We were at the Amy Winehouse Birmingham gig last night but walked out after half an hour (we had bought the tickets three months ago and had really looked forward to it. Her backing band are very good, staging superb but……. • Amy was 45 minutes late on stage (the crew on sound and light desks seemed to be used to this) • Her speech was almost incoherent • Her vocals were seriously off key – quite honestly, any local bar would have paid her off • The end of all her vocal lines were lost as she was pulling away from the microphone • Her guitar, which was on and off her shoulder at random, had no radio pack or leads – basically, it was not plugged in. • We joined a stream of disenchanted and vocal Birmingham punters - the doorman reckoned he had never seen so many people leave a concert so quickly. This was a totally unprofessional performance and a travesty of talent. We, amongst many others, will be demanding our money back as the ‘entertainment’ we had paid for was not of marketable quality. Surely a good manager, in it for the long term with an off-the-rails but talented 24-year old, would be putting a stop to this. However, if her management knows it is a short term ride; they will milk it for all they can get and plan an escape route well in advance of the ‘star’ getting dumped by her record company and avoided by all promoters. Guess the evidence speaks for itself what strategy her manager has. Jon Bates PS – Amy. Your husband being held in jail does not allow you to turn up drunk for work. Glad you are not a nurse!