In a move which many fans were expecting after her recent performance in Belgrade, Amy Winehouse has cancelled the remaining dates for her 2011 European tour. The tour, originally planned to go through mid-August and see her perform in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Switzerland, would no doubt have disappointed fans a few weeks ago. After her disastrous Belgrade performances, though, many fans are willing to wait, in the interest of a better show, for the troubled diva to take time off and (as her spokesperson said) “return to her best.”
Videos from the Belgrade show are strange to watch. It’s not that Amy’s a bad singer–she manages to hit most of the notes, and her unique, powerful voice usually shines. When she actually sings, that is. While her band (which is absolutely fantastic, by the way) powers through the songs, she sings intermittently, sometimes relying on the audience to sing while she just smiles and scratches her arms, sometimes wandering away from the microphone as though she completely forgot she was performing in front of hundreds of people. There’s a telling moment, partway through “Valerie,” when, after nodding her head and grinning while the audience sings the song for her, she grabs one of her backup singers and, without missing a beat, he does the verse flawlessly. It’s kind of disappointing: everything is in place for a fantastic show, but Amy is just too messed up to perform. It does suggest, though, that if and when Amy gets herself back together, her next tour will be absolutely amazing.