Spice Girls: Geri Horner apologises for quitting group on final night of reunion tour

13th and final night of the reunion tour took place at Wembley Stadium

Roisin O'Connor
Music Correspondent
Sunday 16 June 2019 08:47 BST
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Spice Girls return to perform at Wembley Stadium 21 years later

Geri Horner has apologised for quitting the Spice Girls in 1998, as the band played the last date of their reunion tour.

Emotions ran high across the evening at Wembley Stadium, but particularly for Horner’s revelation that she was “just being a brat” and that it was “so good to be back with the girls that I love”.

Horner, aka Ginger Spice, said at the time that she was suffering from exhaustion and needed a break, before later pursuing a solo career.

Years later, in the documentary Giving You Everything, Horner explained that she felt like she “didn’t belong anymore”.

“They didn't need me anymore, really, and I definitely felt very redundant,” she said.

Click through the gallery to see our ranking of the 10 best Spice Girls songs

“I need to say something I should have said a long time ago,” Horner told fans and her bandmates at Wembley.

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left. I was just being a brat. It is so good to be back with the girls that I love.”

Geri's apology was made just before the group played “Goodbye”, the number one single that addressed her departure.

The Spice Girls brought their mothers and children onto the stage during the encore to serenade them with “Mama”, while Emma Bunton broke down in tears during “Viva Forever”.

“She's gone,” Mel C observed. “The Bunts has gone. We had a little wager on who'd cry first.”

“I've got an ugly cry, haven't I?” Emma said. “It's the last night. We're all very emotional.”

Reviews for the Spice Girls reunion have been mixed, during a tour that was plagued by sound issues for the first few nights and also by apparent tension between members onstage.

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Reviewing for The Independent, critic Holly Williams acknowledged the importance of the group to fans, including herself, but that friendship appeared to be “less glittering, more grimacing”.

“Before the tour, Melanie Brown caused a kerfuffle by saying she’d slept with Geri Horner, who described the revelation as ‘hurtful’,” the review said.

“The drama seems to have spilled onto the stage: Horner looks stiff and awkward, wandering off while the other three – who do still seem like best mates – laugh, cry, and hug it out. It’s knuckle-chewingly awkward at moments – and completely fascinating to gawp at.”

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