Free Amy Winehouse by Chas Newkey-Burden Page B

particularly the brass section. She opened with ‘Best Friends’ and soon had the audience enchanted as she proceeded to ‘You Sent Me Flying’ and ‘Know You Now’. ‘I’m really snotty tonight,’ said Amy at one point, wearing a black strapped top and leopard-print leggings.
    Caroline Sullivan wrote in her review for the Guardian : ‘Most impressive when it was just her and a guitarist, as on “(There is) No Greater Love”, Winehouse is the very definition of “potential”… long may her angst unfurl.’
    Writing in The Times , Lisa Verrico agreed with Sullivan that Amy was at her best without the brass section, saying she was ‘simply compelling’ when accompanied by just her guitarist. She also echoed Sullivan’s praise of her performance of ‘There Is…’, writing of ‘gasps from the audience’ during the song. As Amy turned to ‘Stronger Than Me’, the audience was full of moving hips and wide smiles. It had been a successful night, with even Amy’s between-song chatter raising some chuckles in the assembled throng. A successful evening, then: Amy impressed reviewers, music industry figures and her fans. Not bad for a night’s work.
    A concert at Northumbria University followed. Newcastle Evening Chronicle reviewer Claire Dupree wrote,
    The first thing that strikes you about Amy is how can such a powerful voice come from someone so tiny? Her voice belies her age and her husky North London accent is transformed into a sultry jazzy drawl. The music has an almost big band feel at times and encompasses an excellent brass section. A particular favourite, ‘You Sent Me Flying’, reduced a previously noisy crowd to silence with emotive lyrics about unrequited love. [The lyrics,] which sent shivers down my spine, gave me goosebumps and sent the crowd into frenzied applause.
    Not that all reviews were favourable at this point. For instance, Fiona Shepherd, writing in the Scotsman about Amy’s performance at the Cottier Theatre in Glasgow, tore strips off her performance in general and vocal accomplishments in particular. She said Amy’s style,
    was tedious after five minutes, let alone an hour and five minutes, and her rich, mature tone was poorly served by her favoured vocal style. Winehouse oversang mercilessly like just another competent Pop Idol wannabe, mistaking vocal acrobatics for sophisticated soulful interpretation. By the time she had finished mangling each track, any melody which might have asserted itself was totally exterminated.
    She soon was to perform in Dublin, where the Irish Times reviewer wrote,
    There is still less doe-eyed sentimentality, or disingenuous coyness, in Winehouse’s music, a sassy mix of purring jazz and growling hip-hop to match her earthy, booty-shaking sexuality. We are a little taken aback, nonetheless, to find the recent Ivor Novello Award winner on stage this muggy evening, tugging at her neckline and blowing down her dress. Picking up where the venue’s air-conditioning falls short, it’s typical Winehouse: balancing moments of cool relief with music that’s resolutely hot’n’ bothered.
    A more eccentric write-up surfaced in Newsquest , following her show at the Liverpool Academy. Ian Kelly wrote,
    She is an amazingly charismatic live performer and, despite looking like the lovechild of Penelope Cruz and Ruud van Nistelrooy, she is also very sexy. And this girl really knows how to carry a tune. This was a note-perfect display of her unquestionable vocal talents which was absolutely stunning.
    Amy’s performance at the 2004 T in the Park festival was not quite so well written up. The Daily Star ’s Joe Mott wrote, ‘Her mesmerising vocals are spoiled by a crowd that thinks it’s in the theatre and chats throughout.’
    She also turned out at Warwick University, University of Northumbria, the Brecon Annual Jazz Festival, the Harrogate International Jazz Festival, Ross-on-Wye International Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival.