There are themed parties, and then there are elaborate attempts to manifest civic joy through any means necessary.
Santa Rosa’s upcoming Spice World appears to be the latter: an all-ages collision of Spice Girls nostalgia, DJ sets, karaoke, costumes and somehow, inevitably, spicy hot chicken wings. Clearly, this heady concoction bodes well for a Friday night in Santa Rosa.
The April 24 event, Spice World, comes courtesy of Performance Lab, the North Bay producers behind immersive happenings that mandate participation over passive spectatorship. They know they have their work cut out for them.
“The competition for our show isn’t the concert across town,” organizers Cincinnatus Hibbard and Josh Windmiller (both Bohemian contributors) advise in their press materials. “It is the screens that are keeping people captive.”
Performance Lab’s answer is to make events so weird, social and kinetic that they can’t be ignored. “We organize variety shows that are fully interactive,” they explain. “This makes them more unexpected, connective and alive for the audience and performers alike.”
The idea for Spice World reportedly emerged after organizers noticed groups of women arriving at an earlier event in coordinated costumes and doing choreography. Rather than treat that as fringe behavior, they recognized it as the pulse of a party trying to happen.
“Is it not a glorious vision to imagine 250 women and men dressed like Spice Girls (and the occasional chicken)?” the organizers ask.
It is indeed a glorious vision, though perhaps not one urban planners typically consider.
The Spice Girls remain ideal mascots for this kind of civic mischief. Dismissed by some in their day as bubblegum spectacle, they were in fact masters of joyful archetype: five distinct identities, one rallying cry, zero concern for coolness. That spirit still travels.
With Y2K-era fashion back in circulation and multiple generations now old enough to feel nostalgia at once, the timing is unusually apt.
Translation: Everyone is now old enough to miss something.
Then comes the second pillar of the concept: literal spice.
The chicken angle grew out of Hibbard acquiring a Hot Ones-style home kit, which inspired organizers to build an evening around reckless sauces, comic bravado and the healing powers of dairy.
A fair point. Seriousness has had a long run. The evening’s Hot Ones-inspired challenge invites guests to sign a waiver, consume a punishingly hot wing and then spin a wheel that may require an anecdote, a rant, karaoke performance or personal confession. It is either party entertainment or a faster route to authenticity than therapy.
Speaking with me ahead of the event, Hibbard suggested the finale may turn quasi-religious.
“I think for a finale, we’re all gonna dab some hot sauce,” Hibbard said in a recent interview with this reporter on The Drive 95.5 FM that also included DJ Dyops. “And while our lips and voices are on fire, scream ‘Wannabe.’ It’s gonna be spiritual.”
One suspects the spirit involved may be capsaicin.
There will also be a unique bar for those who overestimate themselves. Hibbard described the economics with admirable candor.
“There will be a spice antidote bar,” he said. “There’ll be discounted beer and wine. But if you wanna buy a glass of milk for $20, we’ll sell you one … or some ice chips for 9.99.”
Then, like a true free-market philosopher, he jokingly added: “You create the demands.”
Music for the evening comes courtesy of DJ Dyops, a beloved local selector whose sets often blur nostalgia with narrative momentum. She’ll handle both dance-floor soundtrack and karaoke, spanning the ’90s, 2000s hits and a bit beyond. “I’m gonna throw a little ’80s in there too,” she noted.
Asked how she approaches a themed set, Dyops made clear she isn’t merely checking boxes.
“For Spice World, obviously Spice Girls are going to be front and center,” she said. “So I’m going to curate the set around them, but also bringing in other girl groups … and we gotta have some boy groups too.”
Good DJs understand that records are only part of the job. The real task is reading the room.
“You need to be keeping a close eye on the dance floor,” DJ Dyops explained. “On the outer edges, like who’s not dancing… Try to read people’s energy.” She added, “With any of my sets, I really wanna take people on a journey. So I’ll definitely be doing that with Spice World.”
The event also includes karaoke all-stars, a costume contest, interactive hip-hop from Dark Matter Lives and a screening of the 1997 Spice World movie. But costume culture may be the true heartbeat of the night.
Hibbard encouraged guests to personalize the premise.
“Think of the girl ensemble, the Spice Girls, and think of your own spiciness,” he said. “Who would you and your friends be? Either on the classic team, or [will you] invent your own spices?”
There will be prizes, he added, for Spice Girls cosplay, Dune cosplay, chicken cosplay and group costumes. A democratic pageant, in other words.
As for the hosts themselves, Hibbard plans to arrive as Austin Powers. Dyops is still deciding. When asked which Spice Girl he would be, Hibbard confessed, “I’m such a cliché, baby. Baby Spice.” Dyops, showing flexibility, volunteered to be Sporty.
Spice World commences at 7pm, Friday, April 24, at Arlene Francis Center for Spirit, Art, and Politics, 99 6th St., Santa Rosa. Tickets are $17.85 in advance via Eventbrite (bit.ly/spiceworld2026), $20 at the door. All ages are welcome.
