Will she, won't she? Amy Winehouse answered the question that most music fans have been asking by turning up for Oxegen.
Winehouse, who is as much a feature of the tabloid press as she is of the music charts nowadays, put her well-documented troubles behind her with a set which showcased her talents both as a singer and songwriter.
A cheer went up when the back-stage screen bearing her name came up. Fans began to chant "Amy, Amy" and the arena erupted when she appeared on stage just seven minutes after the scheduled time of 6.45 pm.
Wearing a short blue summery dress, Winehouse looked and sounded a lot better than of late and her performance was a lot more coherent than the one given two weeks ago at Glastonbury.
She began with
Addicted, followed by
My Tears Dry On Their Own. Her 50-minute set included favourites such as
Back To Blackand
Rehaband finished with her version of the Zutons
Valerie.
At one stage a band member had to fix the belt on her dress which kept slipping, but there was no hitch in an otherwise flawless performance.
She dedicated
Wake Up Aloneto her husband Blake Fielder-Civil who is currently on remand awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to charges of grevious bodily harm and perverting the course of justice. "This one's for Blakey. He's out in nine days," she said.
Elsewhere it was a day of sunshine and showers for the 80,000 fans with heavy showers and warm sun. The main stage line-up opened with anarchic US band Bowling For Soup followed by Scouting For Girls whose huge hit
She's So Lovelyprovoked a massive sing along by the Oxegen crowd.
Over on the O2 Stage, One Night Only frontman George Craig told fans that he'd celebrated his 18th birthday yesterday and said: 'Let's Party'.
Spotted soaking up the atmosphere in Pet Sounds was Rosanna Davidson and Wesley Quirke. The winner of Miss World 2003 and her boyfriend were enjoying the performance for Camille O'Sullivan.
Tonight features a double header with REM and The Verve headlining the main stage.
