Anthrax, 26th June 2026, Hades, Copenhell Festival, Denmark

Photo: Goran www.urbanmescalero.com

It seems it had been a long time since Danish audiences were able to experience Anthrax with Charlie Benante behind the drums. More recently, that was due to his involvement with the reformed Pantera, but even before that Benante had sat out a number of Anthrax tours. He had been touring with the band on this European leg of the tour, but a few days before their Copenhell appearance it was announced that he would miss a large portion of the upcoming Anthrax shows due to an injury to his right hand. Filling in for him was Darby Todd, who had previously sat behind the kit for Anthrax at their May 23 concert in Athens, Greece.

Anthrax have announced their first new album since 2016’s For All Kings, and a few weeks ago they released the first song from the upcoming record. However, at last night’s 11:15 PM show on Copenhell’s second-biggest stage, the band opened with the classics. “Among the Living” kicked off what proved to be nothing less than a celebration of heavy metal. One of Anthrax’s many classic cover songs, “Got the Time”, once again proved to be one of the band’s ultimate live number-two songs. From there, the band simply kept going without ever taking their foot off the energy accelerator, whether it was during the blistering speed of “Metal Thrashing Mad” or the crushing mid-tempo groove of “Keep It in the Family”. Apart from the new song “It’s for the Kids”, Anthrax played only one song released after Persistence of Time—”Breathing Lightning” from For All Kings.

Guitarist Scott Ian introduced the warmly received “It’s for the Kids” by describing it as “a love letter to you [the fans].”  Not playing few songs from the ’90s and ’00s Which is something of a pity because, as the final band on stage, Anthrax had a full hour and a half for their third Copenhell appearance. One song from Worship Music would have fitted perfectly, and let’s not forget the disgrace that the band still refuses to play anything from its magnificent four-album run with John Bush.

Generally, the band sounded excellent, and Todd did his job professionally. There were, however, significant sound issues caused by what I assume was the festival’s Biergarten, creating a constant wall of background noise that even seemed to puzzle the band. “Can you even hear us from that racket?” Belladonna asked. It was a major oversight by the festival organisers.

Still, nothing was going to spoil the positive atmosphere or the impeccable performance from the American legends. Joey Belladonna in particular projected so much vigour and enthusiasm that it was impossible for it not to rub off on the audience. At 65 years of age and after more than four decades in the business, that is nothing short of inspiring.

Everything culminated in a trio of “Indians”, “Antisocial”, and “I Am the Law”, resulting in some of the biggest singalongs of the evening.

Last night’s performance was a true celebration of heavy metal, with smiles everywhere—both on stage and throughout the crowd.
Even after the band had left the stage, Belladonna remained, waving to the audience and singing along to Rainbow’s “Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll”, which blasted through the PA. Think about that.

SETLIST:

1. Among the Living
2. Got the Time
3. Madhouse
4. Caught in a Mosh
5. Metal Thrashing Mad
6. Keep It in the Family
7. Breathing Lightning
8. It’s for the Kids
9. Medusa
10. Indians
11. Antisocial
12. I Am the Law