It was 2010 and Europe was erupting, yet game old trouper Whitney Houston defied the ash cloud and sailed into Dublin and played three dates in April at Dublin’s O2.
Four of us from The Irish Timesheaded down the quays. It's not often you get the chance to sit in the presence of greatness. We were excited to share the same space as Whitney. We knew she was a damaged woman, we knew she was teetering on the edge. We knew it could go either way. But so can we all. Whitney Houston RIP.
Here were our reactions to the concert:
ANTHEA McTEIRNAN
“She may have the Lord but it looks like she’s losing the plot”
How would we Irish fans know if she really loved us? The journey proved it, babbled Houston. There was a lot of babbling. “Let me say first, I’m gonna sing, she declared. But Whitney didn’t sing enough. She may have the Lord but it looks like she’s losing the plot. Yes Dublin did “wanna dance”, yes “we will always love you”, but the “greatest love of all” may be to remember you just the way you were. Didn’t we almost have it all? Not on Saturday night we didn’t.
LAUREN MURPHY
“Not comically bonkers, not even particularly entertaining – just sad”
Where to start? The suspicion of lip-synching? The cringeworthy between-song patter? Perhaps it’s best to start and finish with a simple fact: Whitney cannot sing live any more. Her latest album revealed a voice that had been ravaged by age and drug use. Unfortunately, without her backing singers all the audience would have heard was a wheezy karaoke caricature of a once-great singer. Not comically bonkers, not even particularly entertaining – just sad.
SINÉAD GLEESON
"Everyone paused for the big note on I Will Always Love You"
At the end of Whitney's first song she stretches out her arms in a Jesus-like pose. Twenty minutes later, she's beatifically solving the seating problems of a young girl in the front row. Sadly, that's as far as miracles went on a night that opened optimistically but left many feeling a little sad. There were flashes of that staggering voice, but too often the tired singer went through the motions, dropping out to let the crowd sing along. Everyone paused for the big note on I Will Always Love You. She took a good run at it, but like the gig itself it was never quite what it could have been.
ANNA CAREY
“Sometimes impressive, sometimes deeply uncomfortable”
Even those who had no time for her brand of sugary ballad always had to admit the woman could sing. Times have changed. The saddest part of this sometimes impressive, sometimes deeply uncomfortable show were the moments when we were reminded of what she used to be able to do, when she could effortlessly hit notes instead of bellowing them.