Spice Girls would all like to play Glastonbury Festival next year, says Mel C

Mel C has confirmed that all of the Spice Girls would like to return to play Glastonbury Festival next year.

The singer made her proper Worthy Farm debut on Saturday night, performing solo material and some of her old group's hits at the Avalon Stage.

Asked if they would accept an offer to play the now traditional Sunday afternoon "legends" slot, she agreed.

"All of the Spice Girls would like to play Glasto, that is the truth," she told BBC Radio 6 Music's Matt Everitt.

"Like I said to the audience [on Saturday night], doing a couple of Spice Girls songs, 'a bit of a warm-up for next year?'

"They're rehearsed, they know the words, they're ready." she continued. "So, if I can drag the other girls along... I say 'drag' the other girls along - all of the Spice Girls would like to play Glasto, that is the truth.

"It's just getting it together, the timing being right."

She added: "And it's quite daunting, some of the girls haven't been up on stage for years.

"But I think it's, we call it [playing Glastonbury] the bucket list, because as an artist it really is the ultimate."

Sporty Spice, as she is otherwise known, appeared at Glastonbury last year as a DJ and also joined indie band Blossoms on stage for a rendition of Spice Up Your Life.

She last performed with her chart-topping group, known for hits like Wannabe and Stop, at Wembley Stadium in 2019 - which marked the end of their first tour as a foursome, without Victoria Beckham - and they have been lying dormant ever since.

Speaking at last year's event, Mel C told the BBC's Colin Paterson it would be an "absolute dream" to get the band back together for Glastonbury, suggesting that Posh Spice might even re-join them if they did.

This time around she did not confirm whether or not Beckham had agreed to be involved in any potential Somerset super show soon, though she did later tell the BBC that "most" of the original line-up would jump at the chance.

In her interview with Everitt, the 49-year-old explained that during their 1990s heyday, festivals like Glastonbury were not really places for pop acts but that times had changed.

"It was my first Glasto year and over the years people are always surprised at that," she said. "But of course, festivals used to be so different in the 90s, you would never have had a band like the Spice Girls at a festival.

"I think my first festival I played as a solo artist was V Festival '99. This is the first time I've got up there [and] done my thing with my band.

"We had an incredible crowd and it just felt like such a privilege because I got a reaction like there were four of the Spice Girls next to me."

While the crowd sang some of her solo stuff "word for word", she noted, including a duet with Tom Grennan in the Bryan Adams role on Baby When You're Gone; the reaction was particularly strong when she performed her old group's hits like Who Do You Think You Are?

"Love them or hate him, everyone remembers the Spice Girls," she smiled.

Should the offer come from festival organisers Emily and Michael Eavis to fill the 2024 legends slot - effectively making them the fourth Pyramid Stage headliner of the weekend- the Spice Girls would succeed Yusuf aka Cat Stevens and Blondie, who will share the responsibility on Sunday afternoon.

Watch coverage of Glastonbury Festival 2023 now on the BBC iPlayer.