Whitney Houston continues to tour the planet with her Nothing But Love World Tour and has recently made her way to Australia (after performing shows in South Korea and Japan) and has hit a huge snag along the way. Whitney performed her first show in Oz this week (Brisbane, to be exact) and completely failed to impress her audience there. According to Aussie news reports, Whitney Houston‘s live performance on this tour has not been living up to expectations:
Whitney Houston’s Australian comeback is under fire after fans criticised the opening night of her Australian tour claiming the singer sounded ‘croaky and appeared ‘disorientated’. The American star struggled through the opening night of her first Australian tour since 1988, and was left breathless and exhausted after just two songs at her show at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, it was claimed. And even more bizarrely, the 46-year-old took a 20 minute break to catch her breath mid-way through the show. After half a dozen songs she left the stage for twenty minutes to take a break, bringing on her brother, Gary Houston, to sing in her absence. The band and backing singers then performed an energetic version of one of her biggest hits, Queen of the Night, from The Bodyguard soundtrack. One fan interviewed on Australian TV after the show said: ‘It was a disgrace. She can’t sing. She didn’t sing one song properly. She was disorientated and she needed a 20-minute break. It was the first concert I have walked out of in my life.’ Another fan said: ‘She couldn’t entertain a dead rat, to be honest.’ Other fans took to Facebook and Twitter to complain about the ‘croaky’ quality of her voice. ‘ ‘We just got back from Whitney Houston concert in Brizzy and I feel so sorry for her. She sounded croaky,’ fan Rick Crystal said on Facebook. ‘#whitneyhouston should have toured 15 years ago. Voice not what it used to be,’ adavidholloway said on Twitter after the concert. Some fans said they would be demanding their money back. ‘The multi-award winning singer appeared disoriented and failed to properly name some of her backing band as she introduced them to the audience, ‘ wrote the Australian Associated Press’s music reviewer. ‘But the final act faltered at the finale when she croaked her way through I Will Always Love You, pausing to get a drink and towel herself down just as she was about to hit the song’s epic high note, which she turned into a soft coo,’ he added … the singer’s spokesman Andrew McManus said Whitney was ‘surprised’ by the negativity and rejected tabloid rumours that she was seriously ill after the performance. U.S. tabloid the National Enquirer claimed the 46 year old had collapsed due to a drug and alcohol binge, and that her health has declined in recent months, with family members begging the star to postpone her planned concerts. ‘It was not a train wreck,’ McManus said. ‘She was hitting most of the notes, yes her throat was a little croaky. ‘Her health is fine but she’s also not 22 years of age anymore.’ The Australian concerts are part of her comeback “Nothing But Love” tour which kicked off at the end of last year. ‘She was not fit to perform,’ wrote one on the Courier Mail newspaper’s website. ‘She seemed to be on another planet and the concert was laughable.’
Yikes! Those Aussies and their concert reviews … they’re quite vicious, no? You may recall that the folks in Oz unleashed this kind of ire towards Britney Spears last year when she performed her Circus tour there … but, in their defense, they may be right about Whitney‘s lackluster performance this time around. After the jump, check out video of Whitney‘s performance of I Will Always Love You and judge for yourselves whether or not Whit was up for the task of performing …
Yeesh … yeah, she sounds pretty rough. But, in all honesty, I still love the woman and I’m convinced her live performance will be up to par by the time she tours the US later on this year. You keep on goin’, Whitney! No one said comebacks were easy … you just keep on goin’!!
[Source]
actually quite a few of my friends attended both Britney and Whitney. Britney they could handle because of the choreo and stage show, but Whitney’s they were just appalled with. For the first 15 minutes she just rambled on and didn’t even sing
That was bad. I hope she gets it together for the U.S.
[...] Whitney Houston’s world tour fails to impress in Australia – Pink Is the New Blog [...]
Not only did she sound bad but she STOPPED mid song. That is one of the most unprofessional things a performer can do. She must have been out of it because she absolutely should have known better.
Don’t really appreciate the negative comments about the Aussie media Trent. She did a horrible job so I think the public, who may buy tickets have every right to know the honest truth.
I love how sghe teased the crowd and then BAM!
Not her best but gurlfriend WORKED IT! I love her!
what a wreck. yeah, singers lose their voices over time, but that’s making excuses. their job is to keep their voices going for as long as possible…aretha STILL sounds great, mariah, celine, and the list goes on. she’s doing her fans a great disservice by putting on this pitiful, lame excuse of a comeback tour. it pains me to say it, but whitney, you’re done girl. and far too soon.
If this isn’t a message to the kiddies telling them drugs are bad, I don’t know what is! Whitney, time to throw in the towel. Sad but true.
When I watched the Whitney Houstons concert in Brisbane I couldn’t help thinking no matter how much you accomplish in entertainment ,your only ever as as good as your last performance. Did she just Finnish a tour? I’m not sure. It still doesn’t warrant using a mobile phone with a recording capability of a outer Mongolian with a lisp and broadcasting it all over the world, He’s a terrorist! Love the bit where he goes wooo wooo wooo through a moment ,Once again proving he’s a idiot. (and no doubt to Whitney as well), just when it does means something, an Aussie who thinks there at an ACDC concert goes woo woo)! You could tell how much the audience listened by the sound of continuing ooowing in the middle of some really wicked notes. If I were Whitney I’d be thinking, “My voice is shot, I’ll treat it like a rehearsal they don’t have any idea.Maybe If I walk over here and use the towel for a while they’ll stop woo hooing, no……there idiots!” Audiences want their memories exactly like the original, no adlibbing, no blues type song lengths cause everyone’s getting to used to Idol where every song is 2 and a half minutes!
‘ I will always love you’ at the end of a set of Whitney’s vocal push is an effort. Have a bit of patience, enjoy the variation. This crowd would be thrown out of any jazz festival cause every time a solo would come up you’d hear some idiot Australian going ” Woo Hoooo at a totally wrong moment. look, Whitney set the heights high vocally, It would be a challenge for anyone and her audience live for those high notes! Whitney’s older now and has lived hard, she deserves some recognition for her achievements, but like vultures the Aussie audience hover over the star waiting for that mistake so they can justify buying that magazine that said Whitney’s washed up, instead of listening to the music and letting it take you to who Whitney is now. The audience want to relive their youth, so it has to be exactly like the CD! I think there’s character to her voice now, the songs have a reality about them that says to people, I’m human…your no longer 20, get over it and give me my money! Whitney should have had a 1900 number that the audience vote before coming in. Will Whitney make all the notes? yes or no?
It would remind them of idol ( so they’d feel at home) and Whitney would make millions of dollars,Refund their tickets (so they’d shut up) and buy a new voice box! Every time ‘I will always love you” gets performed, Dolly Parton buys a new house.
Look, Whitney stuffed up, you were there. To walk out, not to stay and support her, the voice you once loved! Who the hell do you think you are and what are we becoming? Judges, Critics and Experts! Try singing one of her songs yet alone 2 hours of them. Dont worry, you’ll get your pound of flesh, It’ll be cool to tell your Grand-kids “It was terrible, she sang a couple of notes strangely so I walked out !” Yep, like I’d really like those grandparents coming to the school musical! “lets wait until he starts singing then we’ll go woo hoo” No thanks!
At this point, Whitney Houston should not be doing any concerts because she is definetely not ready. If she had any kind of decent manager, he should have advised Whitney to try to strengthen her voice and wait until she was up to par before going on tour. Because now that the word is out that she is not performing well, it is going to cripple her from getting any future engagements because no promoter is going to want to book her and no one is going to want to spend their money to see her not perform well. And if the drug use has permanetely damaged her vocal cords, then she has to accept that and not try to give people a fraction of what she use to be. She has to accept that she did this to herself and she has to deal with it accordingly. However, I still love and support Whitney and I wish her well,
scott: you are a true idiot. These people paid upwards of $150 – $200 for 1 night of entertainment. HAve you ever heard of KD Lange or Cyndi Lauper? Their voices have IMPROVED with age because they are constantly keeping them in good shape (I don’t think either smokes, Whitney is a notorious Newports chain smoker). Maybe if Whitney was charging $20 per show, then the critiques would not be so justified. But people should definately demand to get their money’s worth from an entertainer, esp in this day and age when money is scarce for a lot of people!!
I told you so. I spoke out about Whitney Houston’s concert inJapan. I can tell you right now, she’s not going to finish this tour. If she does she’ll be sued by some people who will most definitely want their money back.
http://www.pinkisthenewblog.co.....-to-japan/ You can read more about it here. See ClosetFreak
ClosetFreak Says:
February 14th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
I was there. Feb 14th Saitama Super Arena. First let me say. I still love Whitney and nothing will ever erase the positive historical contributions she has given the world. Now to move on to the Present.
Her voice was hurting. She really struggled through her sets. Not to mention trouble with faulty equipment. She is charismatic on stage but I felt she lack professionalism. “I’m so sleepy”. She told the crowd “I’m pissed right now, and I’m gonna go back stage and get unpissed” Sure the Japanese audience might not have fully understood it but was it necessary?
I felt she had a very supportive group of artists, especially the back-up singers, but they weren’t really back up singers. They were doing most of the work cause Whitney just isn’t what she used to be.
The crowd really applauded her spirituality. Amazing Grace was nice and so true. The Lord does love us all and can save those who want to be saved. The Lord did not save her voice though. We can feel the holy spirit in her and I love her for that. Amen.
I would say to anyone who is about to watch her show. Show your love, be supportive, remember why you went there in the first place. Don’t expect!! People change. We lost Michael Jackson last year and we regret that maybe we demonized him so much in the media. Please go see her with an open mind.
I know this review may seem very mixed with pros and cons, but I’m just being honest about what I saw.
Deep down, we all know the truth about some things but lets move like she has and lets move with her.
I paid $200 per ticket and now they are half price…?????
I haven’t seen the live show yet, I saw the you tube Brisbane show and it was disgraceful
I am going to be asking for half my money back at least.
Tiketek cannot charge full price one month and half the next for the same show???? Yes she sounded bad and should not have performed at all. If i had seen this footage first i never would have bought the tickets.
The promoters are going to have to do alot of refunding and alot of explaining.
Whitney Houston needs to get off the stage and retire before she turns herself into a TOTAL laughing stock! That video posted above with her ATTEMPTING to sing I will always love you is a disgrace. If I were Dolly Parton I’d ban her ass from EVER singing my song again.
Go to YouTube to view the rest of her “Nothing But Love” garbage Tour…
It’ll be funnier than any show on Comedy Central.
The Truth Must Be Told.
@TruthTeller — LOL. You keep hatin’, Whitney will keep touring … no harm, no foul.