The 27th edition of Graspop Metal Meeting Festival, which closed on Sunday evening with concerts by Machine Head and Scorpions, was brought to an end with great determination and diligence. The organizers of the festival did not hide their pride a few hours before the end of hostilities. “This edition of Graspop will have been a great success”, they declared in a press release addressed to the entire press. “The festival started under tropical rains but that did nothing to cool down the hordes of metalheads. They were all able to headbang and launch into memorable circle pits. The spirit of metal was preserved and a torrent of top performances delighted metal fans. Famous names like Judas Priest, Scorpions, Alice Cooper and Deep Purple already knew the place but, like every year, the festival paid particular attention to the future generations of metal. Polyphia, Slaughter to Prevail and Wargasm are some of the artists who discovered Graspop this year. Our Belgian artists like Stake and Brutus also delivered quality performances.”
Against and against the weather
However, the festival was not spared from the bad weather which disrupted the plans of the organizers. “We erected the largest drying rack in the world allowing campers to dry their clothes”, they add. “We had planned a supermarket and even a barber in the campsites but Mother Nature decided to play a bad trick on us forcing us to relocate a few campers. We would like to warmly thank the mayor of Dessel, Kris Van Dijck, who gave us his support throughout the festival.”
Graspop has become a festival whose reputation has extended far beyond the borders of our country. The organizers have listed more than 90 different nationalities on their site. Fans from Asia, South America and all over Europe gathered in the Campinois plain during these four days spent in good spirits. Where some would have complained about not being able to access the car parks, everyone adapted to the exceptional climatic circumstances with great indulgence, fatalism and good humor.
Machine Head makes a lasting impression
Machine Head also closed the festival with a set that will remain in people’s minds. Robb Flynn, the frontman of the American group, continued to harangue the crowd to perform “circle pits” which were duplicated in front of the two main stages while the group performed on the “North Stage”. The band’s setlist collected one or two songs from virtually every album. The sequence of titles “Is There Anybody Out There?”, “LKocust” and “The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears” led to collective hysteria illustrated by numerous pogos.
Previously, Scorpions will have duplicated, more or less, the concert performed two years ago on the same stage by adding eight of the nine tracks from the album. Love At First Sting, to celebrate its 40th anniversary since its release. If Klaus Meine’s vocal performance was supported in unison by the audience on the classics “Still Lovin You”, “Send Me An Angel” or “Wind Of Change”, the singer’s posture on more energetic pieces like “Rock You Like A Hurricane” or “Big City Nights” were more reminiscent of an old man.
Who will replace the hard rock dinosaurs in the future?
The Deep Purple musicians also left this ugly impression in a show where the endless drum, keyboard and guitar solos further softened a concert that brought together “Highway Star”, “Black Night” or the stainless “ Smoke On The Water”.
And Graspop risks quickly being confronted with an insoluble problem. Who can replace these hard rock dinosaurs in the future? Because if their music remains eternal, these groups will soon no longer be able to perform on stage…
Open up to other styles
Will the new generation led by Corey Taylor, in particular, have broad enough shoulders to take on this role? The Slipknot singer put on an accomplished performance on Sunday, wandering through the repertoire of his groups, Slipknot (“Before I Forget”, “Duality”, Snuff”), and Stone Sour (“Made of Scars”, “Song # 3”, “Through Glass”) as well as his own solo compositions. We also really enjoyed the concerts of Southerners Stone Black Cherry and Rival Son on the main stages. Extreme had preceded them in a style of its own and not always necessarily metal (“More Than Words”, “Hole Hearted”, etc.).
Because this is perhaps where the future of the Graspop Metal Meeting lies. Open up to other styles of rock. As the organizers dared to do by placing Tool as the headliner of the first day. And the test was carried out successfully since this Thursday was the first of the four to be fully booked. And as the commercial profitability of the festival pushes the organizers to continue this four-day formula initiated following the 25th anniversary, it is a safe bet that surprising headliners will be announced for the next edition of Graspop which will take place between on June 19 and 22, 2025.
