If we were one of the poor souls to pay a couple hundred bucks for a ticket to last night's Amy Winehouse show, we imagine we would be pretty fucking pissed off right now.
It's never a good sign when a performer's pre-show prep includes stumbling in the street in search of non-existent paparazzi, dinner at Subway, and a trip to Walgreens for sweets (that you will later use to pad your set as giveaways between songs). It's an even worse sign when a backing band as talented as The Dap Kings are left with nothing much to do but play karaoke versions of radio hits. And if the back-up singers are more entertaining to watch (and listen to) than the main act, that's not too good either.
There are two ways to look at Amy Winehouse's show last night. One is from a populist perspective, and from that perspective one can't deny that the crowd ate up every little thing she did. Anticipation will do that to an audience. Most of the crowd probably knew very little about Winehouse other than she a) has a song on constant rotation on WXRT and b) she's British, and she's therefore cool. Plus, when a show is this hyped, most regular attendees will not allow themselves to see failure even when it's right in front of their eyes.
From a critical standpoint, she was just a train wreck. Delivery that was variably rushed and slow, listless tics meant to convey some sort of emotion, and an annoying tendency to try and pull off the "bad girl" act to mask insecurity and inexperience, all contributed to the delivery of a severly underwhelming performance. We imagine folks who saw her at SXSW earlier this year, and produced the buzz she rode into her sold-out Chicago show, saw a different performer in a smaller room. And maybe that was part of her problem. Had last night's show been at its original venue, Schubas, Winehouse might have fared better. She certainly doesn't yet have the charisma to command a room the size of The Vic.
We love her latest record, Back To Black, and are willing to admit that our disappointment is so vast because this was a performance we had been looking forward to for months. However, unlike some folks, we just can't justify Winehouse's failure to fulfill on her promised potential.
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Looks like I made the right choice by hitting up the Junior Boys show instead. Too bad Amy couldn't bring it to the live show, cause the album is great.
Thank you Amy Winehouse.
You canceled on Schubas so HeyDay, Satellite Hero and Laz could rock it.
who needs ya?
Well, some of us weren't suckered into spending a couple hundred bucks. If I had, I'd be pretty pissed too, mostly for being dumb enough to spend a couple hundred bucks in the first place.
Some of us were smart enough to actually wait in line (imagine that!) when the new tickets were on sale and got them for an amazingly reasonable $20, so I guess our expectations were a little different.
Yes, the set was short, but she only has one U.S. release so far. I personally don't like it when acts fill their sets with pointless covers that mean nothing. And she did throw in some of her older songs, too.
Yes, the great band was underutilized, and yes, she didn't move around much. But the audience was riveted and not just because of "aniticpation." Way to dismiss the entire audience of fans for supposedly not knowing more about her than one song and where she's from. A lot of us love the whole album, which is why there was always a huge cheer when just about any song started (why would people cheer at the opening bars of a song they don't know?).
She sounded great and the on-stage banter was funny. Even more, her tendency to "pull off the 'bad girl' act to mask insecurity and inexperience," as you say, was simply fascinating to witness. She's still a very young woman, and it was if she was witnessing the power she has over her audience while still unsure of herself. It makes it exciting to think about where that realization could take her in a few years.
Clearly you guys just didn't get it. But if you didn't like it, don't dismiss, belittle and otherwise criticize the audience for enjoying a show you didn't.
First review out:
Undisciplined Amy Winehouse performs at Vic
By Mark Guarino
Daily Herald Music Critic
Posted Friday, May 04, 2007
Click here
If a break in the time-space continuum somehow immobilized Diana Ross with Paris Hilton, the synthesis would most likely turn into something like Amy Winehouse.
The 23-year-old singer helps sell a lot of tabloids in her native Britain, where she is known as a torch-singing boozehound, unafraid to knock icons off their pedestals or show up at appointments soused. Thanks to “Back to Black” (Universal Republic), a terrific new album that is receiving a major push in the U.S., Winehouse is reaching to these shores where high profile party girls are now mainstream except, unlike the Brits, we don’t require them to have any talent.
Evidence that Winehouse is being heard translated to venue size. Winehouse was originally booked to play Thursday at Schubas but that show, with the album out only four months, was soon moved to the Vic, a venue almost five times its capacity. It sold out.
The music is immediately comfortable. Staged like an old-time Motown revue, Winehouse was supported by the Dap-Kings, a 10-member soul band dressed in neat black suits and flashing the occasional dance steps. They provided a striking contrast to the lead performer, a diminutive, tattooed woman in low-rise jeans and high-rise hair. That nesting black mop, too big for even Marge Simpson, became one of the evening’s many distractions — not just for the audience, but mostly for the person who wore it.
“Back to Black” is vintage R&B strengthened by Winehouse’s husky vocals, blunt lyrics and the elaborate production of Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson. They punch the arrangements, from doo-wop to big band soul, with enough playfulness to make Winehouse sound like a boxer, fighting her way out of bad situations and bad men with a weary, love-torn voice that sounds determined to be free.
They were emotions she could not express live. An undisciplined singer and performer, Winehouse fidgeted throughout her stunted, hour-long set, looking uninterested or maybe overwhelmed. She seemed to dissociate herself from the songs, refusing to push the levels she reached on the album. As two very charismatic Dap-Kings sang, danced and stole the show to her left, Winehouse did not follow suit by throwing herself into the songs. Instead, she was their placating custodian.
The songs, backed by horns and glittery soul guitars, begged for more. The simple piano-guitar riffs framed songs wide enough for her to fill but she dawdled. On “He Can Only Hold Her,” Winehouse and her singers paid tribute to Lauryn Hill, another neo-soul singer known for erratic live performances, by quoting her song “Doo-Wop (That Thing).”
To fill time (only 13 songs made the setlist), Winehouse threw lollipops to the audience between songs. Before each one, she announced its color. Early into the show, she allowed herself a self-critique: “I (expletive) up a lot … I’m unprofessional. It’s hard to justify.”
Amen brother. Thank GOD I didnt pay more than 20 bucks for my ticket. She was brutal live.
WTF? - I apologize if you thought I was being dismissive of the audience. I merely meant that when something is that hyped, it's hard to admit that the actual event is less than stellar. And I think I clearly stated I love her disc, so it's not the songwriting I'm being critical of, it's the live presentation.
She's at Lollapalooza this summer... I imagine a crowd of thousands isn't going to help the small venue clause of her talent.
I'm an optimist Dave, so maybe she'll figure it out before then. I do want the woman to succeed, and judging by her advance buzz she IS capable of putting on a great show.
I too enjoy the album, but heard from some folks that her live show was lacking.
She looks like Cristal Connors in that press photo. Maybe she can be in Showgirls The Musical.
Tankboy, thanks for responding. It wasn't just that comment, it was the following:
"Most of the crowd probably knew very little about Winehouse other than she a) has a song on constant rotation on WXRT and b) she's British, and she's therefore cool."
What, exactly, are you basing this on? Again, I ask you, if everyone there only knew one song, then why did they cheer in recognition at the opening of many of her other songs? (As evidence of the "recognition," they didn't cheer at the beginning of other songs, i.e. her older stuff).
Also, I never said you criticized her songwriting skills, and you did make some good points.
But overall, I thought her stage presence was fascinating and that she sounded great (although why they rushed so many of the songs is beyond me...it gave her little room to maneuver vocally).
Hmm, WTF?, I can see your point. I was trying to convey the impression that most of the crowd probably weren't rabid readers of every single piece of music industry news, and were probably most familiar with Winehouse through the radio and her album. If I were to re-write it I would probably leave of the "and she's therefore cool" buit since I can see how it's easily misinterpreted to mean that the audience has nothing better to base their perception of cool on, which is certainly not true.
I hope the Dap Kings are getting p-aid for this gig. Amy Winehouse doesn't even come close to comparing to Ms. Sharon Jones, holler if ya hear me.
HOLLA!
I liked the show. I think the sound quality wasn't that great, but that wasn't her fault. After seeing her performances on the Brit Awards and on David Letterman, I was quite satisfied with the Vic performance. I do wish she would have dressed up a bit more, those hip huggers were the craziest, I kept fixating on her pelvis - and I'm a gay man! I think Amy Winehouse has a lot more to offer than some disgruntled reviewer with a free ticket.
I didnt think the sound quality was that great which is the VICs problem but I was expecting the band to get into it more. Dont get me wrong the band sounded great but I was hoping they would get to improve a little and have a little more fun. Basically they just went through the cd song for song.
Am I the only one who thinks her music is annoying and overrated?
