Mel C.'s world tour hits Toronto

Virgin has announced that Mel C., the latest Spice Girl to dip her toe into the solo artist waters, is playing a lone Canadian date on her forthcoming tour.

Having wowed them at a warm-up gig in Sheffield on August 19, Mel (aka Melanie Chisholm, aka Sporty Spice) has apparently traded in the sugar-coated pop that rocketed her and company to stardom in exchange for a rockier, more credible indie sound. This has lead some to redub her 'Indie Spice'.

According to Dotmusic, the Sheffield gig even included Mel's cover version of the Sex Pistol classic 'Anarchy in the UK'. She apparently rewrote the song's opening line as "I am an anti-Christ/I am a Sporty Spice."

On her upcoming whirlwind 'Northern Star World Tour', which finds the on-hiatus Spice Girl in 11 countries in 30 days, Chisholm will play Toronto's mid-sized club Guvernment on Monday October 4. The last time Chisholm played Toronto was as a Spice Girl, July 11, 1998 at the Molson Amphitheatre. The capacity for that venue is roughly 18,000.

According to an unnamed Dotmusic source, at the 900 capacity Sheffield gig "[Mel] didn't speak until after the third song when she swore and shouted at the crowd to jump up and down. After that she really got into it and looked the part with her spiky hair and pink T-shirt with the words 'F*** me I'm famous' written on the front."

Chisholm is already beginning to build some critical acclaim. The Mirror's Mathew Wright has gone on record stating, "To my mind this is the best solo effort from a Spice Girl and I look forward to her album Northern Star ..."

Said David Dunn of the Star, "She dazzled a sticky venue crammed with 900 people ... and rocked, romped and roared her way through nearly an hour of guitar fueled rock."

Following the success of her Bryan Adams' duet 'When You're Gone', the world tour is in support of Mel's new Rick Ruben produced album 'Northern Star' (Virgin/EMI) - the first solo album from a still-active member of the Spice Girls.

The track listing for 'Northern Star', set for an October 19 release, is as follows: 'Goin' Down', 'Northern Star', 'I Turn To You', 'Never Be The Same Again', 'If That Were Me', 'Ga Ga', 'Suddenly Monday', 'Closer', 'Independence Day' and 'Wonder What It Would Be Like'.

The album's first single, the metallic tinged 'Goin' Down', is released in the UK on September 6.