It’s over After looking forward to this year’s edition of Graspop has passed way too quickly. The line-up looked very promising, the company too. Only the weatherforecast didn’t look too good. Well, a real metalhead isn’t scared of some rain and thunder, so I didn’t worry too much.

Friday

Friday morning we left Roeselare with 3 cars at 4AM. Yep, that meant I had to get up at 2.30AM after a short night of 2 hours of sleep. There was not much traffic and fortunately we got there very early: 6:15AM. After drinking our first beer, we started unloading the cars and moving all our stuff to the campsite. At 8AM all the tents were set up and we were ready for some fun. A little later,Martin from Germany arrived and after noon the rest of our friends started showing up. Everyone was ready for a weekend of too much beers, too little sleep and some awesome metal music!

Around 3:30PM we arrived at the festival ground to be in time for the Static-X concert. The concert was good, but I regret that I skipped the Textures concert for that. After Static-X we went to see my all time favourite band Epica in the Marquee 1 tent. This was my first goosebumps moment. They played a set of only 40 minutes, but played 3 new songs that sound very good and heavy and some classics from both their previous albums. To end they played the incredible ‘Consign to Oblivion’. I couldn’t help myself but I had some tears in my eyes. That song is just too beautiful.

After Epica it was time for Papa Roach. Not my all time favourite band, but their live performance is legendary and a guarantee for good times. They have proven their reputation once again by making the whole crowd jump and headbang in the pouring rain. Incredible feeling! This gig just made us forget about the rain.

Luckily the next concert was again in a marquee tent: Amorphis. I only know their latest album, so I was curious to know what they would sound like live and what their other songs would sound like. Well, they left quite a big impression on me. Their set was varied and very energetic. The other songs I heard sounded heavy and melodic. It won’t take long before I have some other records from them, that’s for sure!

Then we headed back to the main stage for Within Temptation. I must say I’m not too much of a fan although I have their three latest albums, but I like them live. They have proven that reputation once again. The show was perfect, Sharon’s voice was good and solid and the music sounded pretty heavy. That’s mainly why I like them live and not really on the record: They sound too polished on record while they sound quite heavy when performing live.

Enough about Within Temptation. Next on the line-up was Celtic Frost. A classic Black Metal band that reunited last year with a new great album. I was quite curious to see them live as these guys are legends! From the first note, their particular style slams you in the face with very heavy and slow riffs and somewhat scary vocals. The first few songs I heard sounded awesome, but I had to leave because I had a headache. I was drinking since 6.17AM, remember?

The headache only got worse and after hearing some songs of Chris Cornell (not too good really) and then trying one song of Type O Negative, I decided to call it a day and to take off to the campsite. I really wanted to see Therion, but I just couldn’t stay awake anymore.

Saturday

As an early bird I am, I got up at 9 or something. The headache was over and despite the few hours of sleep I felt quite ok. Ready for another day of great music and fun. We started off with some junk breakfast and beers before we went to the festival ground. Not too much planned today, so we really had to see what we wanted to see or there would be nothing left.

We took off to see the Norwegian band Sirenia. They play Gothic metal and above all they have a new singer. She has the looks and the voice, so who had to be there? Right, you get it. Well their concert was great. They played some new stuff and some very good old songs too. The new stuff sounded heavier live than on the album which was a very good thing. For playing so early, I would give them an 8!

After Sirenia, Stone Sour played on the main stage. I must admit I’m not such a fan of this band, but there was nothing else playing at that time, so I checked them out. The gig was ok, but not overwhelming. The songs are just not powerful enough in my opinion.

We took some time off after the Stone Sour concert to have a drink, some food and visit the metal market. We made sure we were back in time for Life of Agony. I don’t know them too well as I only have the album ‘Soul Searching Sun’ which is – according to some of their fans I spoke with – their worst album. I kinda like that album, so that was promising. And yes! What a show this band has put up! Even though I didn’t know most of the songs, my head was banging, my feet were moving and I had a huge smile all through the concert. Keith Caputo and his gang have a new fan!

Cannibal Corpse was one of the next bands on the bill. I don’t know any of their songs, but my friend Matyas from Budapest told me to certainly check them out. Oh man! What a fat sound and disgusting lyrics! But hey, I really liked their music, even though we took off about halfway the concert. This is definitely another band I need to check out soon. Thanks Matyas for convincing me to see them!

While wandering around after the CC concert, I saw on one of the big screens that Bloodsimple has cancelled their gig. Not too much of a big deal, but the big deal was that DevilDriver played instead. I saw them last year in the marquee and it was a huge party, so I convinced 2 of my friends to go check them out with me. Not a bad decision after all it seems. The metal dome was pretty packed with people and as soon as the first plectrum hitted the strings, the tent exploded. They pulled out a party like only DevilDriver can do with some huge circle pits.

Korn played after that and this was the worst concert I have seen on Graspop this year. They sounded pretty lame and to be honest I really don’t like their songs. So I won’t bother writing too much about this here.

Dimmu Borgir is one of the bands I discovered way too late. I have become a big fan of theirs in a very short deal of time. I definitely wanted to see them live and yes I was there in the tent. Yes, you read it right: a tent. And that was a big mistake. This band is just too famous to play in a tent. The sound was great, the atmosphere was awesome, but it was too crowded and hot. With pain in my heart I left after 3 songs. It was unbearable to stay inside. I enjoyed the rest of the songs outside the tent, but of course the sound was not really good. Great band, bad choice of stage.

