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!

Disturbed (***1/2)

I had to quickly move on to Main Stage One if I wanted to catch me some Disturbed but the mass of people did not make it easy for me to get a good spot right away. In the end I managed to join my friends and enjoy the last couple of songs, which coincidentally were the songs I wanted to hear. Apparently Disturbed played a few recent ones which I’m not too fond of. Anything after ‘Indestructible‘ isn’t for me. But I did enjoy ‘Indestructible‘, ‘Inside The Fire‘, the obligatory yet a little overdone ‘Sound Of Silence‘, ‘The Light‘, ‘Stricken‘ and the timeless ‘Down With The Sickness‘. I was only a little bummed I did not get to enjoy ‘Ten Thousand Fists‘, but then again Ministry was lit.

King Diamond (***)

The King is not dead. Yet long live King Diamond. The master of extravagant theatrics returns with his high pitch falsettos and fancy hard rock attitude. I know it will sound strange when I say the show felt a little rehearsed, because I mean, look at the stage. It’s opera or theater, but with heavy music. Although the music’s not for me and the vocal delivery was at times sub par, I did enjoy the theatrical aspect of it all. The stage itself was divided is two levels with staircases to either side, all of it made to resemble a haunted mansion / insane asylum.

The drummer sat on top in the middle, and the artists and extras/props managed to occupy it all without it ever feeling overcrowded. I was however surprised that such a lauded singer as King Diamond could reach almost none of the falsetto notes he was supposed to sing. His clean singing voice is fine, but let’s face it, I wasn’t there for that. Then again falsetto singing is not an easy technique and I suppose the grasp of it becomes more difficult the older one becomes.

Slipknot (*****)

The Nine have left the States to bless the Graspop festivals grounds once again with another insane live set. The gods of nu metal are tireless when it comes to putting up an entertaining set. It is to be expected when you’re playing in front of a crowd of over 60.000 people. Still, a Slipknot show is always an impressive thing to behold, even if you’re not a fan. With nine members on stage there’s not a moment you could be bored. There’s always something going on, whether it be Sid Wilson‘s running around on stage like a mad man, Clown beating up kegs with a baseball bat, Corey Taylor‘s disturbing new mask flopping around his head, or simply wondering if Craig Jones‘ ever stabbed someone (or himself) with the nails on his pinhead mask

They played an extremely varied set list with a couple of old tracks we have been wanting them to play for years. I’ve seen Slipknot a few times now and have never heard ‘Get This‘ or ‘Prosthetics‘ live before. Otherwise your usual songs are always pleasing to experience again: ‘Duality‘, ‘Spit It Out‘, ‘The Heretic Anthem‘ or ‘Before I Forget‘. And with their next album just around the corner, we were treated to both new tracks ‘All Out Life‘ (which won’t be on the upcoming record by the way) and ‘Unsainted‘. The only song I missed was ‘Pulse Of The Maggots‘ which is awesome because of the audience participation. They don’t play that one enough. Anyway the hulking mass that is Slipknot always has me teetering between my teenage metal-discovering years and my days of appreciating the newer work they put out.

Setlist:
(515)
People = Shit
(sic)
Get This
Unsainted
Disasterpiece
Before I Forget
The Heretic Anthem
Psychosocial
The Devil in I
Prosthetics
Vermilion
Custer
Sulfur
All Out Life
Duality

Encore:
Spit It Out
Surfacing
‘Til We Die

Bulls On Parade (****)

Onwards to the after party! It was my first time checking out this Belgian Rage Against The Machine cover band, and it won’t be my last. Kicking it off with ‘Guerilla Radio‘, Bulls On Parade played an explosive show with timeless classics like the do-I-even-need-to-mention ‘Killing In The Name Of‘, ‘Bulls On Parade‘ or ‘Township Rebellion‘. Anyway these lads from Ghent play the RATM material well and they clearly have a blast doing so. And I had a blast attending the show, as well as the rest of the Red Bull Metal Dome.

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.