Bestival review: Amy Winehouse

If Guardian blog commenters thought The Wino's Glastonbury gig was bad, they should have seen this

Who: Amy Winehouse

Dress code: Nautical but nice - the band are all decked out like sailors, while Wino sings ("sings") from behind a ship's steering wheel.

Who's watching: The biggest crowd of the festival so far - and most of them are clearly here for the car crash.

In a nutshell: OK, so I'm one of about three people on earth who watched The Wino play Glastonbury this year and came back proclaiming it a triumph. But if Guardian blog commenters thought that was a bad show, they should have seen this. Admittedly, things got better. They had to - the first song (Addicted, I think) was barely recognisable, thanks to the fact Amy only sang about 23% of the lyrics. But even when she got her voice back, the whole thing felt a bit nasty, overstepping the increasingly thin line between troubled genius and total shambles. Maybe if we hadn't just spent an hour dancing to Hot Chip, whose rave-tastic set blew the mud halfway to Newport, it wouldn't have seemed so bad. But we had, and in comparison to that, a set of half-sung Sam Cooke and Zutons covers from a woman who could barely stand-up straight didn't exactly top off the night in style.

Bestival: She turned up, she played, there was no riot.

Worstival: The wait for her to get onstage - about 80 minutes, but it felt like hours.

Contributor

Tim Jonze

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Review: Amy Winehouse

Review: Amy, Amy, Amy. She seems a bit distracted. Is it nerves, or something else?

Rosie Swash

22, Jun, 2007 @5:01 PM

Article image
Bestival 2013 – the festival's first arrivals

As gates for Bestival 2013 open, festivalgoers get ready for the next four days of music and madness

05, Sep, 2013 @5:14 PM

Article image
Amy Winehouse makes surprise appearance at V festival | Sean Michaels

News: The star performed as a backing singer with Ska band the Specials and joined Pete Doherty for an onstage kiss

Sean Michaels

24, Aug, 2009 @11:03 AM

Article image
Bestival – review
The sun shone, and the xx and New Order shimmered, as an animal-costumed crowd danced the last of the summer away

Alexis Petridis

09, Sep, 2012 @3:32 PM

Article image
Amy Winehouse: 'I learned from everything really' - video

Watch Amy Winehouse discuss her jazz influences and perform Love Is a Losing Game at the Other Voices festival in 2006

22, Jul, 2012 @4:00 PM

Bestival review: CSS

We know they're a solid live outfit, but sadly, the new stuff just doesn't stand up when mixed with the old

James Anthony

08, Sep, 2008 @9:18 AM

Article image
Bestival 2011 – review
The leftfield electro brigade resorted to cliche, PJ Harvey enthralled, and the Cure delivered a set on a symphonic scale, writes Mark Beaumont

Mark Beaumont

11, Sep, 2011 @12:14 PM

Article image
Amy Winehouse: 'There's nothing more pure apart from your love of music' - video

Watch Amy Winehouse discuss her love of jazz and gospel music, and perform Tears Dry on Their Own at the Other Voices festival in 2006

22, Jul, 2012 @4:00 PM

Bestival review: The Breeders

You really can't go wrong with the Breeders. And with a set featuring lots of impressive material from their recent album Mountain Battles, it looks like they are back for good

Daniel Martin

08, Sep, 2008 @11:36 AM

Article image
Amy Winehouse: Lioness: Hidden Treasures – review

Alexis Petridis: It was clearly a bit of struggle to cobble together the material for this posthumous Amy Winehouse album

Alexis Petridis

01, Dec, 2011 @3:30 PM