-
Amy Winehouse performing in Belgrade, Serbia
Mad. Bad. Sad.
Watching this video of Amy Winehouse performing in Belgrade this week broke my heart a little bit.
As the singer stumbles around drunkenly, pouting at her hostile fans and turning to her guitarist for help, it feels as though you're watching an anti-drug advertisement. She's like a poster girl for the Faces of Meth campaign.
I stopped following Winehouse's antics some time ago, after she entered the bad phase of her addiction. When she began slurring her words or forgetting them altogether.
Before that, she was just a bit mad. An eccentric breath of fresh air to the 2006 charts, offering welcome reprieve from the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Christina and The Pussycat Dolls.
Sure, she joked about rehab. That just made us think she didn't really have problem. Just a bit of fun, innit?
We watched her become more and more bedraggled, wasting away before our very eyes.
There was the violent marriage. The public feuds. The rambling acceptance speeches.
Eventually, we stopped watching. Even the tabloids decided she wasn't fair game, turning their lenses onto more lucid stars.
Once in a while, a story would pop up claiming she was on the mend - a comeback was in the works. Stories no doubt planted by the managers and record execs still dreaming of another Winehouse pay day.
Rumours came and went but the comeback never emerged.
So it was somewhat of a surprise when she announced - and showed up - for a gig in Brazil earlier this year. Her first public performance in more than two years.
By most singers' standards, it was a pretty poor show. But for Winehouse, it was a rousing success. Her tour manager went ahead and booked a full European tour - beginning in Belgrade this week.
But no sooner had the venues been booked the wheels began to fall off. Winehouse was admitted to rehab for a seven-day stint at the Priory - apparently swigging a 40oz of vodka on the way there.
The crash course obviously had little effect, leading to this week's loaded performance and a deluge of YouTube videos revealing just how little progress has been made.
Three years on, I rather fear the troubled singer will never make a full recovery. Or even a partial one.
After so many months of serious and sustained drug and alcohol abuse, there's little hope of a healthy future for Winehouse. Especially not if her management continue to push her on stage and leave her to stumble about.
The only thing left to do is look away and leave the addict to battle her demons in private.
Read more Joanna Hunkin entertainment opinion.
