THURSDAY

Bands:
Guns N’ Roses, Kataklysm, Heilung, Ghost, Iced Earth, Madball, Dool, Jonathan Davis, Toxic Shock, Fleddy Melculy, Black Stone Cherry, Doro Pesch – the voice of Warlock, Moments, Bury Tomorrow, Hats Off To Led Zeppelin, Purpendicular, The Pink Slips, Cancer Bats, Signs Of Algorithm, Follow The Cipher

Follow The Cipher

In an age where metal genres are popping off everywhere and it seems that mainstream metal is slowing down it is always nice to see new bands open to take on the world and make some good old Pop Metal.

Nuclear Blast picked them up quiet early and and believed in the vibe the band is bringing to the scene. Deriving from classic genres like Arenarock and Melodic Metal this was a very nice opener of our day.

Signs Of Algorithm

These Belgian talents keep on giving highly active gigs all through the year and if you are heavy visitors of smaller concerts you probably already had the chance to see them live. It is always a great accomplishment for Belgian bands to play at Graspop and it is a real pleasure to see them on another bigger stage.

Opening the Metal Dome is always a nerve wrecking experience but after a strong opener and some building up to the end of the set they kept on improving. Belgian Hard/Metalcore at its finest!

Cancer Bats

Early in the afternoon, Cancer Bats played a killer show at the Jupiler Stage. It was one of the early shows to kick off Graspop Metal Meeting, but they sure warmed up the crowd! Circle pits, crowdsurfers, and even people jumping to the beat of their songs! Cancer Bats had it all and they proved themselves worthy. Besides playing their own material, they ended their show with a cover of Beastie Boys’ ‘Sabotage’ and the crowd went absolutely wild. It sure was a great way to start the festival!

Doro

Time to check out the Main Stage!

Doro Pesch is an absolute Metal Queen and often she proves that her songs keep on speaking to the minds and hearts of metalheads. We can only guess she also thought it was strange that she had to open the stage for a “smaller” crowd but throughout the set people were finally arriving from the campsite and the parking to get the vibe you need to have on Graspop. It’s still the anthems you need to hear and we are curious what her new album will bring to the table.

One thing is certain, we will see her again soon. She still has got the look and the vibe you would not expect from a singer in her middle 50’s.

Black Stone Cherry

Black Stone Cherry is no newcomer to Graspop’s mainstage. With their Rock ‘n Roll sound and catchy rock tunes, they know just how to captivate the crowd. Starting off with some popular songs to get everyone in the right mood and just playing an overall awesome rock show, Black Stone Cherry once again successfully prove their worth of being on the mainstage.

Toxic Shock

Well look at this! Another Belgian band. As crossover fans we can not deny we have seen Toxic Shock a few times and even booked them with GRIMM in our own venue Asgaard. So it’s nice to see them get the recognition they deserve.

It seems that this “Great Great Gift” of playing on the Metal Dome gave them an extra boost and the band really gave a spectacular intense show (climbing, jumping and even salto’s!). Shame we sometimes got a strange tune from the sound system, but we believe not many people heard it so we have to believe this is a big win!

Message to GRASPOP: keep giving us more Belgian music!

Iced Earth

The last time Belgium got a taste of Iced Earth was at the 8th edition of Alactraz. As a well known band they took another shot on presenting the new album “Incorruptible“. And we must say this was an excellent presentation on what this band is supposed to be.

A huge crowd gathered to see the high pitched screeches from Stu and the band always finds inspiration from the magnificent solo’s of mister Schaffer.

Jonathan Davis

A lot of KORN fans were very curious for what was about to happen. Jonathan Davis own project takes the best of KORN, peels a few layers off of it and fills it up with more synthesizers and other kinds of instruments. We even saw a violin and a cello.

All tough Jonathan put his name as the main marketing tool for this band, all musicians on stage got their moment of glory and showed off what they can do.

This is a very talented group of musicians who know what they are doing and it fills the gap for Nu-Metal fans waiting for something new to happen or when the bigger bands are going on tour.

Ghost

The way this band has grown the last couple of years is staggering but well deserved. The spiritual vibe and sound they give on stage is captivating.

Cardianal Copia‘s voice still has some issues when playing Open Air but the stage setting always makes up for it. Ghost is not a metal band, not a rock band and certainly not a pop band but much more! They keep on bringing new and refreshing ideas and with songs like Monstrance Clock and Year Zero they suck you in for a trance.

Heilung

Time for something completely different! This Danish project brings true mysticism to the Metal Dome with a sound made from mother Earth.

With a lot of drama and allure these spiritual giants came on stage and enchanted us with sounds we believe many metalheads have not heard before. For some loud and drunk metalheads this was difficult to understand and they were disturbing the people who were entranced by this performance.

This is not a band for a loud metal festival as Graspop, to truly taste the music we suggest checking them out at a smaller venue or a genre specific festival! A total spectacle!

Guns N’ Roses

The reason we got an extra day of GRASPOP is the passage of one of the biggest bands in the world, a band that almost every human being knows and can sing a couple of lyrics from.

Were Guns N’ Roses going to take us down to the Paradise City or would we get a disappointing prolonged set (3,5hours!)?

It seems to be we got neither, every song from ‘Appetite For Destruction‘ is a moment of glory and everyone knows this by heart. ‘Welcome To The Jungle‘ was another highlight but got evened out by ‘This I love‘.

But when bands have to play this long and it’s the end of the day you, we, and the band need to take the roller coaster down for a moment. Same goes for Axl‘s voice. Sometimes the screeching was so loud we had to cringe but Slash‘s guitar makes it all up for. That man can play and it’s always a great honor seeing something like this live.

This was a evening for the true fans of Guns N’  Roses and we are glad they are glad but this was way too long for some metalheads who went to the camp site or the parking lot.

THURSDAY RECAP GMM

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Pictures & videos by Graspop.