Metallica // Architects // Mammoth WVH // Live @ Parken Stadium, Copenhagen // 14.06.2024

Metallica landed in Copenhagen for their M72 world tour – No Repeat Weekend, and there seemed to be a real buzz around the capitol with Metallica T-Shirts everywhere you looked from Thursday onwards. With Denmark of course being the home country of Lars Ulrich, playing the capital always feels like a homecoming for both the drummer and the local Danish Metallica family. In and around the stadium from Friday afternoon there was the feel of a real festival vibe, as pop-up bars, food stalls and merch stands lined the streets, and with the sun shining – it was Mammoth WVH who took to the stage first to warm up the growing crowd inside the venue.

Wolfgang Van Halen may be the son of one of the greatest Rock guitarists of all time, a legend in Eddie Van Halen (RIP) who transformed Hard Rock in the late 70s and early 80s. But he is also very much carving out his own impressive career as a musician, with his band putting out two respectable albums in the last few years. Wolfgang is not only an excellent guitarist like his father but he also has an incredibly strong Rock voice, as well a fine collection of songs in his arsenal that perfectly warm up the crowd that had made it inside the venue early enough to catch them.

Next up it was Brighton’s Architects who brought their brand of UK Metalcore to the Metallica audience, seemingly with the plan to win over the devout crowd and draw some new fans to their music. They very much played a greatest hits set drawn from their extensive catalogue of music released over ten albums and eighteen years. Songs such as ‘Deep Fake,’ ‘Curse,’ ‘Royal Beggars’ – and with the mighty ‘Animals’ from 2021s For Those That Wish To Exist closing out their energetic set. Vocalist Sam Carter appeared to be having one hell of a time as he strutted around the circular stage, taking in the atmosphere and clearly enjoying his time on the Metallica tour.

When Architects left the stage there was a considerable amount of time before Metallica graced us with their presence, and you could feel the anticipation growing in the air. And the crowd went wild when the instantly recognisable intro tape of Ennio Morricone’s ‘The Ecstacy of Gold’ bled through the PA system, and the band finally burst into ‘Creeping Death’ from 1984s Ride The Lightning. Metallica kept things old-school for the first part of their set as they delivered a fine rendition of … And Justice For All’s ‘Harvester of Sorrow,’ before dipping all the way back to ‘Hit The Lights’ from their 1983 debut Kill Em All.

Of course Metallica are touring a new album, and the mid part of their set drew from 2023s 72 Seasons – with the title track, ‘If Darkness Had a Son’ and ‘Shadows Folllow’ all getting an enthusiastic work out. But it was the back half of the set when the band brought out a succession of songs that the crowd had all been waiting for.

The stunning ballad ‘Nothing Else Matters’ was followed by the comparatively stomping ‘Sad But True’ (both from the 1991 ‘Black’ album) – before Blackened’ from Justice, ‘Seek & Destroy’ from Kill Em All, and ‘Fuel’ from Reload were all lapped up by the audience.

At the end of a thrilling set they climaxed with the one and only ‘Master of Puppets’ from their landmark 1986 Thrash record of the same name. Sadly there was no encore, and no ‘Enter Sandman’ (that will be left for Sunday evenings second set of the weekend). But over forty years into their career it’s fair to say that Metallica still put on one hell of a show … and they left the stage leaving their crowd unquestionably wanting more. KZ

Words / Pictures / Videos by Abstrakt_Soul

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