Houston, we have a problem: Whitney Houston’s first concert in Britain in more than a decade has received mixed reviews with some fans describing it as “horrendous,” The BBC reports.
The 46-year-old singer kicked off the European leg of her tour in Birmingham, playing to a sold-out crowd after battling an upper respiratory infection for the past two weeks. Houston was forced to postpone a concert in Paris and her first three gigs in the UK while she recovered, but a number of fans were left confused and $200 poorer after Houston croaked her way through her signature ballads, often failing to hit the right notes during last night’s show.
According to Yahoo.com’s “Snap, Crackle, Pop” Column, the diva was booed by fans on a number of occasions during a set that has been described as “shambolic.” And don’t get us started on her shaky rendition of “I Will Always Love You.” Many fans turned to the Internet to voice their displeasure with Houston’s show:
On Twitter, SymphonyUK said: “It’s a shame Whitney didn’t lip-synch, like Britney did.”
One fan told London’s Daily Mail: “I was waiting for the Trading Standards guys to call a halt and offer us our money back. It was a con, a rip off. It wasn’t a concert.”
The audience got restless as the singer took a number of long breaks in between belting out her hits.
One fan told a local radio station: “She was rasping and rambling. She couldn’t sing, it was horrendous and I shall be asking for my money back.”
Some European critics were also unimpressed by her performance with many claiming that her once amazing voice no longer sounds as good as it used to. Take The Sun, for instance:
“Time and crack addiction – which she claims to have beaten – have not been kind to her once astonishing voice. It is now deeper and huskier. Houston, we still have a problem.”
Yet despite complaints from disgruntled fans, some reviewers have been kinder.
“A long way away from the fresh, glowing talent seen at her peak, the voice was still there although “the stamina was not,” The Birmingham Post said.
David Sinclair from The Times remaked that Whit’s “armor-plated vibrato was still in evidence” but noted that “she is now, understandably, finding it hard to match up to her own standards let alone those of the next generation.”
The Austrailian leg of Whitney’s “Nothing But Love World Tour” also came under attack, with fans there claiming she struggled to sing properly and looked exhausted and breathless when she performed Down Under in February.