It appears as though Amy Winehouse's brief one-week stay in rehab wasn't exactly successful because the singer's supposed triumphant comeback at a Belgrade music festival did not go well. According to reports, Winehouse was smashed (or as the Brits call it, "pissed") even before she took the stage Saturday night, which was an hour after she was scheduled to perform. The festivalgoers knew for sure Winehouse was in trouble when she greeted the Belgrade crowd by saying, "Hello, Athens!" It's one thing to mix up Detroit and Cleveland in the midst a U.S. tour when cities and venues bleed into one another, but when you confuse Belgrade for Athens on the first night of a trek, you're in a bad way. To Winehouse's credit, she was scheduled to perform in Athens this Wednesday, but that's no longer happening (more on that in a second).
And then, the singing started. Rather, "singing." Winehouse struggled to keep pace with her band vocally, so she spent much of the gig stumbling around the stage, talking to and hugging her band members, repeatedly leaving the stage, dropping the microphone to the ground, forgetting lyrics, clutching her stomach, and more activities that are a byproduct of being drunk. At certain points during the show, the crowd assumed vocal duties while the bewildered Winehouse ambled around, singing the songs that Amy obviously couldn't. However, most of the time during the 90-minute set, they booed loudly. Winehouse exited the performance early to a chorus of boos.
Wisely, immediately after the Serbian press dubbed Winehouse's performance "the worst in the history of Belgrade," Winehouse's reps issued a statement announcing that they were canceling the next two dates of her European comeback tour. "Despite feeling sure that [Winehouse] wanted to fulfill these commitments, she has agreed with management that she cannot perform to the best of her ability and will return home," her reps said in a statement. "She would like to apologize to fans expecting to see her at the shows but feels that this is the right thing to do."
Some highlights from Winehouse's train wreck performance:
[Photo: Samir Hussein/Getty Images]