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But members of Vancouver's 54-40 don't seem particularly worried that while the all-Canadian (Seattle-based Case excepted) gathering is underway at Historic Fort York, 16,000 pre-teens will be in Spice bliss down at the waterfront.
"There's probably a bit of conflict of interest for some people, but not everybody got to get Spice Girl tickets -- it was a tough thing," said 54-40 lead singer Neil Osborne yesterday at the SkyDome Hotel.
Osborne should know. He's taking his two girls, aged seven and nine -- "prime Spice Girl age," to the Spice Girls' Vancouver show on Aug. 11 in GM Place.
"It was the hardest work I've ever done," he said. "But I had to do it. I mean I'm looking forward to it. I just want to see the kids go nuts -- I'm more interested in that -- the screaming. I tell ya, when my kids have friends over and they put on the Spice Girls, they know all the words, they know all the dance steps from the videos. It's just incredible. It's a cultural phenomenon. So I want to see this on a mass scale and get totally blown away."
Along those lines, 54-40 drumer Matt Johnson says it's not just the pre-teens who are Spice-mad.
"I think there's this kind of curiosity factor and mild interest from people our age too. If you're selling that many records, you're not only selling to kids. There are friends of ours who are obviously secretly buying them."
Along with playing the Stardust picnic on Saturday and Sunday -- plenty of tickets are still available -- 54-40 performed at a record release party last night at The Court-house Chamber Lounge on Adelaide St. in support of their excellent new album, Since When.
Meanwhile, MuchMusic says Spice fans should tune in today at 5:30 p.m. for details about a special phone line for people to win tickets to the Girls' Intimate And Interactive on Sunday.