Copenhell

From dropping Enter Sandman just three songs in to unwrapping rarities from Ride The Lightning, Load and even St Anger, this was epic.

After timeless ...And Justice For All number Harvester Of Sorrow came Ride The Lightning rare cut Trapped Under Ice - previously played just five times in the last 13 years - and Load classic Bleeding Me! Metallica, it seems, are just not one of those bands. It's easy to assume we know exactly what we're going to get when it comes to seeing veteran rock and metal bands live. The gig was Metallica's first back in Europe since the pre-pandemic era, and the Four Horsemen were clearly in no mood to fuck about, pulling out one of their most unique and career-spanning setlists of recent times. There were more surprises in store, too - not least returning Master Of Puppets banger Damage Inc, which had all but disappeared from Metallica's sets in recent years, and St Anger's Dirty Window, which, while making its second appearance of 2022 so far, was still played for only the fourth time since 2004. Last night, the biggest band in heavy metal played a homecoming show of sorts for their Danish drummer and co-founder Lars Ulrich, rocking up to Copenhagen to headline the first night of the city's four-day Copenhell festival.