Amy Winehouse’s Too-Slight Return

Whether or not Amy Winehouse was going to play her first show in months on Friday night was up in the air until the very end–the St. Lucia Jazz Festival, which was featuring her as a headliner, had canceled its Thursday slate of performances because of some nasty weather on the island where Winehouse has been spending most of this year. As it turns out, Winehouse might have been helped out by the weather, at least as far as it giving an excuse for her set’s abrupt end; while she clearly didn’t seem ready to perform at all, chugging drinks in between forgotten lyrics and awkwardly dancing, her flack chalked up her walking off the stage to the storms blanketing the tropical island, “causing a lighting rig to fail and disrupting sound equipment.” You may disagree with the official spin after you see the two clips embedded here–above, catch her scatty opening number, while the clip after the jump has the aftermath of her walking offstage, leaving her backup singers somewhat bewildered. I’ll be honest: I was refreshing the festival’s official site for much of Friday, wondering if her performance would be canceled for reasons involving just-not-rightness. Her voice on its own actually has moments of complete clarity in these clips, even through all the inebriation and mental browning-out. amy winehouse st lucia jazz 2009 [YouTube] Amy Winehouse St Lucia Jazz Festival May 2009 worst gig ever [YouTube] Amy Winehouse Singing In The Rain [Black Voices]