And then for the band of all bands: Iron Maiden! This is also a band I discovered pretty late and so far I didn’t see them live. I was pretty excited to see them for the first time and how did they convince me?!? What a show! They have proven once again to be the gods of Heavy Metal. The sound was as tight as an ass, the show as overwhelming and the atmosphere in the crowd is unbelievable. They took off with three new songs and then they started playing some older songs. When they decided to play ‘The Number of the Beast’, ‘Fear of the Dark’ and ‘Run to the Hills’ in one go (order is not right I think), the crowd got insane! A second goosebumps moment when everyone was singing with the band on the song ‘Fear of the Dark’. You have to witness that to feel what I’m talking about. That is a feeling I just can’t describe!

Full of energy we went back to the campsite for a ‘little’ party. I won’t get in too much details about this party (maybe because I don’t know too much details anymore ), but some of us went to bed when the sun came up. After a few hours of sleep the first thing we needed to do was to beat the hangover to get ready for day 3! Lots of great bands on Sunday, so we’d better be prepared.

Sunday

I would have never expected to be on the festival ground for the DevilDriver concert, but hey, there I was. This time they played on the main stage and once again it was a huge party. As cream on the cake they had two huge circle pits on each side of the stage. Awesome! DevilDriver has broken free from the label they had as ‘the band of the former singer of Coal Chamber’ and have proven they know how to party. So early in the morning (at least for Graspop standards) and yet such a party. Very rare!

The band ‘In This Moment’ was totally unknown to me. They play a mix of Arch Enemy and Kittie. Their music is good, but not extremely convincing. I would not yet buy a CD of theirs, but they put up a decent show. Funny to mention was that the female singer wore a blue dress and when she was headbanging, she needed to hold her breasts to avoid them from popping out of the dress

One of the bands I really wanted to see on Graspop was Chimaira. I’m a huge fan of their pumping mix of thrash metal and metalcore. They took off with ‘Nothing Remains’ and the tone was set. The huge amount of early birds in front of the main stage started moving right away and the party that DevilDriver started continued and went in crescendo. During the last song, a huge wall of death spontaneously started and reached all the way from the stage to the P.A. I only saw this once during a Hatebreed concert. Chimaira: fat, convincing and good to headbang my hangover away!

After this explosion of energy we took a short break to grab some food and have a drink. In the background we witnessed some songs of the Black Label Society concert, but I don’t really like them. We visited the metal market and walked around a bit, waiting for the next concert to come: Spoil Engine! I absolutely love this Belgian band from Kortemark-Roeselare. They play pretty energetic metal and the two shows of theirs I saw were incredible. They played in the metal dome, so it’s not an ideal place to attract a crowd… or is it? Apparently for Spoil Engine it is. As soon as the first notes were played, the tent was packed with people, banging their head, going insane in one of the pits that were constantly moving. Great energy, perfect sound, world class band!

Unearth is one of the huge number of metalcore bands that became very famous the last few years. The metalcore genre is not really famous for the originality of the music, but who cares. Unearth plays fast, aggressive and energetic songs. That’s all I need in their music. And at that point it went wrong at Graspop. There was something terribly wrong with the sound. It sounded like only the stage speakers were on, resulting in a hollow and too silent sound. I took off after 3 songs. Disappointed. Not with the band, but with the sound technicians. This could have been a party but it wasn’t. Too bad for the huge crowd that showed up for their concert.

Back to the main stage now for Children of Bodom. Their music has a very particular sound and over the years they have proven to be great musicians. A big crowd was gathered in front of the main stage to see the band they all like. Even though the papers said the concert was awful, 20.000 or more people were banging their heads, waving the horns and going nuts during this great performance. CoB never disappointed me and neither did they at Graspop 2007!

Time again for a break because in one hour, the gods of Thrash Metal will be invading the stage: Slayer! Slayer is one of those bands that never disappoint. Tom Araya, the singer entered the stage and said: “Hey! We were asked to come here to play some fucking music and that’s all we’re going to do tonight!” And that’s all they did. Fair enough for me. Their set was great and varying, the sound was very good and above all, during the song ‘Raining Blood’, the heaven gates opened and the rain started pouring down on us for a while. How about that as a symbol of satan

For me, Slayer was the real headliner for Sunday, so after trying to check out Amon Amarth, I went back to the campsite for another beer before I went to sleep.

CouchSurfing

I don’t go anywhere without having CouchSurfing in the back of my head and Graspop was no exception. Martin, my first CS guest joined me and my friends on camping and later on, Olivier and Petra came. They brought Sam, Cas and some other friends from the UK with them. For all of them it was the first time I met and although we didn’t spend too much time together, I have a very good impression of these people. I’m sure we’ll meet again. Maybe Graspop 2008?

That’s it for the 2007 edition of Graspop. We had lots of fun, saw great bands, had too much to drink and too little sleep, so let’s call this year’s edition a success! Let’s count down to GMM 2008!

Thanks to all my friends for the great times! Love you all!

Oh and before I forget, there’s more pictures here and more videos here.