No refund for Winehouse tickets

Amy Winehouse is known for her nonchalant attitude on stage but apparently her performance last Friday was simply too much for the Dubai audience.

Gulf News readers spoke to the newspaper about their disappointment.

"Her voice is original and it has a distinct quality to it," said Michael de Vries, who attended the concert. "It's a shame she can't live up to the expectations of a professional musician."

De Vries described Winehouse's performance as absent and unengaged.

He was particularly upset about her unwillingness to work with a seemingly enthusiastic crowd. And De Vries is not the only disappointed fan.

All weekend, irate readers have been commenting on gulfnews.com about Winehouse's performance.

"My husband and I paid Dh1,000 to hear Amy Winehouse — such a big mistake. She was disrespectful as she didn't care. We left," wrote Muruvet Patir, after seeing the show.

One reader felt the performance was so distracted that it was concerning.

Fiona A. Boyle commented: "I ask those close to Amy Winehouse to help her. Letting her go on stage again like last Friday will destroy her."

All seemed to agree on one thing in particular. James Henderson put it most succinctly. He said: "Her [Amy Winehouse] performance could never be considered one that was worthy of the cost to those who chose to support her with their attendance."

Some members of the audience have even started Facebook groups – namely ‘Amy Winehouse Dubai – Refund’ and ‘Amy Winehouse, Dubai wants its money back’.

Creator of the latter group, Bob Wenn, describes his group as “a forum for those who attended her non-event of a performance on February 11 and feel shafted by artist, promoter and all involved in this farce.”

So far, the group has 16 members, but people are adding to the number every day.

Gulf News spoke to Thomas Ovesen, the chief operating officer at Done Events, the concert organiser, about the fact that fans called the Winehouse concert "a waste of money" and demanded their money back.

He said: "The artist performed a full concert set, therefore her management will not entertain refunds of tickets."

Ovesen explained that Winehouse did five similar performances in Brazil, and he suggests that fans simply make up their minds as to whether they like her way of performing her material or not.

Concert attendee Andy Fordham was not content with Ovesen's explanation. He said: "You just have to do a quick internet search to see that she has done better concerts than this one."

Fordham does not, however, blame the organiser for the quality of the concert.

"They did a great job in securing international talent," he said.

"My only advice to them is to sidestep the risky artists because people in Dubai will not support another performance like this."

Ovesen told Gulf News that Winehouse is "clearly a very volatile performer", who probably hasn't "yet found her ways when it comes to how to interact with ... audiences".

He added that the style of performance is subjective and he did not want to "claim what is good or bad". He added: "I am as upset as any ... I would always wish our guests enjoy the shows."