As my troop was still sound asleep on the camp site after what I heard was one hell of an after party, I was already planning my unbelievably busy schedule for Graspop‘s second full day. Fortunately I had help from a few colleagues who backed me up for the bands I would not be able to review. I went to sleep early yesterday, so I would be perfectly in shape to check out as many bands as possible. And today is a doozy!

Trivium (****1/2)

Trivium is always a good show and one hell of a good time. Being familiar with the band, you kinda know what songs they are going to play. But it never gets boring as Trivium always has the energy and the power to deliver an awesome show. It gets better and better every time you see them.
As they have been doing since their latest album ‘The Sin and The Sentence’ is out, they start of with ‘The Sin and The Sentence’. An awesome song that gets everybody going. Of course there are the classics like ‘Strife’ and ‘Silence in the Snow’.

The last song, like always, was ‘In Waves’. And with ‘In Waves’, the whole crowd sits down and turns into one big moshpit. So it did this time and yet again it was an awesome experience.
Trivium always shows respect to their crowds. Lead singer Matt Heafy had three microphones set up. One in the middle and one on both sides of the stage. He was making sure that nobody felt left out. Thank you Heafy and Trivium, much appreciated.

Ministry (****)

Ministry, man. Seeing Al Jourgensen and the gang can go both ways. Either it’s really bad or it’s phenomenally good. And I’m glad that the last two times I’ve seen ’em have been stellar. Their Graspop set in 2017 blew my fucking mind. I thought it was so good that I was half-scared to go see them again, fearing I would be let down. But it quickly became apparent that I had made the right decision by going to the Marquee. Ministry gave yet again an positively psychedelic, stroboscope-laden, and violent-sounding show that I will remember for months to come.

They even played a few cover songs: Black Sabbath‘s ‘Supernaut‘ and Revolting Cocks‘ ‘No Devotion‘, for which vocalist Luc Van Acker himself joined Jourgensen on stage. I enjoyed myself so much I thought the set was over way too fast. Next time I’m planning to see them, I’ll probably still be facing the same fear of hesitation because I definitely don’t want the good memories getting tarnished by a bad performance.

Setlist
The Missing
Deity
Stigmata
Supernaut (Black Sabbath cover)
Jesus Built My Hotrod
Just One Fix
N.W.O.
Burning Inside
Thieves
No Devotion (Revolting Cocks cover w/ Luc Van Acker)

Godsmack (****)

Godsmack is always in for a good time and a good laugh. So they were this time. It was a bit weird that they only played for one hour. They’ve played longer when I saw them a few months ago at Trix, Antwerp. Nevertheless, that hour flew by. They opened with the song ‘When Legends Rise’. Something they’ve been doing since they went on the When Legends Rise tour.

Lead singer Sully Erna pointed out that it has been a while since they came to Graspop, so they would play older and newer songs to make up for that. And so they did. In the middle of the show, Erna and drummer Shannon Larkin did one hell of a drum-off. Larkin‘s drum kit “drove” off to the right side of the stage, and another kit appeared and ‘drove’ to the left. Erna took place on that one. The kits turned around and many drumsticks flew into the air and into the crowd. Throw in some humor and you have a classical Godsmack show. Straightforward, fun and honest. If you want to see their show, the live stream has been recorded and you can find it on the Graspop website.

Now, that was a fun day. Made some new discoveries, rediscovered some old bands, still wasn’t convinced to start liking power metal, etc… And with that kind of an after party! You can’t have it any better. Will Graspop’s last day be as enjoyable as today? It will be difficult to top in any case.

For our report of the pre-day and first day of graspop, go here and here. Be on the look for the report of day 3!

All picture credits go to Graspop Metal Meeting.