Amy's in a black mood

Eden Sessions, Amy Winehouse, July 17EDEN had been fielding calls all day from people worried that the notoriously fragile diva Amy Winehouse wouldn't be turning up for last night's gig, as she had already cancelled a number of other performances due to "exhaustion".Bookmakers William Hill had been taking bets at 2-1 all week on whether she would turn up. Then there was the notorious interview with an American music magazine where she had carved her new husband's name into her stomach and rushed out of the room every five minutes to snog him.But the signs were good for Tuesday's Eden Sessions with Amy safely ensconced backstage and feedback from the soundcheck was that she was sounding hot. Of course there was the other announcement that day that her album Back to Black had been shortlisted for the prestigious Mercury music award, what could go wrong?At 9.30pm prompt the lights went down and Amy appeared on stage in high cut off denim shorts and a red vest. She appeared to be relaxed, pleased to be here, asking if the audience was all Cornish or whether they'd travelled.But the audience were left considerably non-plussed when she literally sprinted off the stage after the first couple of numbers without explanation, even her band looked confused. She returned but these sudden disappearances continued throughout the gig as she slowly disintegrated before our very eyes.With songs as good Back to Black, You Know I'm No Good, Rehab and Me and Mr Jones there were times where you could see what the gig could have been. But there were also to many times when the songs seemed to drag and Amy's voice began to get more and more slurred, I don't think it was water in that clear glass.Halfway through the gig Amy decided she was going to sit on the drum riser and introduce the band, there were ten of them and each one was given a solo. While there is no disputing her band was excellent, especially the backing singers who often had to fill in for Amy when she ran out of words, we'd come to see her and all this noodling took about ten minutes, around three songs.By the time she played the final number she'd lost it completely swearing at the band and hitting herself on the head with the microphone and slapping her face. She finished by spitting at someone in the audience, although metaphorically she'd spat at everyone all evening.Storming off after exactly an hour she was obviously forced to come back on stage after a row and, despite a lot of encouragement from the audience, launched into a very perfunctory version of the Zuton's Valerie. She then threw down her microphone and stormed off without out a word, leaving a subdued audience to shuffle their way out of the venue.It was definitely one of the Eden sessions most memorable gigs but for all the wrong reasons. Maybe it was the wrong venue for Amy's intimate songs of love and loss and while she is an undoubted talent, the Cornish people deserved better.http://www.thepacket.co.uk/news/videonews/index.var.6391.0.0.php