Author: Urban Bolta
Photos: Urban Bolta
Location: Dessel / Belgium
Concert date: 06/29/2008
Attendance: 55,000
Ticket price: 180€ (three-day ticket)
Graspop Metal Meeting, which took place this year from June 27 to 29 near Dessel in Belgium, serves up the biggest hard rock and metal bands of every subgenre year after year. With a twelve-hour drive one way, it’s still a fairly unknown festival among Slovenes, but in size it easily stands toe to toe with the famous Wacken. Great organization and friendly staff are definitely trademarks of the festival. It pays to show up a day or so early, otherwise your tent ends up simply way too far away because of the massive crowds. My crew and I rolled in on Thursday night, and we still ended up with a tent about a 25-minute walk from the main stage.
DEF LEPPARD (Friday, June 27, 2008)
For an eighties gem like Def Leppard, it’s pretty unusual to be only the third headliner of the night. They probably don’t even remember the last time that happened to them. The result was one single hour on stage – in broad daylight. The Leppards were of course forced to trim their setlist quite a bit, the one they’re playing on the current tour promoting their recently released album Songs From the Sparkle Lounge.
A huge red curtain in the background – just like on the cover of the new album – heralded the show of the great quintet from Sheffield. And sure enough, right on the dot, Joe, Phil, Vivian and both Ricks marched onto the stage. They kicked things off with their early-nineties hit Let’s Get Rocked, which set off a wave of excitement in the front rows. The show was all about the classics, so we got Let It Go from the album Hign’N’Dry, then Billy’s Got a Gun, Photograph, Animal, Hysteria. From the new album they played only two songs, C’mon C’mon and Hallucinate, which the crowd didn’t know yet but made their own in a heartbeat anyway.
Melodic hard rock and Joe’s magical vocals backed by the other four members’ backing vocals are of course a great recipe for an incredible atmosphere, both on stage and below it. The whole time the Leppards had the loud support of thousands of throats singing along to the choruses. Right before the end of the set a cloud tore open in the sky and it started pouring, which didn’t bother the show at all – if anything, the opposite – the downpour accompanying the closing two songs, Pour Some Sugar On Me and Rock of Ages, created a truly unique (and wonderful) vibe.
Def Leppard are no longer in the shape they were in during the eighties and early nineties, but they still deliver a very decent rock party, and they proved it, along with the new album, with this show too. The tech crew really stood out as well, the sound was perfect. I was only a little disappointed by the turnout in front of the stage – for a band of their caliber, and given the size of the festival of course, quite few people hungry for quality hard rock showed up – about 25 thousand by my estimate.
WHITESNAKE
After Def Leppard came another group that left a deep mark on the eighties of the last century – Coverdale’s White Snake. A band that keeps swapping its members, with only the chieftain the same since the very beginning – David Coverdale, a huge rock’n’roll icon.
The heavy rain eased off a bit during the break, so it was just drizzling. Despite the not exactly friendly weather, a huge crowd gathered, old and young alike. To start, Whitesnake played Best Years, the opening track on the album Good to Be Bad, released in April. There were no surprises on the setlist – on the “hit after hit” principle, it was tailored for a festival audience. Besides the obligatory trio from the multi-platinum 1987 album and representative songs from the new one, they also played The Heart of the City, Love Ain’t no Stranger, Ain’t Gonna Cry no More and Fool For Your Loving.
