Killswitch Engage

Metal favourites Killswitch Engage were forced to postpone three sold-out shows of their current European headlining tour at the last minute on Saturday January 13 when guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz was deemed too injured to play.

Following months of recuperation after previous back surgery for a herniated disc, Adam had been touring in the USA with little to no incident, but after a week of shows in the UK, the guitarist found himself suffering increasing back pain, spending the time before and after shows lying flat with a bag of ice on his lower back, in an effort to continue touring. By Saturday however, the pain had risen to such a level that a local doctor rushed him to hospital in London, only hours before the band were due to take the stage at Brixton Academy. To make matters worse, vocalist Howard Jones was suffering from a chest infection. At that point, the band had still intended to play the evening's show.

After a series of tests in hospital, Adam was informed his back injury was so severe, he could definitely not continue the European tour, nor fly home – and would in fact need urgent surgery. Killswitch Engage had no choice but to postpone their shows in London, Bristol, and Paris while a Plan B was devised. Naturally, the band were worried about Adam and extremely disappointed he would not be able to finish the tour. Equally, they did not want to let their fans down by canceling the remaining 16 European shows.

Therefore, ex-Soilwork guitarist Peter Wichers has been flown over from the USA to fill in for Adam for the duration of the European dates. The band have been rehearsing with Peter since his arrival in the UK, and the tour will resume in Holland on January 17. In a brief statement the band said, "Adam will be missed, but he wants the tour to go on… we will try to miss as few shows as possible, and make up as many as we can. We appreciate all the messages and concern that everyone has shown."

We are relieved to report that Adam's surgery went well, and he is now recuperating in hospital with family at his bedside. He will fly home in a few days.

The band have rescheduled the London show for January 29, and are currently looking at options to reschedule the Bristol date. All tickets for the original shows remain valid for the rescheduled dates.