[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
was also present and wrote his phone number on Amy s jeans backstage and ordered her
to call him. Jay-Z also came backstage and raved about Back To Black. At the end of the
night, Amy summed it up in one word; surreal .
Soon she was to perform at Landsdowne Street in Boston, a 2,000-plus-capacity,
multipurpose venue that regularly plays host to both the world s top DJ talent and the
world s most popular touring artists. It was one of the first big concerts Amy performed
in America. Wearing jeans and white tank top, she performed for about fifty minutes. The
Patriot Ledger s reviewer said,
She brought little to no stage presence, appeared heavily inebriated and barely moved
around, delivering most of her parts without necessary oomph and often with lazy
phrasing. Of the album cuts, only Me and Mr Jones had the room bumping; other
ballads, R&B nuggets and hoped-for showstoppers fell flat, despite her smoky delivery.
However, fans who were present gave far more positive reviews of her
performance. So too did the Boston Globe, which chimed in with,
Winehouse was so effortlessly, unassumingly herself: no airs, no anxiety, no ingratiating
shout-outs to her heroes& The plastic cup from which Winehouse sipped, and then began
to drain, did work a certain magic, as the beverage seemed to go straight to her vocal
pipes& Winehouse s tones grew bigger and rounder, her licks wilder.
But the audience seemed restless at times and failed to pay attention to slower,
longer tracks such as Love is a Losing Game . (However, that very song was at the same
time receiving praise from none other than Prince, who said he was a huge fan of it and
hoped Amy would one day join him on stage. Music producer David Gest was also
quoted in the press praising Amy, though in somewhat more bizarre terms: I would kiss
the mole on Amy Winehouse s face and every tattoo on her body, and I d stick my
tongue in the gap where her tooth is missing, he drooled. I love her. )
Soon there was a concert at the Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip in West
Hollywood. The acts that have memorably performed there include Bruce Springsteen,
Nirvana, Tori Amos, Foo Fighters, Guns N Roses, Al Stewart, Jane s Addiction and
David Bowie, and even Jay-Z & Linkin Park have played this highly prestigious venue.
Amy s performance at the Roxy drew a celebrity-studded audience including the likes
of Courtney Love, the Strokes Fabrizio Moretti, Bruce Willis and Grey s Anatomy stars
Kate Walsh and Sara Ramirez and she paired a turquoise strapless dress with
leopard-print stilettos.
Introducing You Know I m No Good , she told of a time she had betrayed a
lover and then told him, I do love you , then added, But, like, I get bored. I told you I m
no good! The quip drew a hearty laugh from the crowd. LA Weekly said,
Live, Winehouse was noticeably nervous but utterly charming, singing for an audience
who knew all the words to all the songs. She was in spectacular voice throughout, backed
by a crack band (man, that horn section& ) and two chicly attired male backup singers
who energetically pulled off synchronized choreography.
Winehouse s own herky-jerky, off-the-beat dancing and ragged emulation of girl-group
style somehow underscored an aura of sincerity (a matted beehive with an unkempt tail;
an ill-fitting dress that kept sliding down her scary-thin frame; weathered leopard-print
shoes rummaged from the back of some tranny s closet). Her awkward performance of
75
femininity befits a woman who can t quite figure how to stop fucking up her relationships
and her life. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton was in the audience and said, She is the
stuff of legend, and on Monday night a who s who of hipsters and Hollywood players
were treated to a tour de force performance by the Rehab chanteuse. You never know if
Wino is gonna show up to a gig or if she ll even make it through a show, but she more
than held her own at the Roxy.
And so back to New York. She was interviewed by the prestigious and
high-circulation New York Post ahead of her two concerts at the Highline Ballroom. The
interview took place in the entirely appropriate surroundings of Sammy s Roumanian
Steakhouse, a touristy shrine of real Ashkenazi Jewish kitsch. Amy ordered the
traditional Jewish dish of chopped liver.
I m not ambitious or career-minded. I did an album that I m really proud of and
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]