Amy Winehouse Cancels European Tour After Disastrous Comeback Gig

  • Share
  • Read Later
YouTube

Amy Winehouse just doesn’t do quiet. Mixing stints in rehab and court with occasional forays into, you know, her actual career of recording, releasing and performing music, the 27-year old singer made a simply shocking start to her 12-date European comeback tour. The result was a Serbian show labeled “the worst in the history of Belgrade.” And it was so bad that she’s subsequently canceled the rest of her European tour and scrapped all public performances.

(MORE: Amy Winehouse’s Twitter Feud)

She turned up an hour late in Belgrade, which didn’t go down well with the 20,000 strong crowd. If, say, you’re Kanye West, you can pull such shenanigans, because you end up delivering the goods. Not so much when it comes to Winehouse: she stumbled and bumbled throughout her set (note to self: saying “Hello Athens!” isn’t to be recommended if you’re not actually in Greece), dropped her microphone, wandered on and off stage, left the helpless band to fend for themselves and appeared intoxicated throughout. The audience eventually booed her off, and watching this video will show you why as Winehouse offers a master class in how not to perform. It’s such a far cry from a few years ago when her talent outweighed her problems in her private life.

Unsurprisingly, a representative originally said that upcoming festival dates in Istanbul on Monday and Athens this Wednesday would be canceled with her next scheduled show not until July 8 in Spain.  But the situation changed again Tuesday with spokesman Chris Goodman saying that, “Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen.” For the record, as well as those three countries above, further dates in Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Poland, Hungary and Romania have been ditched. The tour was due to end in Bucharest on August 15.

And no wonder that her fans in Serbia were fuming: at $57 a pop, the ticket cost was pretty high when you consider that the average monthly salary is $443 (though this behavior isn’t exactly acceptable or professional at any price). Only this month did she check out of The Priory Clinic, apparently “raring to go” with her live shows. Her father had concerns that she was drinking too much prior to her performances. Unfortunately for him, Winehouse herself and the fans, his concerns were all too well-founded (via New York Magazine)

LIST: See Where Winehouse Ranked on TIME’s Albums of the Year