The biggest metal party in Belgium is almost over as we kick off the third day at Graspop Metal Meeting. The festival may be nearing its end but I’m not done having my portion of fun just yet.

Gojira (****)

A stellar performance from French favorites Gojira, here. The temperature outside was reaching its peak when the avant-garde death metal quartet got on Main Stage One. But no matter, the crowd loves this band and the heat wasn’t gonna stop it from attending. However I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks a Gojira gig works better in the dark. A few years ago when they played the Marquee for the ‘Magma’ tour, the light show was simply hypnotizing.

Something I believe only added to the performance’s perfection. But, as they proved last year too, they kill it in open air as well. They played some older stuff I’d never heard before, like the song ‘Love‘ from their very first album. It seems they’ve always been this heavy. One thing though: are pyrotechnics really necessary when outdoor temperatures are reaching 35°C? Indubitably!

Set list:
Oroborus
Backbone
Stranded
Flying Whales
Love
The Cell
Silvera
L’Enfant Sauvage
Vacuity

Insomnium (***1/2)

Melodic death metal legends Insomnium put up a great show despite the crap sound in the Marquee. Hmm, there seems to be a recurring theme here. Oh well. I only hope conclusions will be drawn and lessons learnt. We had all been waiting so long to have these Finnish legends play Graspop and the year has finally come. The crowd was as hot for this band as the weather outside, singing along to almost every song played, clapping along to every beat, etc. This was an unexpected party and Insomnium saw it too. I think they were quite overwhelmed by the display. As were we, actually.

Now, I have the utmost respect for them because when we’re talking nineties Nordic melodeath, Insomnium is among the few ones who did not drastically shift their sound, contrary to contemporaries such as In Flames, for example, who I can no longer appreciate (well, I can up until Come Clarity). Better yet: they improved on it without losing sight of their roots.
In case you missed them due to conflicting schedules, you have another chance to see them when they come back to Belgium in December with The Black Dahlia Murder.

Set list:
Equivalence
Down With the Sun
Mortal Share
Ephemeral
Against the Stream
The Killjoy
Where the Last Wave Broke
One for Sorrow
While We Sleep

Rob Zombie (***1/2)

Rob Zombie, to me, is one of those hit-and-miss artists (also applicable to his movies). I have loved his music since I was a kid discovering metal but his live performances can be either very bad or they can be super fun. Fortunately today we got the latter. Although Rob looks like he wants to but can’t anymore, he still tries and succeeds in rallying the crowd for a good time.

I saw plenty of headbangers and crowd surfers as classic after classic was played. We got the usual ‘Living Dead Girl‘, ‘Dragula‘ and ‘Superbeast‘, which are inherently the best Rob & co have written, but we were also treated to quite a few cover songs like The Beatles‘ ‘Helter Skelter‘ and Ramones‘ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop‘. All in all a fun concert to attend as the weather finally got a bit cooler.

Graspop Metal Meeting could not have reached its end more appropriately than with the help of the legendary Kiss. It has been a beautiful three and a half days of metal and hard rock madness. I’ve really had the time of my life. Man, I’m already looking forward to next year.

Read our reports on the pre-day, day 1 and day 2 here, here and here!

All picture credits go to Graspop Metal Meeting.