Back to reality now, after attending one of the biggest and the most organized metal festivals in Europe I had ever been, Graspop Metal Meeting. This festival may have started as a pop festival, but this year we celebrated its 20th birthday and it was more metal than ever.
This festival combines huge bands of the hard sound and many others of the melodic scene too. It was really difficult to make it to every band since it exceeded the 100 groups. At first, I would like to congratulate the festival organization for the consistence of the schedule .All the bands appeared on stage just in time. It was amazing. If someone did not have a program of the festival, there was also an application available that was letting you know when the next band will be on stage.
The festival started on Thursday, with some Belgian bands that I did not have the time to catch up with and on Friday the party begun at 11.00 in the morning, with Dead Daisies on stage. You might don’t know the band yet, but you definitely know some of the members. On one of the biggest stages in Graspop we had the honor to watch live John Corabi (Motley Crue/Ratt, Dizzy Reed (Gn‘R), David Lowy (Red Phoenix/Mink), Tommy Clufetos (Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath), Richard Fortus (G’n’R) and Marco Mendoza (Whitesnake,Thin Lizzy).Many people were gathered on stage 2 , although like I said the band and its albums weren’t yet that famous .People danced with their music and had a great time listening to four amazing covers that you can check on the list below.
Mexico, Evil Is Goin’ On (Howlin’ Wolf cover),Midnight Moses (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band cover),Make the Best of It ,Hush (Joe South cover),Lock ‘n’ Load ,With You and I ,Devil Out of Time ,Your Karma, Helter Skelter (The Beatles cover)
Next on the main stage, was the Swedish band H.E.A.T. I was really lucky to see them live for the 4th time and 3rd time with the exceptional Erik Grönwall losing control and making the audience crazy about him, with his unique performance. He even went down to sing with his fans and took as many selfies with them as possible. Although Erik was making everyone staring at him, the rest of the band was kicking ass on stage too, making H.E.A.T. one of the best new live bands of the last years and growing.
Tearing Down the Walls, Beg Beg Beg (With Deep Purple’s ‘Highway Star’ snippet), Living on the Run, Tonight, Point of No Return, Mannequin Show, It’s All About Tonight
The hard rock quality leveled up when Thunder jumped on stage.I think that Thunder was a surprise band , considering the line up of the festival and its rarity of live appearances for the last years. We listened to some of their best songs, but unfortunately one of my favorites was missing and that was ‘’Loser’’. The band was well prepared for their live show, but too soft for this festival and this stage that they were playing. I would prefer to have listened to more songs but the feeling of listening ‘’Love Walked In’’ live, was enough to make me happy.
Dirty Love,River of Pain, Black Water, Wonder Days, Love Walked In, The Thing I Want, I Love You More Than Rock ‘N’ Roll
For the time being the hard rock bands came to an end and Body Count came on stage, tearing it down with their first note. Although Ice T is a rapper he is one of the most beloved frontmans of the metal scene. He connected with the fans immediately and he also introduced as to his son, who came to rap with him . Noteworthy when Ice T turned to a 15 years old kid on the front row and told him and I quote ‘’You could be in a Justin Bieber concert but you chose to be here. So from now on you can say that Ice T is your uncle’’ Then he asked him if he ever took bulling and the kid said yes , so he added ‘’Just look him In his face and tell him talk shit, get shot’’. That was an interesting intro fοr the song ‘’Talk Shit ,Get Shot’’ ,which drove everyone mad. You can watch the whole song live on YouTube.
Body Count’s in the House, Body M/F Count, Masters of Revenge, Bowels of the Devil, Necessary Evil ,Manslaughter ,Drive By ,Voodoo ,There Goes the Neighborhood, Body Count, KKK Bitch, Disorder (The Exploited cover)Talk Shit, Get Shot ,Cop Killer
The time passed by and before the Belgian sun came down completely, Slash came on stage with his amazing band Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators. From the first song Myles stole the show with his distinctive voice and his passion on stage .i am now ensured that Slashmade the best choice for his band. At last, I listened to Guns ‘n’ Roses songs with a great voice ,since AXL sucks live big time for the last 10 years. The feeling of listening to ‘’Sweet Child O’ Mine’’ from his creator, is unique indeed. Slash wasn’t that much of a talker and he was really sober too ,but that didn’t stop him from being the mascot of the night with his amazing style that we all loved him for.
