The biggest metal and rock festival of Belgium was here again! With 5 stages and over 100 bands this is every year one big party celebrating the realm of the guitar riff. This year promised to be a very interesting edition with of instance the first ever appearance of much loved Rammstein as one of the headliners. Much to be looking forward to in other words…
SUNDAY
Bands:
Scorpions, Evanescence, Steel Panther, Airbourne, Ugly Kid Joe, The Raven Age, Sabaton, Rob Zombie, Mastodon, Hatebreed, Alestorm, The Charm The Fury, Primus, Opeth, Anathema, Kvelertak, Graveyard, The Black Dahlia Murder, Memoriam, The Monolith Deathcult, DJ Carl, Gotthard, Hardline, Gravedigger, Like A Storm, Inglorious, Queensryche, The Dead Daisies, Sum 41, Suicidal Tendencies, Suicide Silence, Chelsea Grin, Hacktivist, Touché Amoré, Prinz Clauz, DJ Rock The Fox.
Last day of this an extremely hot and fun edition, here’s what was most memorable of this day:
The Scottish pirates of Alestorm played up quite the party on Main Stage 2 and they seemed to have a lot of fun in the sun at Graspop! Our fellow reporters at Hellfest in France had an interview with them the day before, of which we heard it was a quite hilarious meeting again! Their performance this year at Graspop was mostly dedicated to their new album ‘No Grave But The Sea‘ (for our review of the album go here). Under the tunes of a remarkable hip hop-like song, the band members got the stage to party with us on a very hot day! Besides classics like Keelhauled, Drink and Hangover, we got to enjoy the classic in the making of the latest album Fucked with an Anchor!
Setlist: DJ Matt Bell Indahouse – Keelhauled – Alestorm – Magnetic North – Shipwrecked – Mexico – The Sunk’n Norwegian – Drink – Fucked with an Anchor – Hangover – Captain Morgan’s Revenge.
We were personally disappointed this year in Evanescence on Main Stage 1. We had been looking forward to this show, because it generates many childhood memories with a lot of us. But they did not deliver at all. The new guitarist Jen Majura (ex-Equilibrium) was spotlighted next to Amy: damn, she can play guitar! Musically, all was good, but Amy didn’t deliver on the vocals in our honest opinion.
Setlist: Everybody’s Fool – What You Want – Going Under – The Other Side – Lithium – My Heart Is Broken – Made Of Stone – Haunted – Weigth of the World – Say You Will – My Immortal – Your Star – Whisper – Call Me When You’re Sober – Imaginary – Disappear – Bring Me to Life.
And once again a Swedish band brought an end to the day, yesterday In Flames and on Sunday Sabaton on Main Stage 2. They entertained the audience beautifully as usually and took a ‘tank’ on stage again where the drummer sat on. The ever smiling Swedes delivered another of their powerful shows with loads of fire. And honoring Belgium for its dedicated fan base they treated us with the song ‘Resist and Bite‘. A great closer for a great event!
Setlist: In the Army Now – The March to War – Ghost Division – The Art of War – Blood of Bannockburn – Attero Dominatus – The Last Stand – Panzerkampf – Sparta – Screaming Eagles – Carolus Rex – Swedish Pagans – Diary of an Unknown Soldier – The Lost Battalion – Resist and Bite – Winged Hussars – Night Witches – Encore WWII Intro – Primo Victoria – Shiroyama – To Hell and Back – Dead Soldier’s Waltz – Masters of the World.
pictures by Graspop.