David Coverdale. He’s fascinating to watch. It’s honestly a phenomenon how a man approaching sixty can, with his sexy moves during the ballads – I’m obviously thinking mainly of Is This Love – bring teenage girls 40 years younger to orgasmic screams and tears. In that department he and Steven Tyler are definitely alike. How great would it have been if the sextet on stage had played along with the current weather and done Crying in the Rain, hehe! David’s performance is really something special. He devotes himself 100 percent to every song, breathes it. That’s exactly what draws such emotional reactions from the biggest fangirls. All the while he keeps playing with the microphone and its stand – his trademark. Despite a voice that no longer hits the highest notes like in the golden days, he still finds his way around the stage superbly and leaves the other members only crumbs of attention. Even so, guitarists Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach got to trade off a really splendid guitar solo. All the other members, besides that guitar duo bassist Uriah Duffy, keyboardist Timothy Drury and drummer Chris Frazier, are great musical masters, but on stage they come across as too static and cold-blooded, unmotivated, and so they don’t really live up to the Whitesnake legacy. They finished their set – as usual – with the encore Still of the Night and David’s obligatory words “Thank you for your hospitallity”, and then they were off flying to their next gig.
As always, an excellent Whitesnake show, though what caught my eye was the excessive lack of engagement and ignorance toward the audience during the show itself. I got the feeling that David Coverdale and the gang are running a bit too much on autopilot: show up, play, leave.
JUDAS PRIEST
Judas Priest, one of the biggest and most influential heavy metal bands, who reached cult status in the seventies and eighties, played as the headliner on the first day and drew a sea of fans in front of the stage that practically had no end in sight.
They started their set with the overture Dawn of Creation, followed by a banger called Prophecy. On this tour Judas Priest were presenting the album Nostradamus, released two weeks earlier, and the first two songs came from it. A shaven-headed, bearded Rob Halford, who walked out in the style of the new Nostradamus theme with a cross in his hand, naturally set off a wave of excitement just by showing up. Despite his best efforts, though, the iron Rob can’t hide what the little birds have been chirping about for a while – his vocals no longer come anywhere near the heights we’re used to from his classic era. So, especially on the better-known songs, the crowd takes over his role. Halford’s typically low-energy performance was made up for by a spectacular light show. The guitar duo Downing & Tipton did their job routinely and – very well. Unlike Halford’s voice, mileage does them good, and the show was consequently very tight and practically without a flaw. Besides three songs from the new album, they also played their most recognizable songs: Breaking the Law, Painkiller, Hell Bent For Leather – on the latter Rob of course came roaring onto the stage on a Harley-Davidson, a typical Judas Priest move. Before the last song of the encore Rob had a bit of fun, warming the crowd up for a few more minutes with his shouts, which the crowd then repeated back. “Like we’re in school,” went one comment from some joker next to me. But it was truly impressive to watch the crowd repeating after Rob. Then they played You’ve Got Another Thing Coming and the first day of shows was behind us. Despite the creaky vocals, it was a great show from both the musicians on stage and the crew at the mixing desk, who delivered really good sound.
KORPIKLAANI (Saturday, June 28, 2008)
In recent years we’ve witnessed a real flood of Finnish bands, and prominent among them are the musicians from Lahti united under the name Korpiklaani – the Forest Clan. Ever since 2003, when they started playing under that name, they’ve been pumping out albums like on a conveyor belt and touring nonstop, winning over new fans all the time. Frontman Janne Järvelä has assembled a crew of excellent merrymakers who mix the foundation of old Finnish folk tradition with heavy guitar riffs, all of it spiced with a good dose of melody and catchy choruses. A Korpiklaani show is a real party! Dressed in animal skins and other ancient garb and singing about beer and dancing, they had a blast on stage the whole set, and their energy of course jumped straight to the audience, who devoured each next track with even more pleasure. The band presented their new record Korven Kuningas, released in March of this year. The new songs went over well, and the fun hit boiling point during hits like Pixies Song, Happy Little Boozer, Beer Beer. A little under an hour of revelry flew by fast, and the show set off chants of their name long after the Finnish rascals had left the stage.
CAVALERA CONSPIRACY
From the release of the very first single by Max and Igor Cavalera, Marc Rizzo and Joe Duplantier, united in the band Cavalera Conspiracy, two camps formed: the first, which supports the reunion of the Cavalera brothers under a new name, and the second, for whom the reunion is just another spit in the face of the old holy name of Sepultura. Whatever the case, Max and Igor are back; in mid-June they shook Maribor’s Štuk, and two weeks later the main stage of Graspop Festival too.
