite Spice, Ginger --now reduced to her pre-nom de Spice, Geri Halliwell -- just before their first North American tour was to begin.

"Sadly, I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls. This is because of differences between us. I'm sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best ... ," said Halliwell in an official press statement that signed off with the intriguing post script: "I'll be back."

This, cried the cynics, will finally bring the Spice rack crashing to the ground. But it was not to be. The tour, which had sold out nearly every date within minutes, kicked off in Miami on June 15. And again the critics were stunned.

Britain's The Daily Telegraph reported that the girls exhibited "a cool professionalism that would put the most ruthless hitman to shame" and that Ginger Spice "has been so quickly and efficiently expunged from the show one might almost accuse her former comrades of a kind of pop Stalinism."

Of course, most Spice fans don't know who Stalin is. In fact, they are probably on the verge of forgetting who Ginger is.

They're just pre-teen girls who really, really, really wanna groove to the slick tunes, dig the sexy outfits and hear someone say "girl power." Is that so wrong?

The concerts -- which feature no opening act but plenty of costume changes -- last around two hours. Fans can expect well-rehearsed choreography, a fancy light show, a giant video screen and all the big hits -- from Wannabe and Mama to Spice Up Your Life and that great Pepsi song, Move Over.

And for those of you unable to get tickets for the Montreal show tonight, the Spice Girls will be doing a live MuchMusic special this Sunday.

I guess it really is a Spiceworld after all.