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The Spice Girls got a rapturous reception in Vancouver as they started a world tour with their first major concert in almost 10 years.

The five-member U.K. group, which has already sold 55 million records, sported lingerie and leather onstage and had male dancers on their knees in dog collars during an almost two-hour show.

More than 16,000 screaming fans showed many were prepared to overlook criticism of the band for reuniting in their 30s. Ticket sales for the tour so far total more than $60 million. The reunion follows others by the Police, who raised more than $171 million and also started in Vancouver, the Eagles and the Who among others. Fans of Led Zeppelin, which plays in London on Dec. 10, hope the lucrative returns may make them tour again.

“They’ve still totally got it,” said Sarah Davis, 40, of Vancouver, who attended with daughters Jade, 8, and Kailey, 11. Women outnumbered men in the audience and the average age looked to be less than 21. Davis said the show proved that the band was more than a marketed image. “They were real, they were having fun, they were the Spice Girls like before.”

In the past, the Spice Girls had been faulted for bad singing and dancing and for lip-synching. This time, the 22-song show at the General Motors Place venue had been in rehearsals for three weeks. It opened with the singers entering on raised platforms and launching into “Spice Up Your Life,” “Stop” and “Say You’ll be There.”

`Great Shape’

“The girls are in great shape,” said Belinda Harris of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, who took in the concert with her daughter, Amanda, 18. “Their abs were amazing.”

In “Too Much,” the band made a titillating on-stage costume change behind pink-colored, heart-shaped peek-a-boo doors. “We’re back together,” Geri Halliwell, 35, told the screaming crowd later before hugging Victoria Beckham, 33.

The Spices formed in 1994. Their nicknames (Posh, Ginger, Sporty, Scary and Baby) and phrases “Zigga zig-ah” and “girl power” were endlessly repeated.

Halliwell left in May 1998, in the middle of their last world tour. The others carried on, though they focused on solo careers from February 2001. A breakup was never announced and there was silence until June, when they announced this tour.

More than 750,000 tickets already have been sold, according to music entrepreneur’s Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment Ltd., which is organizing the tour. Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper, which didn’t give a source, said each band member will be paid at least 10 million pounds ($20.6 million) from the ticket and CD sales. They also will benefit from merchandise sales and sponsorship deals with U.K. retailer Tesco Plc and Victoria’s Secret, among others.

Expanding Tour

Gigs were originally planned in 11 cities, though that number was expanded as tickets for some concerts sold out within seconds. Tickets typically cost between $70 and $120 on first sale, though seats for some venues were soon offered for $799 for two on EBay Inc.’s Web site.

Last night’s concert was preceded by invitation-only performances in Los Angeles last month — for a BBC live charity show and at a Victoria’s Secret lingerie fashion show, recorded for CBS and to be shown tomorrow.

There are now about 40 shows scheduled, with the band moving to San Jose, California, tomorrow, then to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. They’ll fly to Europe where they play London, Cologne and Madrid, returning to the U.S. and Canada at the end of January.

The group saved its biggest hit for the encore. “Have we really, really forgotten something?” Halliwell said before bursting into “Wannabe.” The song originally topped the charts in 31 countries and sold six million. It was the first of nine U.K. No. 1s for the act. Now more Spice Women than Girls, their collective age is 164 years. Four of them are mothers and they have seven children between them.

“Mission Accomplished” proclaimed a giant screen at the rear of the stage.

Outside, “Spice Up Your Life” aprons emblazoned with the Union Jack were priced at C$60 ($60) and “If you wannabe my lover” T-shirts were selling at C$45 each.