The stage setup was standard – Max in the middle, guitarist Marc on his right, bassist Johny, who plays with the band but isn’t officially a member, on the left, Igor at the drums in back, and behind the band of course a red curtain with huge CC letters. It started with the title track of the band’s debut Inflikted and their only single so far, Sanctuary. Naturally a mosh pit instantly broke out, the only real one in front of the main stage in all three days. Usually it forms right behind the first rows, but this time the crowd was packed so tight that it only developed about 20 meters away. The crowdsurfers got their share too, of course. Marc, who is also a guitarist in Soulfly, and bassist Jonny Chow are truly excellent picks – they were right at home on stage. Johny especially, with his overgrown look and tattoos, really gives off a fearsome vibe. But what can you do, when all eyes are on the obvious frontman – the older of the Cavalera brothers – Max. Despite not being overly likable or talkative, the man has such a big name that looking at him and his impressive performance gives you goosebumps. Besides most of the songs from the album released in March, there was of course no skipping the old Sepultura classics: Territory, Arise, Refuse – Resist, Propaganda, Inner Self, which of course set off a wave of excitement. For the encore, which the crowd more than earned with its nonstop participation, they played the immortal, if overplayed, Roots Bloody Roots, which brought on universal nirvana! Then came the obligatory tossing of picks and drumsticks, which led to a general massacre around the spots where the coveted items landed.
They threw a good party, but, hand on heart, only thanks to the cult Sepultura classics. Without them, Cavalera Conspiracy would be just one of a thousand similar soulless bands…
KISS
On their tour celebrating the band’s 35th anniversary, the glam rockers Kiss also stopped at GMM, where they were the headliners of the second day. The show was actually the last one in Europe on this tour. Thanks to their image and show, over the years Kiss have collected huge armies of fans all over the world, but at the same time it would be hard to find a band among the biggest rock names that gets so many jokes made at its expense.
Right after Cavalera Conspiracy finished, the crew covered the stage with a gigantic curtain, behind which they prepared the stage for the big Kiss show. When the curtain dropped and the opening beats of Deuce kicked in, the crowd went absolutely nuts, and a truly impressive show began. In the outfits typical of Kiss, Paul, Gene, Eric and Tommy slowly descended from the ceiling of the huge stage. On stage, the usual antics: Paul Stanley showed off his chest, Gene Simons kept sticking out and flapping his tongue, and Eric Singer, raised high above the others, spent the whole time twirling and tossing his two drumsticks in the air. Above it all, naturally, loomed the iconic Kiss sign, constantly switching between yellow and orange. They looked surprisingly fresh on stage, Paul especially, who with his several runs to the far right and left ends of the stage and generally energetic performance did a good job hiding his 56 years. You can’t blame him for forgetting part of the lyrics on the band’s biggest hit, I Was Made For Lovin’ You, and most people didn’t notice anyway. In the first part of the show everyone except Paul got their moment of glory. Eric Singer was the first of them to rise high into the air “the Mötley Crue way” with the entire drum rig, because he had a solo spot, and he took over vocals as well. Soon after came a solo spot by guitarist Tommy Thayer, which in my book lasted way too long. In his show piece Gene Simons flew up to the stage ceiling on wings, where he first had a bit of fun with the crowd and then smeared himself, to put it mildly, disgustingly with blood, which then kept dripping down onto the stage from above. He was absolutely loving it – being Gene Simons, after all. One of the highlights of the show was the song Love Gun, which Paul sang on a mini stage on top of the mixing desk high up in the middle of the almost endless crowd, which he got to on a zip line. Thousands of confetti pieces, fire effects, Paul’s smashed guitar – all of it made up the big Kiss show. They served up most of the hits, and the crowd enjoyed itself most to the rhythms of Rock’n’Roll All Nite, which could be declared the festival’s anthem, since it was literally sung day and night at the campsite – all three days.
