Graspop Metal Meeting, or GMM for short, is the first festival of the summer for many of us. As always, I was looking forward to being back at the holy grounds this year. While I was working at the festival, I checked out as many bands as possible. Let me take you along on GMM 2023!
Beast in Black
Beast in Black was the band that started Graspop 2023 for me. A first time for me, seeing them live. They brought power metal and got people up on their feet even this early in the morning. A great opener for much more great stuff to come.
Setlist:
Sweet True Lies
Blood of a Lion
Hardcore
Die By the Blade
Blind and Frozen
One Night in Tokyo
Butcher Babies
The two ladies from Butcher Babies seemed to be in a rush today. They only used 30 minutes of their 45-minute slot. Maybe they had to be somewhere else, who knows. The quality of the music was still good, though. Butcher Babies stand for a blend of aggressive metalcore and groove metal with still a very melodic touch that is highly engaging live.
Setlist:
Best Friend (Saweetie cover)
Monsters Ball
It’s Killin’ Time Baby!
Bottom of a Bottle
Yorktown
Guns 'N Roses
My first thought when Guns ’N Roses started playing, was that I heard another band. It didn’t sound like them, or how I would expect them to sound. Axl’s voice was lower than usual, but it sounded ok. Until he tried the high notes, that didn’t work out so well. From what I heard, it was better in the beginning of the show and the quality started going down hill after about 30 minutes of music. Anyway, it was really cool to get the chance and see such a legendary band play live in real life. And I’m sure a lot of people relived their childhood that evening.
Setlist:
It’s So Easy
Bad Obsession
Chinese Democracy
Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
Reckless Life
Walk All Over You (AC/DC cover)
Welcome to the Jungle
Estranged
Double Talkin’ Jive
Hard Skool
Pretty Tied Up
Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
Down on the Farm (UK Subs cover)
You Could be Mine
T.V. Eye (The Stooges cover)
Anything Goes
Absurd
Rocket Queen
This I Love
Civil War
Guitar Solo by Slash
Sweet Child o’ Mine
November Rain
Locomotive
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Nightrain
Encore:
Patience
Paradise City
I took some time today to check out the other activities at GMM. There were free goodies you could get, although the lines got to be pretty long sometimes. This year was the first year where you could get tokens for sorting out thrash. For 15 cups or bottles, you could go duck fishing with various prices, get an eco coin to save up for a cool gadget, or get 1 coin, which turned out to be only for drinks and not for food.
Of course, I’ve missed a lot of amazing shows today like Papa Roach, Arch Enemy, Tom Morello, Spirit Box, Escape the Fate, … You can’t see it all, but you can rewatch a lot of the shows on the official Graspop website! Check them out here.
Links
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