Five Finger Death Punch
Parken, Copenhagen - 2024
Text: Tobias Nilsson Photo: Lunah Lauridsen
In more ways than one, Five Finger Death Punch (5FDP) was the final support band for Metallica on their M72 tour as they visited Copenhagen. What I mean by that is, Metallica played two days in Copenhagen, and just like they did their setlist, they also changed the support bands up. The day before, Mammoth WVH and Architects had had the honour, and this day the job befell Ice Nine Kills and, well, Five Finger Death Punch.
Parken wasn’t filled quite yet, but there was a very large crowd waiting for the Las Vegas quintet, and 5FDP came ready to rock! The core of the band remained the same, but as a few years have gone by since our last encounter, some changes had been made within the structure - we now had Charlie Engen replacing founding member Jeremy Spencer on drums, and Andy James taking over lead work for long-time guitarist Jason Hook. Neither of these had been on our radar previously, but they both complemented the band and its style quite well. It was mainly Ivan Moody in his bright red tracksuit with white markings on it that caught the eye of the crowd. Whether it was intentional or not, he was obviously sporting the Danish colours on this night of Denmark’s first game in the 2024 European Championship. In hindsight, 5FDP delivered more than the Danish national team, but that’s outside of our scope here.
5FDP kicked things off with Lift Me Up, a real crowd pleaser, and continued to deliver nine more tracks of the same ilk. Moody was well spoken between most songs, and did a great job of keeping the audience engaged, as well as leading them into cheers and sing-along sessions, all of which went down like honey on a hot Sunday morning. Not sure how well received it was when he began spraying the first rows with water in Wash It All Away, but people looked like they liked it - it was pretty damned hot in Parken, so why not?
The whole band (with the obvious exception of Engen) used Metallica’s signature circle stage to the fullest, going round and round to engage everyone, and Chris Kael even delivered some dance moves during The Bleeding.
At one point, Moody mentioned that it was Father’s Day back in Las Vegas and went ón to ask how many fathers there were in the crowd tonight. Interestingly, a quick estimate of at least ⅚ of the crowd’s hands went up - not really sure what that tells you of the audience, but there you go. Moody then went on to dedicate Wrong Side Of Heaven to all the dads.
5FDP was in a very good place this evening. They were clearly having a lot of fun, delivered with great enthusiasm and energy, and they absolutely had their hold on the crowd from start to finish. It’s hard to imagine a better way to support Metallica and warm up the fans for the final act.
Setlist:
Mother (Danzig song)
Lift Me Up
Trouble
Wash It All Away
Jekyll And Hyde
The House Of The Rising Sun (5FDP version)
IOU
Wrong Side Of Heaven
Welcome To The Circus
Under And Over It
The Bleeding
Parken wasn’t filled quite yet, but there was a very large crowd waiting for the Las Vegas quintet, and 5FDP came ready to rock! The core of the band remained the same, but as a few years have gone by since our last encounter, some changes had been made within the structure - we now had Charlie Engen replacing founding member Jeremy Spencer on drums, and Andy James taking over lead work for long-time guitarist Jason Hook. Neither of these had been on our radar previously, but they both complemented the band and its style quite well. It was mainly Ivan Moody in his bright red tracksuit with white markings on it that caught the eye of the crowd. Whether it was intentional or not, he was obviously sporting the Danish colours on this night of Denmark’s first game in the 2024 European Championship. In hindsight, 5FDP delivered more than the Danish national team, but that’s outside of our scope here.
5FDP kicked things off with Lift Me Up, a real crowd pleaser, and continued to deliver nine more tracks of the same ilk. Moody was well spoken between most songs, and did a great job of keeping the audience engaged, as well as leading them into cheers and sing-along sessions, all of which went down like honey on a hot Sunday morning. Not sure how well received it was when he began spraying the first rows with water in Wash It All Away, but people looked like they liked it - it was pretty damned hot in Parken, so why not?
The whole band (with the obvious exception of Engen) used Metallica’s signature circle stage to the fullest, going round and round to engage everyone, and Chris Kael even delivered some dance moves during The Bleeding.
At one point, Moody mentioned that it was Father’s Day back in Las Vegas and went ón to ask how many fathers there were in the crowd tonight. Interestingly, a quick estimate of at least ⅚ of the crowd’s hands went up - not really sure what that tells you of the audience, but there you go. Moody then went on to dedicate Wrong Side Of Heaven to all the dads.
5FDP was in a very good place this evening. They were clearly having a lot of fun, delivered with great enthusiasm and energy, and they absolutely had their hold on the crowd from start to finish. It’s hard to imagine a better way to support Metallica and warm up the fans for the final act.
Setlist:
Mother (Danzig song)
Lift Me Up
Trouble
Wash It All Away
Jekyll And Hyde
The House Of The Rising Sun (5FDP version)
IOU
Wrong Side Of Heaven
Welcome To The Circus
Under And Over It
The Bleeding
Five Finger Death Punch
