Sunday’s Coronation Concert on the grounds of Windsor Castle is getting royally ridiculed online.
“A cheesy display of undazzling star-wattage,” opined the Financial Times. Variety opined that “so much of the show felt trivial and unmemorable.”
The Evening Standard said “host Hugh Bonneville deserved Oscars galore for declaring the night ‘overflowing with mega-talent’ and then, with unflinching conviction, introducing Olly Murs.”
At iNews, the spectacle was summed up this way: “As a showcase for the arts, the King’s Coronation Concert was not exactly the best of British.”
On social media, viewers did not hold back. “This is a cruise ship concert,” read one tweet. “It's absolutely shocking.”
Lionel Richie’s vocals on his hits “Easy” and “All Night Long” were singled out in several reviews. The Guardian described as “like someone walking barefoot over Lego” and The Evening Standard said that based on his “unnatural” intonations on “All Night Long,” Richie “might have been replaced by an AI getting Lionel Richie slightly wrong.”
New Zealand’s Stuff mentioned “the off-pitch performance by once-great crooner Richie, that raised eyebrows across the crowd.
Katy Perry, whom The Independent quipped was dressed “as a giant Quality Street” candy, fared better for her performance of “Roar” and “Firework.”
Also performing at the concert were Nicole Scherzinger (who did “Reflection” from Mulan), Andrea Bocelli and Bryn Terfel (“You’ll Never Walk Alone”), Steve Linwood (“Higher Love”), Tiwa Savage (“Keys to the Kingdom”) and Take That (“Never Forget”).
In March, it was reported that many A-list music stars, including Adele, Harry Styles and Elton John turned down invitations to perform at the Coronation Concert.
On Sunday night, The Guardian suggested there was a sense “that the show was cobbled together from what they could get.”