Greg Kot isn't a fan of hers in any way, shape, or form either, AJ.
Wow, that's a great example of the non-review review, occasionally displayed by pitchfork.
Having not paid anything other than ticketmaster's legal theft prices, I cannot comment on those who spent too much money. But the show itself was actually very good. I went kind of doubting it would come off well and was happily proven wrong.
Upstaged by her dancers? Is that because she isn't one? She just sings instead of prances and poses a la the opener. Ooooh showmanship - not. She wasn't even annoyingly cheeky or grossly intoxicated.
In comparison to many, many other shows I've seen her and her band came off as more professional than more seasoned acts in terms of delivery, promptness (good golly what happened to the minutement ethic of playing shows that people who work for a living can attend?) and the musical quality was just dandy.
Add me to the "don't get it" list. Sounds like adult-contemporary bullshit to me. But y'all can like whatever you like :) The play last night was clearly the Junior Boys.
I think discussing her band, her singing style, ability to perform for the room, etc. all qualify as reviewing the show.
I've read a handful of reviews and talked to about 6-7 people who were at the show (both non-music snobs and music snobs) and no one thought she delivered a good show.
I guess if you approached this as a critic with the attitude of "let's see what she has to prove," then you set yourself up to not enjoy the show - there's no way every artist will be able to meet your specific requirements.
What's so unenjoyable about witnessing a raw, unpolished but incredibly talented young singer find her footing, maybe try on a persona here and there, and understand exactly when to leave by leaving the audience wanting more, not overstaying her welcome?
That's what was so cool about her show. She's not scrubbed to a shiny polish by record execs...she's not (just) a product...she's finding her own style and voice right in front of our eyes.
Well, I did say I loved her new album, and that I had been looking forward to this show for months, so I don't think I entered into it thinking she had to prove anything, or expecting to not enjoy the show.
And a number of people have brought up the notion of her being raw and unpolished, which couldn't be further from the truth. Her albums, both of them, are super slick of-the-moment productions, and her image has been carefully cultivated by both Winehouse and her label. Depsite all of that I went into last night's show a fan. And I'm still a fan, just one that's disappointed with Winehouse's live show.
And finally I would posit that Winehouse is not "finding her own style and voice right in front of our eyes," instead she is in grave danger of losing her way.
That's too bad that she wasn't all that - hate it when that happens. She has such an attitude in the press and her songs that you'd think she could translate that better to the stage.
Tankboy, you're right. I didn't give you enough credit with my first comment about critics. Sorry about that.
And the raw and unpolished adjectives were in reference to her performances. A superslick CD doesn't equal superslick performances (nor should it, thank God). And her behind-the-scenes team seems almost at odds with Winehouse, as obviously documented in "Rehab," not in collusion with her. I don't think they actually want her showing up on PerezHilton with white powder on her nose.
I thought it was refreshing that we saw snippets of an insecure young woman under the badass brass. So she's a 3-dimensional human being, not a one-note, stage-pacing performer? Cool. I'll take it.
I have no idea why I'm still pursuing this thread...obviously, this is a slow Friday! Aside from your inference that the audience is too stupidly blinded by hype to think for themselves, your review is balanced and fair, so I'll stop taking this all so seriously.
I was at the show last night, and I had such high hopes going into it.
While I thought it was a decent show, IMHO, I thought Amy was definitely lacking in stage presence. She is obviously very talented (as is her band), but I felt that anyone could have dropped the cash that they spent on their tickets and bought her CD with it and achieved the same effect. I thought her band (especially the horn section) was severely under utilized. I kept waiting for Amy to get into the music and really start to shine, but she came across to me as bored and insecure on stage.
I'm hoping she polishes her live act because I think she has incredible potential.
Unless I missed it, she ate at Clark's, not Subway. I know that because my friend, my boyfriend and I were at Clark's when she sat down at a table near the door.
But...yeah. Not overwhelming performance.
another holla for Sharon Jones....the rightful frontwoman for the Dap Kings! Winehouse isn't even in the same league as Sharon.
Amy doesn't have moves on stage, kind of flat feet but what a voice and the lyrics. But, that will not do if her heroines are the great black singers who have subletly and sensuousness. Her new album if fine but there is some bad clumsy production here and there. I adore this woman but she's going to need some moves. Nora above is right on the money. Can't wait to see her myself.