Rumahoy got to open the show tonight. What a great band to warm up the crowd. The band had a smile on their faces and in return got a smile on our faces. We started moving along to the beats of folky pirate metal. Even the people who were waiting in line for either merch, drinks, or toilets. We were all dancing to the funny shenanigans of Captain Yarrface and his bandmates Bootsman Walktheplank, Cabinboy Treasurequest and Swashbuckling Pete. What a great names, honestly.

I lost it when they started playing Not Looking for Love, which is a very poppy song with a high voice singing the chorus. Cabinboy Treasurequest took that upon himself to sing those lyrics. That in combination with the low pirate voice of Captain Yarrface was truly beautiful. In the video I recorded you can see and hear the joy they brought us.

From pirates, we went to dwarves. Last time I saw Wind Rose, it was the last pre-covid show in January 2020. They only played for 30 minutes then and that simply wasn’t enough. This time, they were on stage for 40 minutes, let’s stay positive and say that that is already a bit longer. At least, it’s an extra song that we got to hear. I loved to see the joy on their faces while they played their songs. We got to sing along with Mine Mine Mine!, Drunken Dwarves and the song that Wind Rose is known best for: Diggy Diggy Hole. They played the song and everybody sang along as loud as they could. At the end of the song, they put away their instruments and the song went all techno/dance on us. It was amazing, and the crowd lost it and went crazy. Wind Rose took the time to thank everybody and receive their well deserved applause from us.

From pirates to dwarves to intergalactic superheros. Gloryhammer is one of my personal favorite bands that I have seen live quite a few times already. Although their show was a lot like the one on Graspop 2022, they always deliver good and high energy shows that feel far from repetitive. This time, our hero the Hootsman announced a new album coming this summer. He didn’t give us an exact date, unfortunately. They did give us a new song, called: Keeper of Celestial Flame. The chorus of that song was already spotted on Gloryhammer’s Instagram while lead singer Sozos was in the recording booth singing it. Well, now we have the live version to listen to, because I recorded it too. It’s a high energy song with a very catchy chorus.

Together with Fly Away, this is now the second song we have that are originally recorded with new singer Sozos and those two songs will also be on the new album called ‘Return to the Kingdom of Five’. They opened with The Siege of Dunkeld, and played other Gloryhammer classics like Universe on Fire, Masters of the Galaxy and Angus McFife. They closed the show with The Unicorn Invasion of Dundee. And with that, I couldn’t be more happy with the show. The next time our intergalactic heroes set foot on Belgian grounds will be at Alcatraz 2023. Hoots!

After pirates, dwarves and intergalactic superheros, we are back to the pirates of Alestorm. This time in full green and black outfits and with a massive, massive rubber ducky on stage. I know it’s always there, but seeing it on a smaller stage it just seemed huge. Drummer Peter Alcorn actually asked the stage people if they could move the duck a bit, because it was hitting his cymbals. Both him and keyboardist Elliot Vernon were playing on a raised platform.

Starting off with their classic techno / flashing lights Alestorm intro and the following song Keelhauled, we were ready for the last band of this big party. We had beef guy drinking a bottle of whine this time, not beer, followed by Hangover. He later came back in a dress too. Captain Yarrface joined on Tortuga, and we had a row pit during Nancy the Tavern Wench. So much happened during this show. So many crowd surfers came and went, where there were none before during the other bands. It was great fun.

During Graspop 2022, Alestorm brought a tribute to a deceased fan named Robbe, by playing Zombies Ate My Pirate Ship. Robbe past away earlier that year. Today, they played that song with the same heart and passion. Although they didn’t specifically announce it, I saw Elliot Vernon signing with the person next to me, who I believe was Robbe’s twin sister Rani. A beautiful moment.

To close the show, we had to swear one more time. Fucked With An Anchor was the perfect song for that. When they finished their show, Alestorm asked all the security guards on stage to thank them for catching all the crowd surfers and keeping everybody safe. Thank you Alestorm!