Day 3 of Copenhell with a huge surprise
Copenhell has firmly established itself as a Mecca for those seeking an unparalleled rock experience. From the sizzling riffs to the thunderous drum beats, this festival captures the essence of rock and metal in its purest form. With an impressive line-up of internationally renowned acts and emerging talents, Copenhell consistently delivers an unforgettable feast of headbanging and adrenaline-packed performances.
The festival’s roots go back to its humble beginnings in 2010 when it first kick-started the Danish music scene. Since then, Copenhell has grown exponentially, capturing the imagination of fans around the world and building a reputation as one of Europe’s premier rock festivals. Maxazine’s Mark Vilstrup Pedersen and Morten Holmsgaard Kristensen visited Copenhell. After a great opening day on Wednesday, and an incredible second day, the third day had a surprise…
Korpiklaani:
The Finnish Folk metal veterans started out early with their probably most famous song, sung in metal bars around the world, ‘Beer Beer’. After that, the tone is set, and people are in the mood for more. In front of the stage is a neverending moshpit, and a bunch of people are crowd surfing. Even at the edges, people are dancing in place. The band has songs in both English and Finnish, which of course is a very beautiful language, that no one understands. This isn’t a detriment to the band though, it works well for them.
The show itself is amazing, the music is high tempo, and the musicians work well with each other. Not everyone can incorporate violin and harmonica this well. It’s clear that the band did folk music before metal, and not the other way around. Halfway through, the crowd sitting in the hills are asked to disperse because of an impending downpour with thunder and lightning. This doesn’t affect the mood much though and the band keeps on playing, like pros. Having seen Korpiklaani before I would definitely say that this is one of their better shows.
Napalm Death:
Napalm Death was not the luckiest bunch this day. Even though they delivered their usual high-octane grindcore / extreme metal firebombs for about half the scheduled stage time, they, unfortunately, had to do so during a downpour with the wind so strong that the show eventually had to be cut short.
To their credit though, they didn’t stop playing until they absolutely had to for safety reasons. And it’s a good thing they did, since afterwards one of the giant screens hanging next to the stage got too loose and fell down. The crowd were probably not the biggest they ever played for either since a lot of people were already seeking shelter due to the weather, but at least the people who were there, got a great show the time they were on stage.
We planned to review Architects. But they seem to not be able to shake the curse of rain. And in the end, the stage and band decided to call it quits and cancel the show. Due to the wind and rain damage to the main stage. The crew on the main stage really earned their wristband, running around trying to frantically salvage Heliviti in time for Slipknot later.
Cabal:
Maybe the Christian protestors outside the festival actually had a point in 2016, when they said that Copenhell had caused a rift down to actual hell and summoned a storm because the weather certainly had a lot of influence again this year. Even after the downpour and lightning had died down, there were delays and technical issues at every stage. All of this probably affected Cabal the most, since not only were they delayed, and had technical issues with one of their monitors, but they also had to perform in front of a rather damp and disengaged crowd, disappointed in the recent cancellations. Which really is too bad, because the performance itself was actually pretty great.
The Danish deathcore band is known for delivering a brutal and engaging show, and lead singer Andreas Bjulver, did his very best to turn things around. He even tried getting people to make a wall of death, but everyone completely missed his queue to go, and it all seemed a bit silly. He didn’t give up though, and stage-divided and crowd-surfed during the last few songs, which did get things going a bit. All in all, the band did their best with the hand they were dealt and performed better than one could have hoped for.
Slipknot:
If there’s one phrase that comes to mind when watching Slipknot live, it’s ‘stage presence’! The band has the entire audience captivated from the get-go, with the impressive visuals on stage. They played some of the biggest hits from both old and newer albums, and the crowd loved all of it, singing along and just running amok. Although the band has changed faces numerous times, not only in regards to the masks but the actual members, they still put on one hell of a show.
Just like the last time they visited Copenhell, they finished the show strong by making the audience crouch and then jump up at their cue, which is always a crowd-pleaser. You could hear people all over talking about this concert throughout the day, and seeing how most of the festival defied the weather to show up, this was definitely the highlight of Friday’s lineup.
Photo’s (c) Morten Holmsgaard Kristensen
