Entertainment

Geri Halliwell Crushed The 2000 Brit Awards

by Kristie Rohwedder

June 1, 2015

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

The year was 1998. It was a late spring day. I was perched in front of my family’s desktop computer. I'd been sharing Spice gossip with fellow fans in a Spice Girls chatroom, just as I would on any other afternoon. That's when it happened. That's when another fan in the chatroom wrote, "Ginger Spice quit." The rest of the chatroom erupted into chaos. Before we could call the fan a liar, the bearer of bad news said, "it was on CNN." This was no longer "any other afternoon." This was an afternoon I would remember forever. This was the afternoon I found out Geri Halliwell left the Spice Girls.

On May 31, 1998, the Spice formerly known as Ginger announced that she and the highest-selling female group of all time had parted ways. Though she was done with the pop quintet life, Halliwell and the music industry continued to kick it: A year after her departure from the group, she released her first solo album, Schizophonic. Ginger Spice’s post-Spice Girls career did not disappoint; with hits like “Look At Me”, “It’s Raining Men”, "Bag It Up", and “Scream If You Wanna Go Faster”, Halliwell quickly established herself as a formidable one-woman pop act.

At the 2000 Brit Awards, Halliwell performed disco jam “Bag It Up”. It remains one of my favorite things Ginger Spice has ever done. Flanked by an army of glitter-covered backup dancers, the stage show begins with Halliwell at the top of a grand staircase. A grand staircase that’s strategically positioned between a pair of giant inflatable legs, that is. And that is only the beginning.

This performance belongs on a Greatest Awards Show Moments list:

I know, right? Not only is it perfect, but it's incredibly GIF-able. Here are some GIFs from the "Bag It Up" Brit Awards performance that are worth adding to your repertoire:

When you want to make a grand entrance, but don't feel like standing up

This is your grand entrance, after all. You do what feels right. If you want to remain seated, do you. Let your adoring fans do the standing.

When you have to replace the battery your smoke detector

Ugh, where is my step stool? Will someone give me a boost? I just need to make that thing stop beeping!

When you're walking down the stairs while wearing flip flops

Rather than risk slipping down every last step (I can't be the only one who regularly loses her balance when walking down the stairs in flip flops, right?), go ahead and brace yourself. The banister/wall/line of hot shirtless dudes has your back.

When you see a bunch of screaming green parrots hanging out on the power lines next to your home.

If you live in Los Angeles, there's a good chance you've witnessed the wild green parrots that roam the skies. Thanks to their unmistakable, ear-shattering scream-squawk, they are practically impossible to miss. Obviously, I gawk at them every single time they post up outside my apartment.