Red Moon
23-11-2007, 06:09 PM
Note perfect and only a little late (by her standards) Amy proves she's the bestThere are two Amy Winehouses: the hedonistic, bacchanalian good-time girl with the self-loathing tattoos, who in her hour of despair turns to Pete Doherty for drug counselling in the manner of Little Red Riding Hood asking the Big Bad Wolf for nutrition tips.
Then there is the woman whose album Back To Black is Britain's bestselling album of 2007, who has entranced the United States and who has an undeniably remarkable soul voice and, mostly, the songs to match.
Last night, before a crowd including Alexa Chung, her boyfriend, Arctic Monkey Alex Turner, and Kelly Osbourne, was not one for the ambulance chasers.
Even so, Winehouse was 50 minutes late (she apologised, but did not elaborate) and things almost went belly up from the first moment when she skipped across stage to pick up her guitar and begin Addicted, only to get its strap caught in the stand.
That (and thinking it was Friday rather than Thursday) was as close as she came to meltdown, in a perky set, truncated by her late arrival.
Instead, as with every time I've seen her, Winehouse was a little bit wayward, a little bit goofy, not entirely focused (she kept fiddling with her micro-dress, but avoided the seemingly imminent pop-out), mostly incomprehensible between songs and almost note-perfect.
There was one unwelcome new addition to essentially the same set she has been touring for over a year: a trip backstage while backing singer Zalon Thompson introduced the band and their dull solos.
That voice, especially on the stately Just Friends and the menacing Back To Black, remained a uniquely sensuous pleasure and there was nothing here to question the notion that she is the finest British soulstress of her generation.
Wisely, she stayed clear of alluding to any extra-curricular activities, save dedicating the sombre Wake Up Alone to incarcerated husband Blake Fielder-Civil.
"It's his favourite song and I usually sing it to him," she said, "but he's not here."
Yet this was mostly an exuberant evening. Rehab might be less funny these days, but its air of defiance is undimmed, while covers of Toots And The Maytals' Monkey Man and The Zutons' Valerie made for a joyously abandoned encore.
Everything may change today, but last night Winehouse was waving rather than drowning.
Source: Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/reviews.html?in_article_id=495911&in_page_id=1924)
Then there is the woman whose album Back To Black is Britain's bestselling album of 2007, who has entranced the United States and who has an undeniably remarkable soul voice and, mostly, the songs to match.
Last night, before a crowd including Alexa Chung, her boyfriend, Arctic Monkey Alex Turner, and Kelly Osbourne, was not one for the ambulance chasers.
Even so, Winehouse was 50 minutes late (she apologised, but did not elaborate) and things almost went belly up from the first moment when she skipped across stage to pick up her guitar and begin Addicted, only to get its strap caught in the stand.
That (and thinking it was Friday rather than Thursday) was as close as she came to meltdown, in a perky set, truncated by her late arrival.
Instead, as with every time I've seen her, Winehouse was a little bit wayward, a little bit goofy, not entirely focused (she kept fiddling with her micro-dress, but avoided the seemingly imminent pop-out), mostly incomprehensible between songs and almost note-perfect.
There was one unwelcome new addition to essentially the same set she has been touring for over a year: a trip backstage while backing singer Zalon Thompson introduced the band and their dull solos.
That voice, especially on the stately Just Friends and the menacing Back To Black, remained a uniquely sensuous pleasure and there was nothing here to question the notion that she is the finest British soulstress of her generation.
Wisely, she stayed clear of alluding to any extra-curricular activities, save dedicating the sombre Wake Up Alone to incarcerated husband Blake Fielder-Civil.
"It's his favourite song and I usually sing it to him," she said, "but he's not here."
Yet this was mostly an exuberant evening. Rehab might be less funny these days, but its air of defiance is undimmed, while covers of Toots And The Maytals' Monkey Man and The Zutons' Valerie made for a joyously abandoned encore.
Everything may change today, but last night Winehouse was waving rather than drowning.
Source: Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/reviews.html?in_article_id=495911&in_page_id=1924)