Collecting Sheffield gig tickets for the SMA site is great fun, but even we were surprised when this turned up on the web recently. It is fairly clear that The Spice Girls were not targeted at us (though Simon has admitted to owning a full set of the Walker’s Crisps Spice Girls Ltd edition packets!), so you will forgive us for not knowing that Sporty Spice did her first solo concert at The Leadmill here in Sheffield!

The circumstances are fairly straightforward. Mel was planning to launch a solo career with a headliner on the main stage at the V Festival in 1999 (along with James Brown, Massive Attack and the Manic Street Preachers). The Spice Girls were still officially together but clearly someone was getting ready to move on. And as is often the case, a low-key warm-up show was deemed a good idea to hone the show. Casting around for a small trendy venue, she suggested The Leadmill. Which says all you need to know about how popular the place then was.

Amazingly they made it happen. Tickets were available, price a tenner, but only to over 14s! It was a 90s star studded evening too, with the rest of The Spice Girls and David Beckham attending. Mel didn’t have any releases to promote at the time, so much of the material was new, though she did apparently include a cover of Anarchy In The UK!

Which just leaves us to ask, did you go? Have you any photos or recollections you can share with us? We have only found one snap off the web.