28 years after their debut album, Plays Metallica By Four Cellos, Apocalyptica returned to their roots with 2024’s release Plays Metallica Vol. 2, and that had to be followed by a very special tour of course - a tour where only Metallica covers were on the setlist again.

“Copenhagen, it’s good to be back here! Tonight I wanna smell your sweat! Are you fucking ready?!”
- Perttu Kivilaakso (cello)

Now, while Metallica was still played by cellos, some differences in the band has of course occurred not only since the debut, but even since we saw the band in this same venue last year. You see, even though he appears on the latest album, Mikko Sirén has since parted ways with the band, and Apocalyptica is back to being a cello only band, just like back in the day. Now they’re just three though, but that wasn’t about to hold them back in the slightest.
The show itself was introduced by Ennio Morricone’s The Ecstasy Of Gold, a fitting opening when considering the theme of the show, and this was followed by a second intro consisting of weird rumblings and electro sounds with an overlaid voice, although I couldn’t quite make out what it was saying.
After this it was finally time for the band to emerge, and throw themselves as well as us straight into the fray with Ride The Lightning.

See, and here was the twist. It wasn’t just three cellos after all, for the band had picked up a touring drummer in Mikko Kaakuriniemi. Now, I’ve never seen or heard of Kaakuriniemi before, but I can attest to him playing his socks off, figuratively, and he was a good match for the band as they all seemed to have fun together. And they sounded good. Boy howdy, did it sound good!
These are all highly skilled musicians, you know that, and they’ve been at this game for a long, long time now. Also, in regards to the material on the new album, Eicca Toppinen commented that the band had of course made some well-considered choices. The songs they were going to record (and now perform) couldn’t just be any random Metallica songs, but had to make sense for getting the Apocalyptica treatment, and they wanted to choose tracks they felt they could bring something new to as well. For the most part, I’d say they managed to hit these marks very well. St. Anger has never been a favourite of mine, and I frankly don’t see it getting much better in this outfit, but maybe that’s just me. The Call Of Ktulu however, now that’s a gift that just keeps on giving. I love the original track, love the S&M version even more, and now this? Wow! The fact that Apocalyptica was allowed to play it for us with Cliff Burton’s original bass track layered in, and having the man himself pictured on the video screen in the back only helped to heighten the experience even further.

“Hello Copenhagen, are you ready to sing with us? Good, because you know these songs!”
- Eicca Toppinen (cello)

While the band was giving us their all with a top quality performance, they weren’t about to let us off any easier. Demands were made, and demands were followed, as the entire room shouted the band on between and during songs. To start with, either Toppinen or Kivilaakso would lead us into singing along with the well-known choruses to much success, but soon we didn’t wait for their permission before testing our vocals - Master Of Puppets was a perfect example of this, to give one example of many.
Apocalyptica and the crowd weren’t the only ones lending their voices to the music however, as in the finishing song, One, James Hetfield’s spoken iteration of the lyrics (check out Apocalyptica’s Plays Metallica Vol. 2 version if you haven’t already, to see what I mean) was layered in.

“On your way out, grab a new t-shirt, because you smell like shit!”
- Toppinen (cello)

As always, Apocalyptica delivered an absolute masterclass of a performance! While wielding some of the largest and possibly heaviest instruments used in the metal genre, they still managed to mess about, play around, and in general give a livelier performance than so many, many others. These guys are a delight to watch, and I for one don’t mind seeing them back here on a yearly basis.

Setlist:

The Ecstasy Of Gold (Ennio Morricone song)
Ride The Lightning (Metallica cover)
Enter Sandman (Metallica cover)
Creeping Death (Metallica cover)
For Whom The Bell Tolls (Metallica cover)
Battery (Metallica cover)
The Call Of Ktulu (Metallica cover)
St. Anger (Metallica cover)
The Four Horsemen (Metallica cover)
Blackened (Metallica cover)
Master Of Puppets (Metallica cover)
Nothing Else Matters (Metallica cover)
Seek & Destroy (Metallica cover)
One (Metallica cover)