Spicing up for a comeback?

Can it really be true? Will we soon see the Spice Girls on stage, reunited - Mel C doing backflips, Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell holding hands for a final bow? It has emerged that the 'girls' (all are now pushing 30, making the description a bit generous) are considering two giant farewell concerts, one in the UK and one in America.

The concerts would kick-start the sales of a Greatest Hits album, and experts reckon that each of them could walk away with £5 million - possibly even more, if they could bring themselves to do a concert tour of, say, 12 or 15 dates.

The reunion concerts would close the book on an era when the meaning of the slogan 'Girl Power' was earnestly debated, and when Posh Spice was genuinely thought to be posh.

Back then, before everyone had realised that it was just a manufactured philosophy for a manufactured band, Posh was not the most famous woman in Britain - but merely the slightly podgy girl at the back with bad skin and a rather weak voice. She was considered far less interesting than Scary, who could dance and sing; or Geri, with her Jessica Rabbit figure and loud mouth.

Along with Baby and Sporty, they were all genuinely stars. We saw them falling out of nightclubs, watched them make a film, learned how they all loved their dear old mums. They seemed such a breeze, such a breath of fresh air.

How things change in a bare seven years. It seems like a lifetime ago that their every move was so engrossing.

So what are the chances of a Spice Reunion? The truth is that plans, however nebulous, for a comeback have brought to a head once again the fault lines which made being in the Famous Five such a headache in the first place.

Each girl, as we shall see, has her own reasons for wanting a reunion; and each has her own ideas about how it might come about. Even though they netted around £20 million apiece from the Spice Girls adventure over four years, the money is enough to tempt one of them, Mel B.

The others are more interested in 'finishing off' the group with a bang. Geri, naturally, seems to regard the idea as possibly therapeutic. The problem is that after a much-publicised break with Geri, and a less publicised break with each other, the five Spice Girls are poles apart.

Their experiences since leaving the band have been wildly different. Mel B has weathered a disastrous marriage, been dropped by her record company and is beavering around for roles in D-list movies.

Emma Bunton has rekindled her cosy relationship with Svengali Simon Fuller, the man who taught her how to read a restaurant menu and which forks to use. As her manager, he may be the only force standing between her and pop oblivion.

Victoria's social triumphs and professional travails are well documented - but she has yet to achieve her heart's desire: a No 1 record.

Mel C and Geri have both suffered from eating disorders and both needed therapy for depression.

It is not surprising, then, that the girls who were the best of friends as teenagers should now find that they have very little in common.

The dynamics of the band were always tricky, with Geri and Mel B apparently vying for control. Mel's ex-husband has even insinuated that the pair of them had a lesbian affair and then fell out.

Whatever the truth of that scurrilous allegation, relations between the five were hardly ever plain sailing - and that has not changed. These days, Victoria, 28, does not get on with Melanie Chisholm, 29. The two have unfinished business from an old argument, and, in any case, could hardly be more opposite in personality.

Where Victoria is domineering and opinionated, Melanie is insecure and resents being bossed around. Melanie has no respect at all for Victoria's pretensions to musical ability, either. She says, somewhat cuttingly, that she's not heard any of the music Victoria has made.

'The atmosphere between them is pretty cool,' said a source. 'Cool as in freezing cold, not cool as in easy-going.'

Victoria's camp, rather bitchily, suspect that Mel C is jealous of her glamour, wealth and happy marriage. It is hard to imagine them ever getting on again.

Melanie Brown, meanwhile, is jealous of Geri Halliwell, since the pair have both settled in Los Angeles and are trying to make it as actresses. Leeds-born Mel B, 28, was enraged this spring when Geri landed a hatful of invitations to post-Oscar parties, including the Vanity Fair party, while she had none.

And while Geri has landed a cameo in Sex And The City and several successful TV parts, next to nothing has come Mel B's way.

Mel B also cannot stand Simon Fuller, who could justifiably be described as the sixth member of the band. He is now managing two of the five and has designs on masterminding the farewell

Fuller, apparently, feels that since he started the group, he should be pulling the strings - and raking in commission - when it all ends.

