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Shine on you crazy diamond

Raffaella Barker

Wednesday, 28th November 2007

Amy Winehouse (Brixton Academy)

And, boy, are the songs good. Back to Black is the bestselling album of the year, and the collective pleasure as Amy picks up her guitar and fingers an introduction to ‘Love is a Losing Game’ can be cut with a knife. And the notorious battle song ‘Rehab’ is greeted with cheers and delivered with a sassy marching beat reminiscent of a jolly Fifties number. Light and ironic is just the right touch here. No matter how many times she has to sit down between numbers, no matter how many pints of rocket fuel she imbibes, no matter how she stumbles, mumbles and drops her mike, she remains a drop-dead gorgeous singer.

Her set is a well-put-together hour, and it is generally best that she keeps singing: there is an anxious moment when she starts mumbling into a bunch of flowers, but she pulls herself together, throws one to the audience and sends love to her Dad in the crowd. What with the tattoos on her arm, there is a painful sense of her wearing her heart on her sleeve. ‘Me and Mr Jones’ in the encore set is dedicated to Blake and she is patently missing her husband badly. The gig tails off with ‘Valerie’, and Amy scampers off the stage. It doesn’t matter that her exit is rushed, it doesn’t matter that she was sometimes a little confused; the show was the better for the rough edges and her voice gleams through, enduring and forever like a diamond. Let her shine.

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JCT, Manhattan

December 9th, 2007 12:14pm

What an evocative description, a pleasure to read, and as exciting as listening to Amy Winehouse! Thanks

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