Onstage meltdown wipes out comeback

Associated Press

LONDON

The video is painful to watch, an artistic train wreck for all to see. The question is what Amy Winehouse is going to do next.

The five-time Grammy Award winner, whose battles with alcohol and drug abuse have long overshadowed her music career, had a very public meltdown on stage Saturday night in Belgrade, the first stop of her European concert tour.

The disastrous performance shattered the whole goal of the troubled singer’s comeback tour: A renewed focus on her musical ability, not her substance-abuse problems. It also raised serious doubts about whether she is well enough to perform before an audience.

Winehouse was jeered and booed as she stumbled around the stage unable to remember the lyrics to her own songs. At times she could barely stand up. She was not able to carry a tune, appearing disoriented and unaware of her surroundings. At one point she dragged over a backup singer to take the mike and sing.

The crowd at Belgrade’s Kalemegdan Park was often unable to decipher even what song Winehouse was performing — a startling problem for a singer who is popular in Serbia. Many of the 20,000 fans walked out in protest, angry that they paid steep ticket prices for such a spectacle.

Serbian media called the concert a “scandal,” with the Blic daily labeling it “the worst in the history of Belgrade.”

Instead of continuing to Istanbul on Monday and Athens on Wednesday for concerts, Winehouse canceled and returned to her London home. She is in talks that are expected to lead to further cancellations of her 12-date European tour.

The next concert is July 8 in Bilbao, Spain, but it is likely to be canceled. The tour was to end in Bucharest, Romania, on Aug. 15.

The demanding schedule was supposed to be an important test of Winehouse’s ability to stand up to the rigors of live performing.

Winehouse, 27, has been hospitalized twice for injuries suffered after fainting and falling at home, and her father said she has health problems stemming from smoking cigarettes and crack cocaine.

Her recording career has also been put on hold. There have long been plans for a follow-up to her two successful albums — including the breakthrough “Back to Black” released in 2006 — but new material has not been released.