What the hell, where did all the people come from?!

Going from a slightly less than half-filled venue while support band Sworn Enemy was playing, I turn my back for a second as I secure a spot in the front row and all of a sudden the place is more packed than I’ve ever seen it before? Impressive!
Sure, the stage had been enlarged since the last time I was here, and this was also the first time ever I’ve seen a security fence at The Rock, but honestly, this place was more packed than a Japanese subway-train during rush hour!
Understandable of course, it was Sepultura playing after all. Admittedly, I had just seen them play at Wacken about a week and a half prior to this, as had many in this room I’m sure; but whether it was to relive those memories or if it was to make new ones because you hadn’t seen that show, you could tell that everyone was preparing to make the most of this!

The latest addition to the band, drummer Jean Dolabella, was the first one on stage, and after a rather lame, little wave he quickly sat down; this would prove to be the only sign of weakness from the bands side though.
Directly after this Paolo Jr. and Andreas Kisser also walked on, and together the trio began playing an instrumental song which served as an intro for the show, which when Derrick Green came on went directly for some old-school stuff in Arise. The tempo was set, and hell broke loose in the crowd; the amount of elbows, knees and other bodyparts I got shoved in my back as the moshpit raged furiously is uncountable, but that’s just something one should expect at times like these so it didn’t bother me one bit. I was too busy headbanging and screaming my lungs out to the songs to take any real notice I must admit.
Green proved to be very active this evening, even more so than on a regular night. He wasn’t constricting his drumming to the Rattamahata jam, but played on it on several of the songs of the set, and when he wasn’t standing there he was either headbanging or standing at the front of the stage to knuckle the fans.
This activity was also something Kisser was more than happy to participate in, and both Jr. and he were glad to give away picks as often as they could; the fans should have every chance for a memorable night! Jr. also found something else to have fun with on stage; the pillar which earlier served as a slight block between first row and moshpit (at least in that small portion it covered) had now become part of the enlarged stage, and Jr. had fun hiding behind it and peeping out at the crowd from time to time.

In ways of songs, I recognised much of the set from the aforementioned Wacken setlist, not surprisingly, but of course there were differences here as this was a proper headline gig; for one thing, I don’t remember them doing all the really old-school stuff like the Septic Schizo / Escape To The Void medley to the same extent there as here, and this was certainly appreciated by the older crowd in the house. The younger crowd was apparently happy with everything they got, even though they weren’t always sure what it was; there was one point where Green asked us if we wanted something from the Schizophrenia album, and someone in the crowd called out a song title. I sadly couldn’t make out what was said, but Green could and he had to correct the man, saying that the song in question had nothing to do with that album...
This little mistake clearly didn’t diminish the bands experience here in Copenhagen though; Green mentioned it had been too long since their last visit, which everyone agreed on (if I remember correctly, we have to go all the way back to 2003-04, on the Roorback tour), and it was easy to see that all of the band-members had a good time playing for us, what with them constantly smiling and all, and Green getting down on his knees for a bow when the show was done.

For me, this show far outclassed what I had just seen at Wacken; in fact, it was one of the most intense Sepultura experiences I’ve had so far!
The closeness to the band, the sweaty jungle-like heat in the hall, the overall atmosphere, all had their share in making it so, but there is one little thing which will forever make this night a little bit cooler than anything else I’ve tried with this band.
Green, upon noticing me pressed against the fence, said it was the sign of a true warrior to stand in the front row with one broken arm and a glass of beer in the other hand. Then he noticed that the glass was empty, and handed me a beer from the stage! It doesn’t get much better than that...

Setlist:

Arise
Refuse/Resist
Kairos
Convicted In Life
Choke
What I Do!
The Treatment
Relentless
Troops Of Doom
Medley
Meaningless Movements
Just One Fix (Ministry cover)
Seethe
Territory
Inner Self
Rattamahata
Roots Bloody Roots