page_title: The Return of the Spice Girls Tour
section_title: Controversy
hierarchical_section_title: The Return of the Spice Girls Tour / Controversy
caption_attribution_description: DSC_0500
context_page_description: The Return of the Spice Girls Tour was the third concert tour by the British girl group the Spice Girls. This tour marked the group's first tour since Christmas in Spiceworld in 1999 and the first as the original five-piece since May 1998, during the Spiceworld Tour. The tour is estimated to have grossed over US$70 million and produced $107.2 million in ticket sales and merchandising. The tour was the 8th highest-grossing concert tour of 2008. The 17-night sellout stand at London's The O2 Arena was the highest-grossing engagement of the year, taking in $33.8 million and drawing 256,647, winning the 2008 Billboard Touring Award for Top Boxscore.
context_section_description: In late 2007, a fake email was posted by Perez Hilton on his site saying the Spice Girls had cancelled the Buenos Aires date, causing an official statement to be released saying that Buenos Aires and the other world tour dates were being finalized. Due to the expansion of the British and American legs of the tour, it was finally announced on 1 February 2008 that the end of the tour would take place in Toronto, on 26 February 2008, meaning the dates in South America, Asia, Australia, and Africa were cancelled. Many media outlets reported that it was due to Melanie Chisholm and Melanie Brown leaving the group, but this was denied in an official thespicegirls.com video message. The band suffered fan backlash, with many fans creating Facebook hate groups speculating the official announcement was "indirect" and that "the Spice Girls and their management knew the dates were cancelled even before they added 16 dates at the O2, deciding to announce it near the end of the tour to minimize controversy."
caption: The group performing a remix of "Spice Up Your Life" at the Air Canada Centre, during the encore.
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