You’re a Lie, Nightrain (Guns N’ Roses),Avalon ,Back from Cali,You Could Be Mine (Guns N’ Roses),The Dissident ,World on Fire ,Anastasia ,Sweet Child O’ Mine (Guns N’ Roses),Slither (Velvet Revolver),Paradise City (Guns N’ Roses)
Το μουσικό κλίμα αγρίεψε και επιταχύνθηκε απότομα όταν στη δεύτερη κεντρική σκηνή ανέβηκαν οι Σουηδοί In Flames που προσπάθησαν και μάλλον τα κατάφεραν να ξεπεράσουν το ρεκόρ crowd surfing σε συναυλία τους. Μέχρι τότε πάντως είχαν μετρήσει 77 crowd surfers.Εγώ έχασα το μέτρημα. Οι In Flames σταθήκανε πιο πολύ στα τελευταία άλμπουμ πράγμα λογικό μιας και που είχαν αρκετά νέο ηλικιακά κοινό. Ο Anders Fridén παρόλο που εμφανίστηκε με ένα αρκετά πιο φλώρικο στυλ και κούρεμα από ότι τον μάθαμε κατάφερε και τον πιο άσχετο να τον κάνει μέρος του χαμού. Εκπληκτική επικοινωνία με το κοινό παρα την μέτρια απόδοση των κομματιών. Βέβαια, σε αυτό μπορεί να έφταιγε λίγο και ο ήχος ή το σημείο που βρισκόμουν οπότε δεν θα είμαι απόλυτη. Πάντως κάποια κομμάτια δυσκολεύτηκα αρκετά να τα αναγνωρίσω.
Only for the Weak ,Everything’s Gone ,Bullet Ride ,Where the Dead Ships Dwell ,Paralyzed ,Alias ,Deliver Us ,Cloud Connected ,Drifter ,The Quiet Place ,Delight and Angers ,Rusted Nail ,The Mirror’s Truth ,Take This Life ,My Sweet Shadow
It was time for the biggest band of the first day, Kiss. The band that brought on stage the meaning of the word “SHOW”.Kiss appeared on stage, dressed and masked as we all know them and love them from the video clips all these years. Nothing less. I saw much more than I expected .From the beginning of the show, the explosions of fire on stage were unlimited. While Gene Simmons was playing live, a rope lift him up, on a platform in the ceiling, while he was spitting blood and playing his solo, before’’ God of Thunder’’. The drummer, Eric Singer, played his solo from his elevated drum kit and Paul Stanley soaring over the audience, to a small stage opposite from the stage and the show had everything and more, for any KISS fan. Simmons and Tommy Thayer finished the show by flying of the stage to the audience on two flying platforms. Unfortunately Paul was a vocal disappointment, especially when he sang ‘’I Was Made For Loving You’’. But he made us forget that, with all his crazy dancing moves .Maybe for some people the whole show was cheesier that what they could handle, but that’s what makes KISS the hottest band in the world. You should definitely check the videos that have been uploaded from the KISS tour, in which they are accompanied by Dead Daisies.
INTRO: Good Times Bad Times (Led Zeppelin), Detroit Rock City ,Deuce ,Psycho Circus ,Creatures of the Night ,I Love It Loud ,War Machine, Do You Love Me ,Hell or Hallelujah ,Guitar and Drum Solos ,Calling Dr. Love ,Lick It Up (feat. “Won’t Get Fooled Again” ), Bass Solo, God of Thunder, Cold Gin, Love Gun, Black Diamond
Encore: Shout It Out Loud, I Was Made for Lovin’ You, Rock and Roll All Nite, God Gave Rock ‘n’ Roll To You II
The night wasn’t over yet. Marilyn Manson was the last act on Main stage 2.I was waiting to see him live since i was 14 years old and it would be the first time that I would have that chance. Unfortunately, he was a real disappointment. Many good songs were left out from the set list, his voice was nothing like it used to be and he seemed to be really tired to perform. Also, I noticed some big pauses after each song, for no reason at all. The show was nothing like the videos I used to watch from past live shows. That doesn’t mean that I will stop following his career, since he released recently one really great album, that I won’t try to watch live ever and I suggest you do the same.
Intro: Requiem (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart),Deep Six ,Disposable Teens ,mOBSCENE ,No Reflection ,Third Day of a Seven Day Binge ,Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Eurythmics), Angel With the Scabbed Wings ,Tourniquet ,Rock Is Dead ,The Dope Show ,Lunchbox ,Antichrist Superstar ,Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode),The Beautiful People
Mariza “Crash”
