The almost Amy Winehouse experience

So Amy Winehouse is cracking America – due to play at the end of the month at San Francisco’s Popscene; one of the ‘intimate’ club venues that Amy favours so much, she even managed to squeeze in a whistle-stop visit home to perform finally at G-A-Y in London last weekend, following her previously aborted appearance there. She is winning fans left, right and centre and in terms of her music: rightly so I feel. But is she winning fans in terms of her performances? Well, given my own recent experience of Amy live I tend to think not.

Firstly, I have to reassure you that I’m not taking a pop at Amy Winehouse in the slightest – or her performances, even though she has received a mixed review following her G-A-Y appearance. She is renowned for favouring the more intimate/club venues and given her style of music her choice is (probably!) perfectly fitting. It sounds kind of romantic; Amy Winehouse live in ‘intimate’ surroundings. A perfect pressie from the woman you love; tickets to see the woman whose music that you love. Suffice to say the experience fell somewhat short of expectations – and in this instance, short turned out to be the crucial word here.

Amy Winehouse live at G-A-Y (© Photorazzi)

For regular readers thinking this is one of our Sapphic Bird’s Eye series you’d be vaguely right. This time though we need some clarification – this is the Short Sapphic Bird’s Eye View of Amy Winehouse – as seen at the Carling Academy in Birmingham before she decamped to the US; or to be perfectly honest, as not-quite-seen at the Carling Academy. This is a short Sapphic bird’s eye view – not because the review is particularly lengthily-challenged, although given the limited material I have to work with, this may yet turn out to be the case! No, this is the short Sapphic bird’s eye view because, quite frankly, I am. Five foot two short actually.

Okay, so we were foolhardy to even consider it. A 5’2” borderline asthmatic, teetering on the wrong side of 40, mixed with a so-called intimate/club venue like the Carling Academy? What were we thinking? “Cool, Amy Winehouse live!” we were thinking, “Fantastic!” (Well you would, wouldn’t you?)

I would love to wax rhapsodically about Amy’s dulcet tones but to be fair I couldn’t actually hear her. The Carling Academy has a mezzanine floor you see, and beneath that mezzanine floor – where a fair proportion of the crowd seemed to be gathered – there appeared to be very little provision by way of sound.

I think she looked cool: I did manage to catch a tiny glimpse of blue – I’m assuming it was a dress – and thank god for Amy’s big hair – at least I knew she was actually on stage (although an old tape recorder, a microphone and a mannequin wearing a pretty tall wig would probably have had the same impact for me I must admit). My girlfriend was getting increasingly frustrated – at 5’6” she could at least get the occasional peek of Amy’s head – she kept a lookout for furrows along the shoulder-line of the crowd 80 deep in front of us. Her levels of success were scant at best given the crowd seemed to have a remarkable resemblance to a basketball team on tour (okay, so that’s my subjective opinion!). The basketball scenario lost credence when I considered (more) logically the smoky surroundings. For ‘intimate’ read badly ventilated – I started to crave the inhaler I hadn’t had need of for over 2 years – funnily enough I didn’t have it on me: joy!

With a tightening chest and a view of two standard lampshades at either side of the stage (I had a great view of those!) Amy broke into You know I’m no Good – I know this because the whole crowd seemed to suddenly be a part of the singalongaAmy brigade. Nowhere near to the start of her set, but the first song of the night I enjoyed. It didn’t matter that I still couldn’t hear her, or see her; the atmosphere – finally – struck a chord (and not just my lungs).

Amy Winehouse live at G-A-Y (© Photorazzi)

Towards the end of her set Carling Academy came into its own – albeit a completely subjective observation – as her encores coincided with a mass exodus of a good part of the crowd rushing to (probably) catch the last bus/train home. Finally! We held hands and waded into the throng. I still couldn’t see her but by god, I could hear her alright! The girl can sing live! What a shame that the only song I got an earful of was her cover of Valerie – great song that it is (and a pretty good cover), it’s not what I was hoping to hear.

I admit to being completely won over by the Back to Black album but hand on heart Amy Winehouse failed to engage me as a live performer purely because of her choice of venue. Don’t get me wrong, 20 years or so ago it probably wouldn’t have mattered to me that I couldn’t see, hear or breathe on a night out so long as I was surrounded by a group of friends and the bar was open. These days when I or my girlfriend forks out £40.00 or so for a couple of tickets to a show I must admit that I kind of expect to be able to see the object of my musical affections; bizarre as that sounds. Okay, so it’s an age thing and in the big scheme of things £40.00 is one of the cheaper ticket prices you’ll pay to be in the same room as someone of the calibre of Amy Winehouse – what a shame it doesn’t always involve seeing her!

Click here for a chance to win a copy of both of Amy Winehouse’s albums: Frank and Back to Black.