The last time Alice In Chains played Copenhell, they blew the power in the joint and brought the proceedings on the main stage to a dead halt for nearly half an hour.

That’s a solid legacy if you ask me.

A metal festival in Copenhagen with scores of scary acts and growling, and you’re the one to blow it up?

That’s a reputation builder.

Which helps, because when you’re a band that’s known for vocal harmonies, you kind of stand out at a metal festival that’s filled with bands that scream and thrash and snarl.

Alice In Chains is a multi-dimensional band, so while they get pegged as a heavy metal band by a lot of people, there’s a lot more to them than that.

But screaming guitars allow them to fit nicely into the bill at a metal festival, so why not?

There’s really not a lot of evil going on within the Alice In Chains camp (if you don’t count Jerry’s current goatee), but when you crank the volume up, they’re capable of frightening and even repulsing the average citizen who doesn’t like rock music.

Personally, I’m repulsed by what’s going on in the world of hip hop and pop music these days, so the majority of music I stuff in my ears is of the heavy variety.

And in this day and age when there are fewer and fewer new heavy rock acts in the mainstream, these metal festivals in Europe and Scandinavia feel comforting to an old fart like me who loves metal.

It’s great to walk out in the crowd at these festivals and witness a sea of people who show up in huge numbers to get pummeled by loud, aggressive music.

And as I’ve mentioned before, it’s also great to look out over these crowds and see lots of young people and kids, especially the ones who are down front and singing along to Alice In Chains.

I know that the band is super appreciative of the fans who have stuck by them through the years, and they’re also thrilled to see younger fans show up too.

And what better place for a young kid to start down the proper musical path in life than a Scandinavian metal festival with the word hell in the title?

Copenhell was another great day.

It was raining early in the day, but by afternoon the skies had mostly cleared and the sun came out.

And so did Lars Ulrich, who stopped by the Alice compound and hung out for a while.

Jerry and Sean spent some time over in the Deftones camp, and Mike went to Ozzy’s compound and hung with him & Zakk Wylde for a while, so it turned out to be friends & family day at Copenhell.

I stuck around our area most of the day with Larry, except when I ventured out to Smadreland, a caged area in the corner of the venue where festival goers could go and pay a small fee to don a pair of goggles, grab a sledge hammer, and smash up a car.

Apparently slamming and smashing into one another out in front of the stage isn’t enough for some people; they need to get their extra aggression out by destroying an automobile too.

It’s actually kind of a cool idea, and it was definitely fun to watch.

Destruction, mayhem, & public drunkenness.

These are all ingredients to a fun day in Copenhagen.

And the power stayed on this time too.

Sign me up for more…