Metalrage.com

Metalrage.com is a non-profit website created and maintained by a small group of music lovers from the Netherlands (and some other territories).
You can read more about us or contact us by clicking here.

Metalrage.com wil only accept digital promo's to save us all time. There will be a form available soon to upload the promo using our website. For now use the contact form available here to get in touch and send promos.

All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. The comments are property of their posters, all the rest © 2002-2024 Metalrage.com

Enter keywords and hit enter!

Graspop 2005 - 3 days of metal and extreme weather
When I was looking at the timetable for the Graspop festival of this year I was looking forward to a nice and calm festival and there were some great bands playing actually. After a quick drive to we arrived on the grounds and started walking around. When we had seen every single part of the terrain we found our ticket post. With a burning sun it was time to put our tent together and poor water on our heads. While the ambulances were constantly driving to pick up fainted people, we were getting ready for day 1.

 
We started with a short piece of Caliban and to be honest this band only got to me once. And that was the first time I saw them. And on CD they aren’t that bad but live they seem to have good and bad days. This time it was ok, but not astonishing. After a couple of songs we decided to continue and we left the tent when the band started another circle pit. Get over it guys.

 
Helmet, with the mighty John Tempesta on drums. Didnt see much of them, but the material was brought loud and tight.
 
After this we walked around the terrain and had a look at the stands and press area. It looked quite nice everywhere and before we knew it, it was time to have a beer and watch the show of Papa Roach which is always good.

Ah, Papa Roach. Everytime they play i`m inclined to go see their show. Probably the nostalgic kiddo in me. The band played pretty much exactly the same set as they did on Rock am Ring a few weeks earlier (minus ‘Scars’; ). I was suprised to see the response from the crowd, since Papa Roach isnt really a band who would fit on the Graspop bill. As usual, A.D.H.D. singer Coby Whateverhisnameisthesedays did his energetic frontman thing quite nicely, and the band seemed to enjoy themselves.

 
After a wonderfull dinner with beer it was time to watch Within Temptation for some time. The Dutch Goth formation is doing good in the rest of Europe and even in Belgium they manage to get a huge crowd to do what they want. Lead vocalist Sharon was wearing a nice sixe skirt on stage, we think because of the heat, and the rest of the band was doing their standard manoeuvres. If you see these guys live once during a festival season you have seen it all.

 
Luckily enough it was time for the almighty The Dillinger Escape Plan. Again, this band blew my mind. The sheer amount of energy displayed on stage is still unequalled in my opinion. Greg climbed the stage towers, threw a cymbal stand around (incl cymbal) and smashed 3 microphones. Ben had some technical problems, but still found time to kick over the bass player, fall on his face, let some snot hang from his nose and play a song. The sound was pretty ok for such a chaotic band. The only downside was the guitar trouble, but in the end it was the best show of the day.

 
The headliner of the first day was System of a Down. I watched SOAD play from quite a distance, and it actually didnt suck at all. I cant say that it was an original show or anything, but everything was well executed and the crowd got what they asked for. A nice mix of songs got played, with an emphasis on new material. I do have to say that Daron's voice has become quite good live..I remember a time where that was a different story.
 
Nevermore was one of the bands I definitely wanted to see. The new record sounds great, and I've never seen the band before so I was pretty curious. Most of my expectations were fulfilled, altough it seemed that the band suffered from bad sound. Guitars sounded a bit thinny and the vocals got lost in the mix now and then. To bad, because the band was clearly playing a good show. Halfway through I decided to check out the last few Kreator songs.

 
The last band of the night was Kreator. Nevermore might have had some bad sound, but with Kreator it was just excellent. The tent was packed, and the german thrashers played like a tight machine. A nice way to finish of the excellent first day!

Continue Reading
» Graspop 2005 - 3 days of metal and extreme weather
» Page 2: Day 2 - More metal but a cloudy day
» Page 3: Day 3 - Last but not least
Details Written on Saturday Jan 1st, 2005
Writer @Buzzin Hornet

Tags: #Graspop 2005