They say they'll be there

Fans of the Spice Girls ride a wave of '90s nostalgia to tonight's center in Washington

Stephanie Luddy was in middle school when the Spice Girls came to Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia.

So many of Luddy's friends went to the show, but money was tight, and she couldn't make it.

Not this time around.

Now, six years after disbanding, and one greatest hits album later, the Spice Girls are temporarily back together and triumphantly winding down their reunion tour. When they come to the Verizon Center in Washington tonight, Luddy will be there.

"It's a little silly, but it's fun," said Luddy, a 23-year-old middle-school math teacher. "I can remember all my little friends going and a couple of us not getting to go. I get to go now."

When Scary, Sporty, Baby, Ginger and Posh made their debut in the mid-'90s, they melted the hearts of pop-music lovers around the world.

Millions and millions of Spice Girls albums flew off shelves as American and European teenagers were swept up in Spice Mania. The craze, though intense, lasted only a few years.

But the release of Greatest Hits last year and the start of their tour (called The Return of the Spice Girls) reignited the craze and gave girl-power fans waves of nostalgia for years past.

Carrie Murphy, a 22-year-old nanny who lives in Towson, couldn't wait for the Spice Girls to announce a date in Washington. Instead, she and her sister Meghan bought two $100-plus tickets to the Newark, N.J., show Feb. 10. The show was everything she really, really wanted, Murphy said.

"I've never been to a concert that has exploding glitter and so many costume changes and lights," she said. "And the music sounded great. It sounded as good as it did when I was in sixth grade."

Murphy said the crowd at the Newark show was made up almost entirely of women and girls between the ages of 16 and 26. Each of the Spice Girls had their own song, and as a group, they sang all their hits.

"It didn't feel '90s, which I was a little scared of," she said. "It felt very modern."

Unlike the openly seductive and scandalous Britney Spears, the Spice Girls kept a fairly wholesome image throughout their musical careers.

"You don't see the Spice Girls doing crazy things," said Kelsey Publicover, a 15-year-old who lives in Crofton and plans on attending tonight's show.

"Britney's in rehab, but they all have families."

Tickets to tonight's show were among her Christmas presents, Kelsey said. She was a diehard fan since age 7, and dressed up as Baby Spice one Halloween. This will be her first concert.