Formed back in the late 1980s, German hard rockers Kingdom Come have been through some turbulent lineup changes throughout the years. Nonetheless, they managed to release a total of 13 full-length studio albums and to keep a steady fanbase of the 1980s-style hard rock and glam metal. With the name existing for well over three decades, the group is still touring.
Unfortunately, one of the recent live shows got into the public’s eye for all the wrong reasons. As Blabbermouth reports, the band was criticized online (and most likely offline as well) for the not-so-stellar performance at Sweden Rock Festival.
Taking place in Sölvesborg, Sweden on June 10, parts of the band’s show at the festival were recorded by some of the attendees who shared them on YouTube. While we always strive to be as objective as possible, it’s extremely difficult not to notice how terrible things were.
In particular, people mostly focused on drummer James Kottak who famously played for Scorpions between 1996 and 2016. Swedish outlet Rocknytt reflected on the matter, criticizing Kottak’s performance and stating that he had a really hard time getting to the edge of the stage and bowing down at the show’s end.
Aside from Kottak’s playing, the rest of the band was also criticized. The aforementioned Swedish outlet said that the band had “several lengthy, uninspired, uninteresting and completely meaningless solos on both guitar and bass.” There was also a mention of “Do You Like It,” one of the band’s most popular songs, and how the musicians “completely massacred” the piece.
You can check out some of the fan-filmed footage below.
It takes no more than a glance at the videos’ comment sections to realize that there’s a general consensus among listeners. One of the commenters jokingly said “I guess they didn’t allow tuners through customs” for the performance of “Pushin’ Hard. Regarding Kottak’s drumming, one of the commenters also suggested that it won’t be a surprise “if they do a lineup change after this.”
Another comment also said “I would have thrown my guitar at the drummer,” with others also pointing out Kottak’s inability to keep the same tempo throughout one song.
What happens next remains to be seen. As of now, we assume that even the most die-hard Kingdom Come fans wouldn’t be up for witnessing such a show.
Photo: Mats Rindemark (YouTube screenshot)
