From low gear to high gear in relentless heat. Hell’s flame closed in around us. Friday at Copenhell 2026 delivered Trivium in peak form, a collapsed anniversary show, and a festival balancing chaos and highlights.
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Disclaimer: Apropos Magazine received access or a review copy. As always, we share our own impressions — unfiltered.
Six stars
15 Years in Hell – ambition alone doesn’t do it
When you try too hard to be cool, it doesn’t always land.
Copenhell had put a lot of effort into its 15th anniversary show. The musicians had rehearsed, the festival had promoted it, and the idea was genuinely sympathetic. When you turn 15, you’re allowed to do something that doesn’t look like the rest of the lineup.
From the audience’s point of view, though, it started from a difficult place. One headliner was cancelled, and in its place we got... something entirely different.
Supergroups can be fantastic. Them Crooked Vultures are a good example of how the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts.
That just wasn’t the case here.
Many of the performances had an almost forced energy. It was as if everyone was constantly trying to make the concert move faster than it actually could. I found myself thinking of a guy I saw earlier in the day on an electric bike, where the speed limiter kept kicking in. You wanted to go faster, but something kept holding you back.
DJ Noize was actually one of the bright spots. His scratch shows made it very clear why he has been world champion. It was a fun detour that worked surprisingly well in a metal setting.
Ashes of Billy & Friends also hit the mark with Ace of Spades and Everlong, where Daniel Aabenhus Herman delivered a hoarse vocal that suited both songs.
The duet on Psychosocial was less successful. Ditte Krøyer did really well, while Emma Acs never quite found her place.
Unfortunately, the whole thing ended up feeling a bit like one of those TV shows where famous people laugh just a little too hard at each other’s own jokes.
I actually love that Copenhell dares to experiment. The festival has previously found success with, among other things, By Request concerts, and it’s great that they don’t just play it safe.
But this idea never became as legendary as it had hoped it would.
★☆☆☆☆☆
Trivium – the moment of the year on Helviti
If anyone asked me which concert best captured Copenhell Friday as a whole, the answer would be Trivium.
It felt like a band that could bring together just about every generation and every corner of the festival grounds.
They played absurdly tight.
Matt Heafy is also a fascinating frontman. His face seems to have a life of its own. Guitar faces, huge smiles, intense expressions and that trademark tongue hanging over the edge of the stage mean you never quite know what’s coming five seconds from now.
And you love it.
The concert only had one problem.
It was far too hot.
Friday’s heatwave, combined with extra pyrotechnics, eventually forced us to seek out the shade. It’s the first time I’ve left a concert because the stage was simply producing too much heat.
That says it all, really.
Because what we did get to experience was probably the week’s biggest live highlight.
The crowd became one big boiling collective, the band delivered without a single dull stretch, and Helviti felt exactly as explosive as its name promises.
The moment of the year at Copenhell.
★★★★★★
Friday’s other highlights
Paleface Swiss proved that Switzerland can do more than watches, banks and chocolate. The band looked like a bunch of surfers, the crowd surfed, and the dust cloud in front of the stage made it almost necessary to surf through the pit yourself.
A Perfect Circle delivered exactly the elegant weight you’d expect from a band with that kind of gravitas, while both Anthrax and P.O.D. made sure Friday ended with plenty of experience and classic festival moments.