Shorter solo spots and a little less self-absorption wouldn’t have spoiled the show one bit. One of the sentences Paul uttered between songs speaks volumes about the latter: “Now you have to scream my name 3 times! Louder, louder..!” Still, with a 2:15-long repertoire that included two long encores, a great audience response and spectacle, Kiss were definitely one of the festival’s winners. After the closing song Detroit Rock City, the “Kiss army, the biggest army in the world” – in Paul Stanley’s words – slowly made its way toward the tents to gather strength for the last day of the festival.
ROSE TATTOO (Sunday, June 29, 2008)
Rose Tattoo, a band not all that well known to the wider crowd, took over the festival’s main stage early Sunday afternoon. The Australians, who have been playing since 1976 – with a 13-year break in between – are, together with the famous AC/DC brothers, founders of the sound down there and one of Australia’s best rock’n’roll exports.
And they had plenty to show! A quality blues / hard rock combination, nonstop merrymaking on stage and spreading good vibes among those present are their trademarks. Angry Anderson, one of the band’s founders, is its true leader. With a shaved head, plenty of tattoos, a beer belly and sixty years under his belt, he’s a typical representative of the old rocker school. With his presence and original humor, delivered of course with a typical Australian accent, he surely didn’t leave a single listener cold. The rest of the band don’t lag behind him at all, either. Guitarists Mick Cocks and Dai Pritchard and bassist Geordie Leach kept smiles on their faces and beers between their legs the whole time, playing classic rock’n’roll riffs under the baton of drummer Paul DeMarco and enjoying themselves immensely. It’s a real joy to watch such ease of playing! Besides songs from last year’s album Blood Brothers, which they’re presenting on their summer tour around Europe, the songs from their iron repertoire were of course not missing: We Can’t Be Beaten, Rock’n’Roll Outlaw and, to top it off, their anthem Nice Boys (Don’t play Rock’n’Roll). Personally, for me one of the best sets of the festival, though one that was unjustly overshadowed by the biggest names. Rose Tattoo, farewell, and see you again!
APOCALYPTICA
A group that Slovenian rockers surely know well, since they stop on the sunny side of the Alps on practically every tour – and it was no different this time – just a week later the guys stopped by Metal Camp.
Despite the early hour and the scorching heat, the cellists Eicca Toppinen, Perttu Kivilaakso, Paavo Lötjönen, Antero Manninen and drummer Mikko Sirén drew a sizable crowd in front of the stage. They started their set with a punch – with Sepultura’s Refuse – Resist. Eicca and Perttu were clearly in a good mood, because from the opening track on they headbanged nonstop, running up and down the stage with their cellos in hand and swapping positions – usually they only loosen up like that after a few opening songs. They played just two songs from their latest album Worlds Collide, released last September, but we got to hear that many more covers – mostly Metallica ones, of course, the ones that first drew wider attention to the Finnish horsemen of the apocalypse back in 1996. The five of them put on a pretty good show on stage, but the audience didn’t breathe with them. It only woke up a bit toward the end, when they played the well-known Seek and Destroy. Between songs Eicca and Pertu kept us entertained – the first with his extremely thick Finnish accent, the second with humor. He teased the ice-cold Antero, who, unlike the other three cellists, sits the whole time while playing and gives off a feeling of total disinterest, with words that went something like this: “See Antero, sitting there so calmly and playing? You don’t know him well! Watch him during the next song, he’s going to smash his instrument!”
Then came In the Hall of the Mountain King and their 50 minutes were up. A solid show, but the cellos – unusual for a metal festival – were obviously too hard a nut for the people at the mixing desk, because their sound was definitely too weak, and at moments you could only hear the drums.