But Mel B says that she won't do it if Fuller is involved. She wants to arrange the tour and the lucrative merchandising to go with it. 'There's going to be a Greatest Hits, but Simon will have no part of it,' she insists.

She fears being 'ripped off', and has yet to get over her resentment about the way that he exploited them in the early years - believing that his strategy of agreeing to every endorsement and marketing deal left them over-exposed, and thus liable to burn- out more quickly.

So Emma, now 27, is stuck playing the peacemaker between her old flame Fuller (when the original affair between the two was discovered, it led to his sacking by the others in November 1997) and her erstwhile bandmates. She is also supporting Melanie B, who is the keenest of all for a reunion.

It was Emma who suggested the get-together in the first place. She argued that if they didn't meet now, they would never be able to do so, and would always be haunted by the unresolved arguments from the end of Spice.

Her view is entirely opposed by Melanie C, who says that she can't think of anything she would like to do less than go back to being a Spice Girl. 'I'd either kill myself, or kill them,' she said.

And what could possibly be in it for Victoria? She is trying to reinvent-herself as a rap star, so any reminder of the cheesy Spice Girls days would surely be anathema.

However, one who has worked closely with her since the end of the band contends that she is attracted to the idea.

'She is really enjoying the drama of the will-they/won't-they,' he said. 'She loves to be written about, and the idea of proving that she can fill a stadium is really appealing because she still doesn't feel validated as a pop star, and if she gets all the adulation and the media attention, then no one will be able to dispute that.'

Added to this bewildering mix of conflicting loyalties and conditions, no one, meanwhile, knows quite what to make of Geri. She has said she would like to do it, but those close to her say they don't believe that this is the case any longer. 'She really doesn't need to do it. She has had four solo No 1 hits, so she doesn't need the money.'

But Mel B could do with the money. She has had an expensive divorce from dancer Jimmy Gulzar, reputedly paying him £620,000 and her lawyers £300,000, and is now selling her £2.5 million mansion in Buckinghamshire.

The idea of a reunion was floated in February this year in the lavish surroundings of the Beckhams' home. It seemed only natural, now that Victoria's celebrity so far outweighs everyone else's, that the band should gravitate to her place.

The five sat down in Victoria's kitchen, drank wine, and rather nervously began to get reacquainted. It was the first time they had all been together since Geri left the band four-and-a-half years previously.

'It was all very emotional,' said a source. 'Geri went over problems which they had had, and they all apologised to Geri for not giving her enough support through her eating disorders.'

Geri said she was very sorry for not supporting Victoria when an untrue story about David and a lap dancer was printed in a Sunday newspaper, and that she should have called Victoria to see if she was all right.

When it was Emma's turn to say her piece, she made an emotional speech, telling the others: 'Look, we're all victims here. People have been stirring up problems and making things difficult between us.

'But we're like sisters - we've got to stick together.' She proposed a 'group hug', and there were more tears.

As the evening wore on, the girls became more relaxed, and even sang and danced to their debut No 1 hit, Wannabe.

Since then, Mel C and Geri have spent time together at George Michael's home in Los Angeles, but there hasn't been any more face-to-face contact. They have, however, stayed in touch by telephone, and ideas about a reunion are periodically kicked around.

Mel C is becoming less negative about the idea since the flop of her last single, On The Horizon, and Emma remains positive. Victoria is interested in the idea, and Mel B is still the keenest of all. Only Geri is non-committal.

Rumours in the industry suggest there will be a tour - if not in 2004, then perhaps in 2005 or even 2006.

Simon Fuller's 19 management, who look after Victoria and Emma, have been informally lending their advice. A 19 spokesman said yesterday that talk of a reunion was premature, and that neither Victoria nor Emma had any time in their diaries for a tour this year.

The spokesman did, though, concede that the idea of a Greatest Hits album had been discussed.

One long-term associate of the group said this week that he was certain they would get together, despite all the hurdles. 'I'm confident that it will happen eventually,' he said. 'There is something in it for everyone.'

So these young women, no longer friends, miss the adulation and the money enough to think about enduring a comeback - and, incidentally, filling their former manager's pockets at the same time.

Funny, isn't it, what Girl Power means in the end.