Melanie's tour may be over, but fret not....

Melanie C will be playing at PITP (Party In the Park) on July 6th.

But if you can't make it there to see her, you'll be able to see her soon as she'll be performing on many shows, promoting On The Horizon, out June 6th, and if rumours are correct another tour is on it's way.

Westlife VS Spice Girls lives on as Melanie C comments on air that miming and releasing covers is old fashioned, and Westlife's Nick remarks that singing live with a band is plain boring and "crap".

The first time they argued, Westlife won as they outsold the Spice Girls "Forever" 3 to 1.

But this quarel goes to the Spice as the press favours Melanie C. Recent press articles reviewing the "Reason 2003 Tour" have praised Melanie for her live performances, claiming that what the album lacked, she has made up for more than twice fold at the gigs.

Our verdict: Mime-life fizzes, Spice shines brightly.

As promotion for the release of "On The Horizon" picks up momentum, and pace, "Reason" seems to be responding aswell.

The album rises 33 spots this week in the UK Charts, from number 176 to 143!

Head on over to 100% Melanie C to view Melanie's CD:UK interview and also watch her performance of "On The Horizon".

If it's for MP3's that you are searching for, head over to MelanieC.org and download the whole London's Shepherds Bush Empire concert.

As a recap, "On The Horizon" is Melanie's new single and will be out in Europe on the 26th of May and England on the 2nd of June. The single comes in two formats, cd and dvd. The European CD single includes the title track, I Love You Without Trying and Goin'Down accoustic from Radio Donna. The British CD single includes the title track and I Love You Without Trying. The DVD single, which counts towards the charts, includes the title track, the video, the excerpts or behind the scenes at the video, NBTSA live from Radio Donna, and Wonderland.

All singles can be purchased via Melanie C's official shop located in her 3d site or her normal web-site.

Melanie's track, "Let's Love" has been chosen by a Japanese auto-company for their upcoming ad campaign.

The campaign will run for six months.

Melanie C was on the Richard Allinson show and got right onto the PC to reply to our emails.

Here is what Melanie had to say to me, (she replied to my email, personally....she's so lovely!):

Will there be a US release of "Reason"?:

I'm hoping to tour and release in the US next year.

See you there!

Will you be releasing a DVD of the concerts...you're a great performer.:

I'm definitely considering doing a DVD release.

I want to reach a wider audience with the live performances.

Melanie will be on the Richard Allinson Saturday show on Radio 2 today. The show starts at 3:30pm UK time, which is about 10:30 EST.

Click over to Radio 2 to listen in. She'll be performing atleast 4 songs.

10 May 2003 1538SST - 0800GMT

MELANIE C'S SHEPHERD BUSH CONCERT

UK (MRIB) - Melanie C has had a bad few months in the press. With everyone focusing on how many albums she's sold (or indeed not sold), many had forgotten about the music.

But last night at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire, Melanie made sure that the music was at the forefront of everyones' minds as she belted her way through her back catalogue. Even before the release of Reason back in February, the not-so-sporty-anymore Spice Girl pleaded that the best way to hear the songs were live and by jiminy she was right.

While the recorded versions of Yeh, Yeh, Yeh, Here It Comes Again and On The Horizon may have sounded a little too slick, too American for some people's tastes, the live reworkings hit the spot perfectly. The music was edgier (Goin' Down sounded magnificent) and Melanie's vocals were more powerful and almost faultless. And the crowd loved it. Even the hard nosed hacks who'd obviously gone along for a free drink at the after show party were convinced by the end of the night by Mel's enthusiastic performance and could be seen pumping away as the show closed with Mel's Ibiza rave-up, I Turn To You!

Although the show could have been improved by pruning the lengthy ballad middle section, it did manage to remind everyone that Melanie is a super performer, a great talent and certainly one of the greatest stars. However, one would have felt sorry for the little miss because you can see that she is so desperate to shrug off the image of her Sporty persona.

Decked out in hip-hugging jeans and a rocky black T-shirt which was ripped at the front to reveal as one fan described a "massive pair of Gazza tits", you could have almost mistaken our one-time teen idol as a new millennial Joan Jett.

But of course, Mel's still Mel and trying to separate her old and new persona is still a bit of a task. But who knows? One day she may actually manage to put a lid on her past and be given a fair ride by her critics. And on the evidence of last night's show, it might not be too long in coming. Give her another couple of albums and perhaps soon everyone will be saying "Sporty who?"

'On The Horizon' has been added to the Radio 2 A-list as well as the playlist for the Capital Group (Power FM, Southern FM, BRMB, Capital FM, Red Dragon FM, Fox Fm and Invicta FM).

Difficulties have prevented the 3d site at MelanieC.net from opening on time...check back frequently for it'll be up soon....by the 9th.

Incase you hadn't been aware yet, Melanie C's next single will contain these b-sides:

DVD- Never Be The Same Again Accoustic set and Wonderland.

CD- I Love You Without Trying

Remember to visit Melanie's 3d site today, as it is the official launch. Melanie C's concert will be broadcast on the 9th.

In other unrelated news, it seems Melanie started a trend by trading in the golden locks for her dark burnette locks. Madonna, Christina and Britney have all dyed their hairs dark...and even the Olsen twins from Full House (or atleast on half of them) have joined the dark hair bandwagon.

BILB has finally hit the American theaters, nation-wide. Check the movie out which features Melanie C's "Independence Day 2002" and "I Turn To You" as part of the movie soundtrack.

Check out this honest and greatly written review of Melanie's gig. It's sad to hear the gig wasn't packed, but it was nice to hear that the journalist thought it was a great performance which deserves more credit from the press who is too unfair due to her past "pop" phase.