LONDON — British singer Amy Winehouse is canceling part of her European tour, her representatives said Sunday, after the singer was booed for being late and stumbling onto stage during a concert in Serbia.
Winehouse will be canceling appearances in Istanbul on Monday and in Athens on Wednesday, according to a statement from publicity company Outside Organization.
The Serbia concert late Saturday kicked off a 12-date tour of Europe. Her representatives said it would be “worked out as soon as possible” whether she would attend the rest of her European tour.
The next date after Istanbul and Athens is July 8 in Bilbao, Spain. The tour is due to end in Bucharest, Romania, on Aug. 15.
The singer would like to say sorry to fans expecting to see her in Turkey and Greece, but “feels that this is the right thing to do,” the statement said.
“Despite feeling sure that she wanted to fulfill these commitments, she has agreed with management that she cannot perform to the best of her ability and will return home,” it added.
Winehouse, who has publicly struggled with drugs and alcohol, was jeered as she performed in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade. She stumbled onto the stage, mumbled through her songs and sometimes wandered off.
Serbian media described the concert before about 20,000 fans as a “scandal” and a “disaster.” The Blic daily said the concert was “the worst in the history of Belgrade.”
Winehouse, who has publicly struggled with drugs and alcohol, was almost an hour late, before stumbling to the stage and appearing unable to remember the lyrics to her songs. She dropped the microphone and occasionally disappeared, with her band playing instead.
The crowd at Belgrade’s Kalemegdan Park could hardly tell which song Winehouse was singing and responded angrily. Many walked out in disappointment.
“It was horrible,” said Ivana Bilic, a fan. “She should have canceled the whole thing, rather than appear at all like this.”
The Daily Blic posted a clip from the concert on its website, commenting, “Listen if you dare.”
Tickets cost about (euro) 40 ($57) — very expensive in the country where average salaries are about (euro) 300 ($428) a month.
Winehouse recently spent a week at a rehab program in London. Her breakthrough album “Back to Black” from 2006 won five Grammy Awards, but her music in recent years has been overshadowed by drug use and run-ins with the law.
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