AT THE GATES
The tent surrounding the Marquee 1 stage was boiling shortly before eight in the evening. We were waiting for the newly reactivated At The Gates, the finest Swedish death metal band, as you can read on their website. Very subjective, many would probably say, but it’s definitely one of the biggest metal names to get back together lately and head out on a world tour, one that arcs widely around our little country, so the show in Belgium was one of the closest ones to us anywhere! At the Gates is a band that put out four studio records in the early nineties, shook up the scene over there and became one of the leading bands of the famous Gothenburg sound.
Tomas Lindberg (vocals), Anders Björler, Martin Larsson (both guitars), Jonas Björler (bass) and Adrian Erlandsson (drums) make a lineup that couldn’t be more original. They opened with the title track from the album Slaughter of the Soul, released in 1995, which was also the last album before they split two years later. The Swedes came across as very reliable and tight on stage. Anders and Martin on guitar were practically flawless, and the sound was really good too. The guys obviously rehearsed a lot, since the songs they played didn’t deviate from the versions you can hear on their studio albums. The jam-packed tent proved it knew the songs, which (pleasantly) surprised me. Despite knowing the material, though, there was that now much-lamented stationary thing – no mosh pit, a little headbanging, just raised hands in the front rows, and that was it!
The setlist was made up almost exclusively of their later period – the last two albums, so of course the classics Suicide Nation, Need, Nausea, Terminal Spirit Disease and Blinded by Fear were not missing. The 50 minutes flew by. An excellent show could have been even better if frontman Tomas Lindberg had had a better feel for connecting with the audience – it was practically never addressed, and looking at the other band members, it seemed like they were already tired of playing after just about half a year. A bit more energy, guys!
IN FLAMES
After At the Gates, the same evening, just at a different location, this time on the main stage, came another of the big names of the Swedish scene – among the broader metal crowd surely the most popular Swedish band of recent years – In Flames. While the first half of the band’s career can be described as very influential in the melodic death genre, with the record Clayman they began bringing in metalcore / nu-metal elements, moving quite far from their original sound.
Even their entrance on stage hinted that the show would be very relaxed. Tight jeans, tight white tees, Adidas sneakers.. is this really In Flames? Right after the opening song Anders apologized: “Sorry, our clothes stayed in Copenhagen, that’s why we look like that. But doesn’t matter, we are here not to play, we are here to see Iron Maiden!” They really did look a bit comical, all dressed up like that and jumping and headbanging around the stage! They definitely put people in a good mood with it. And they kept burning on. Sadly, In Flames are one of those bands that never surprise with their setlist – and of course this time was no different. Pinball Map, Cloud Connected, Quiet Place and other hits from the second half of their career followed one after another. The mood on stage was really good, guitarists Jesper and Björn and bassist Peter even chatted and laughed at each other’s jokes while playing. The fairly obvious lack of preparation came out even more when, because of guitar swaps (and maybe technical problems?), everyone except Anders left the stage twice for a full minute, leaving him in the role of host, which he handled brilliantly, making the crowd laugh. During one of those pauses one of the guitarists played the riff of “Rock You Like a Hurricane” from behind the stage, which Anders accompanied with the words: “Scorpions, the best fu**in’ band in the world!”. Interesting, no doubt!
Their music, where energetic guitars and scream/growl vocals are usually swapped out at the choruses for a melodic base and clean vocals, and which is therefore built for playing live, set off a big wave of crowdsurfing, even though signs at every step warned that it was forbidden.
It was interesting to look at the first 3-4 rows, who weren’t enjoying the show at all – some of them had been waiting right at the front for hours just for the iron maiden. Still, even they perked up at least partly during My Sweet Shadow, with which In Flames – as usual – closed their solid set, which definitely offered no standout moments.
IRON MAIDEN
To put the dot on the I of the festival’s finale, the long-time most popular heavy metal band – the British iron maiden, by the way an old acquaintance of Graspop – took the stage. As part of their Somewhere Back in Time tour, they were greeted in front of the stage – in the words of the great Bruce – by a record-breaking number for this Belgian festival so far, a crowd of 55 thousand heads.
