Amy Winehouse cancels part of European tour after jeers in Belgrade. Singer’s performance dubbed ‘worst in city’s history’ after she arrived hour late, mumbled through songs and disappeared.
Amy Winehouse has called off some European tour dates after she was jeered for a shambolic performance during a concert in Serbia.
Saturday’s gig in Belgrade kicked off what was to be a 12-date tour. But Winehouse, who has reportedly struggled for years with drug and alcohol issues, was booed for arriving almost an hour late and then stumbling to the stage and appearing unable to remember the lyrics to her songs. She dropped the microphone, mumbled through her songs and occasionally disappeared, leaving her band to keep on playing.
A video posted on YouTube shows Winehouse wildly staggering around while trying to sing and stopping several times in mid-verse, looking over to her bandmates for help. At one point, she calls over a backup singer to fill in for her.
Serbian media described the concert before 20,000 fans as a “scandal” and a “disaster.” The Blic daily, which posted a clip from the concert on its website with the warning ‘Listen if you dare’, said the concert was “the worst in the history of Belgrade”.
After the show Winehouse’s publicists Outside Organization cancelled concerts in Istanbul on Monday and in Athens on Wednesday. A statement said fans would know “as soon as possible” whether the rest of her European programme would be fulfilled and apologised on the singer’s behalf for the cancellations.
“Despite feeling sure that she wanted to fulfil these commitments, she has agreed with management that she cannot perform to the best of her ability and will return home,” the statement said.
The next scheduled concert date after Athens is 8 July in Bilbao and is supposed to be playing in Lucca as part of the Summer Festival on the 16th July.
The crowd at Belgrade’s Kalemegdan Park could hardly tell which song Winehouse was singing and responded angrily. Many walked out in disappointment. “It was horrible,” said Ivana Bilic. “She should have cancelled the whole thing, rather than appear at all like this.”
Tickets for the show in Belgrade, where average salaries are about €300 a month, cost around €40 -- for the Lucca show, the prices are somewhat higher -- €50.
Winehouse’s 2006 breakthrough album Back to Black won five Grammy awards, but her music has since become overshadowed by her chaotic lifestyle and run-ins with the law.