1. BACK TO
BLOTTO!(and she blames Blake)
TRAGIC Amy Winehouse was
booed off stage as her big come-
back gig descended into a
booze-sodden shambles.
She could barely stand as she guz-
zled drink, forgot her words then
burst into tears as the crowd jeered.
Afterwards her entourage bizarrely
blamed first the WEATHER then her
SADNESS over the break up with
hubby Blake Fielder-Civil.
Amy was performing at a jazz festi-
val in St Lucia, where she has been
holed up for several months. It was
meant to be a thank-you for the Carib-
bean islanders’ hospitality. But she:
l TURNED up an hour late af-
ter drinking for SIX hours;
l STRUGGLED to REMEMBER
even her best-known songs
like Back to Black;
l GUZZLED glasses of booze in
between song verses, and
l MUMBLED her way through
one track with her BACK to
3,000 music lovers.
The crowd, who paid £33 for
tickets, were shocked as Amy,
25, stumbled around on stage
muttering to herself.
She kept ordering roadies to
bring more drinks, despite
appearing to be on the verge of
collapse, clinging to her
microphone stand for support.
Then she began shouting at
her backing singers for play-
ing songs she’d never heard
of—until they reminded her
she wrote the tracks herself.
Amy—wearing a dirty bikini
top and flashing her silver
knickers—then slurred: “I’m just
kind of bored.” Mercifully, rain then
caused a power cut. But Amy was so
out of it she didn’t notice and carried
on singing, before slumping in a heap.
When the lights came up she tried
in vain to roll a cigarette, chewed the
paper and tobacco then spat it at the
crowd. Then she lunged at a horrified
backing singer with her tongue out.
Incredibly, after first blam-
ing the rain, Amy said
the emotion of splitting
from Blake caused
Friday’s fiasco.
A spokesman
said: “It’s the
first time
Amy has
sung those songs for a long
time. They brought back all
her memories of her Blake.
But New Yorker Dave
Geoghegan, 44, said after
the gig: “It’s entertain-
ing but only in the way
a train crash is.”
SHOCKER:
On stage in
grubby bra
and silver
knickers
SOUTH AFRICA–Jacob
Zuma, leader of the ANC,
was sworn in yesterday in
Pretoria watched by prede-
cessor Nelson Mandela.
PAKISTAN—Fears of a hu-
manitarian crisis were
growing yesterday as hun-
dreds of thousands fled
the Swat valley where
Government forces are
blasting Taliban positions
with helicopter gunships.
RUSSIA–Troops who de-
feated Georgia in a five-day
war last year took part in a
massive victory parade yes-
terday, with President
Dmitry Medvedev warning
the country would continue
to “decisively rebuff” ag-
gression.
JORDAN—German Pope
Benedict XVI, who out-
raged Jews when he re-
voked the excommunica-
tion of a bishop who de-
nies the Holocaust, said
his visit to the Middle
East was a reminder of
the “inseparable bond be-
tween the Catholic church
and the Jewish people.”
MONTSERRAT–Dozens of
rare mountain chicken
frogs, which way 2lbs, are
being airlifted to safety by
scientists as a fungus
devastates their habitat.
ZUM AT
THE TOP
WatchWatch
Amy’s dreadfulAmy’s dreadful
gig on video atgig on video at
notw.co.uknotw.co.uk
STINKER: Shoe comes off SHAMBLES: Amy stoops to new low
SPLIT:
Hubby
Blake
FROM MATTHEW DRAKE
IN ST LUCIA
Pictures:SIMONASHTON
32 NEWS OF THE WORLD, May 10, 2009