Despite the barrier running down the middle all the way to the mixing desk, the front rows were unbearably packed – a constant at Iron Maiden shows anyway. Churchill’s speech and, meanwhile, a projection of old war footage, the curtain dropped and the most anticipated show of this year’s Graspop began, with Aces High, a song that military pilot Bruce Dickinson surely identifies with well. How much energy he still has! He flies around the stage structure the entire time and performs his trademark moves. The whole band comes across as very tight – no wonder, since they’re constantly on tour. The guitar trio of Murray & Smith & Gers and bassist and band leader Steve Harris, judging by what they showed, were practically competing with each other in enjoying the playing. Eddie showed up twice during the show – the first time he only watched from the background, while the second time he marched across the stage and even grabbed a guitar for a moment. The backdrop also changed several times during the show – naturally matching the theme of the songs being played. The setlist did not differ at all from the official list of the current tour. Besides songs from the golden Iron Maiden era of 1982 – 88, they also played the song Iron Maiden from the Paul Di’Anno era and, unfortunately for some and fortunately for others, Fear of the Dark too – for those more superficial connoisseurs. But the epic march Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which they hadn’t played since 1985, and Powerslave brought total ecstasy to the front rows. Even greater ecstasy among the otherwise few Spaniards was brought by the result of the European football championship final, which ended right during the Iron Maiden show and whose result was relayed to us by Bruce Dickinson himself. During one of the songs a tech ran onto the stage and whispered the result of the final to Dickinson, who then announced it to the fifty-thousand-strong crowd. In an instant, hundreds of (defeated) German flags vanished from the sky – what a funny and priceless sight! Another interesting scene played out during the instrumental part of Heaven Can Wait, when the entire Iron Maiden crew bounded onto the stage and for a moment partied together with the crowd. A nice gesture from the employers, no doubt! With Hallowed Be Thy Name the encore ended, a few more frisbees flew into the crowd from Steve Harris’s hands, and the official part of Graspop Metal Meeting 2008 was over.
The iron maiden’s performance was practically perfect. A tightness that has no equal, and if you add the dream selection of songs they’re playing on this tour, a great audience response is guaranteed. Over the years Iron Maiden haven’t lost one bit of their edge!
Setlist
JUDAS PRIEST:
1. Intro: Dawn Of Creation
2. Prophecy
3. Metal Gods
4. Eat Me Alive
5. Between The Hammer And The Anvil
6. Devil’s Child
7. Breaking The Law
8. Hell Patrol
9. Messenger of Death
10. Dissident Aggressor
11. Angel
12. The Hellion/Electric Eye
13. Rock Hard, Ride Free
14. Sinner
15. Painkiller
——————–
16. Hell Bent For Leather
17. Green Manalishi (with the Two Pronged Crown)
18. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
KISS:
01.Deuce
02.Strutter
03.Got To Choose
04.Hotter Than Hell
05.Nothing To Loose
06.C’Mon And Love Me
07.Parasite
08.She
09.100,000 years
10.Cold Gin
11.Let Me Go Rock N Roll
12.Black Diamond
13.Rock N Roll All Nite
14.Shout it out Loud
15.Lick It Up
16.I Love It Loud
17.I Was Made For Loving You
18.Love Gun
19.Detroit Rock City
IRON MAIDEN:
01. Intro – Churchill’s Speech
02. Aces High
03. 2 Minutes to Midnight
04. Revelations
05. The Trooper
06. Wasted Years
07. The Number of the Beast
08. Run to the Hills
09. Rime of the Ancient Mariner
10. Powerslave
11. Heaven Can Wait
12. Can I Play With Madness?
13. Fear of the Dark
14. Iron Maiden
———————–
15. Moonchild
16. The Clairvoyant
17. Hallowed Be Thy Name
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