Some papers say her show in front of a 10,000-crowd at Dubai Festival City Feb. 16 was just another of Winehouse’s below-par performances, while others suggest the problem was due to a dodgy sound system.

The story became international news once one of the artist’s reps told London’s Metro that “Amy’s in-ear monitors weren’t working.”

Local reviews of the show suggest the controversial and care-worn singer had cut songs short and wandered off stage a few times. The vocals were described as “barely audible and out of tune.”

Done Events chief ops officer Thomas Ovesen, whose company had arranged the show, was quick to rebut criticism of the sound system it had provided.

“If her ear monitors weren’t working, I don’t see what that has to do with what the audience heard,” he said.

One fan told one of the leading Gulf papers that the only sound problem was that nothing came out of Amy’s mouth.

Time Out Dubai said it wasn’t clear if the problems were related to the mic or the sound desk.

“What was obvious was that Amy Winehouse didn’t want to be on that stage,” it said.