Not Exactly A Dry Copenhell

It was the first time it hadn’t rained on the opening day of Copenhell in Denmark, although the heavy rock fest will never be what you could exactly call a dry gig.

The 10,000 two-day crowd, 3,000 up on last year, managed to get through about 8,800 gallons of beer.

It’s not enough to make it Denmark’s most drunken festival, as in 2008 a 30,000-plus crowd at Skanderborg Festival got through more than 36,000 gallons.

Apart from the crowd increasing, Live Nation promoter Jeppe Nissen says what pleases him most about the 3-year-old gathering is the favourable reaction it’s getting from rock fans and the Danish national press.

“The metal audience have really taken the festival in and the feedback we are getting is amazing,” he said.

In March, readers of top national newspaper Politiken voted last year’s festival as the best event staged in Copenhagen in 2011.

The rain that did fall came on the second day during Marilyn Manson’s set. The shock-rocker hasn’t had much luck with the weather. A week earlier his slot at Austria’s Nova Rock had to be canceled because of heavy rain and high winds.

The other acts watching the crowd get drunk at Copenhell June 15-16 included Slayer, Killswitch Engage, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, and Trivium.