Fri 25 Jun – Graspop Metal Meeting 2010
Reviews in chronological order.
Friday:
Slayer
Good performance, better than I expected. The setlist was acceptable I guess, the fact that they only played three songs from the period 1983-1986 pisses me off, but seeing as one of them was Chemical Warfare, I really can't complain. The band themselves played fairly good, King messed up a few solos (War Ensemble's being the first to come to mind) but Hanneman and ESPECIALLY Lombardo played really good. I was blown away by Lombardo's drumming, out of all members his performance was by far the tightest.
Nile
One of the only 3 bands I needed to see on Friday, I was pretty pissed they played at the same time as Motörhead. But since I already saw Motörhead before, I decided to go to Nile. I was not disappointed. Extremely tight playing. Karl Sanders is almost as old as Kerry King (I think King is three days older, yes, days), and seeing the two play on the same day just made clear how much better Karl is. He barely made any mistakes, same with the rest of the band. Seeing Dallas bald was pretty weird, but the second Kafir started I just didn't give a fuck anymore and started headbanging. Great set, probably my third-favorite show of the weekend.
I was thinking about going to see Saxon, but considering I saw some people I knew at the camp site and I already saw them back in '08, I decided not to.
Saturday:
Sabaton
This my fifth time seeing them, and as always, a great show. Very energetic performances, jokes(?) about their supposed(?) homosexuality, and a great setlist. I didn't like Coat of Arms that much, but the three songs they played from said album were probably the best of said album, and pretty solid material (title track, Screaming Eagles and Saboteurs). Like always, the crowd loved them. Joakim could've kept his metal machine is his pants, but oh well, you can't have everything right? Second best show this graspop, and probably second best Sabaton show I saw so far.
Carcass
I only saw a small part of the show, but the show I saw was pretty solid. I wasn't paying a lot of attention so I don't have a lot to say about this gig.
Obituary
Great show. The setlist I checked before the gig didn't have Find The Arise, so I was really fucking glad when they opened with Find The Arise. I got hit in the face pretty hard in the pit during said song, and lost a small piece of one of my teeth. But the band was great, I do have a question though: where the fuck was the second (and lead) guitarist? The riff lost some of their power and most of the songs had no solo (I only heard one). Aside from that, it was a good show. Growling the lyrics of songs like Chopped in Half and Find the Arise together with thousands of other metalheads was just mindblowing.
Tankard
They never were my favorite thrash band, but they're great live. They generally sound more 'fun' than other German thrash bands (referring to lyrics here), and this works great live. Solid setlist as well, and (Empty) Tankard remains of the greatest thrash songs of all time.
Sunday
Necrophobic
The sun fucked up pretty bad the past two days, so I just sat back for this one. I didn't see a lot, but what I heard was great. I will be certainly looking deeper intro their discography.
Exodus
This was a disaster (and no, not just because of Dukes). I heard they played Bonded By Blood + The Toxic Waltz, so I was pretty excited actually. Yeah, Dukes was there, but I was convinced the rest of the band could make it enjoyable. They came on, and immediately started with one of their new, overlong, boring songs. However, the disappointment I felt however, became relief. When they played A Lesson In Violence (third song I guess) I was just baffled over how terrible it was. Dukes vocals were bad, but the sound of the band was just horrible. If Dukes hadn't announced the song I would not have recognized it until the chorus. They didn't get a lot of crowd response, and quit 10 minutes before they should have (I didn't mind).
Bloodbath
Their 6th show ever. They're decent on record, but great live. I only knew a few songs, but I really liked the gig. Just seeing musicians of their caliber together on one stage was a treat. The drumming especially sounded very good live. I don't know how Akerfeldt managed to survive in that heat with that leather jacket on.
Amon Amarth
Best show of the weekend. By far. Great band performances and incredible crowd response. I also really liked the set list too, especially the first part. Near the end of their set during Cry of The Black Birds the power was cut, but Johan Hegg entertaining the crowd for ten minutes only added to the experience.
As I said, this was the best show I saw at the festival, and a great way to end the weekend.
Overall, I really enjoyed myself and it was yet another great Graspop.
Reviews in chronological order.
Friday:
Slayer
Good performance, better than I expected. The setlist was acceptable I guess, the fact that they only played three songs from the period 1983-1986 pisses me off, but seeing as one of them was Chemical Warfare, I really can't complain. The band themselves played fairly good, King messed up a few solos (War Ensemble's being the first to come to mind) but Hanneman and ESPECIALLY Lombardo played really good. I was blown away by Lombardo's drumming, out of all members his performance was by far the tightest.
Nile
One of the only 3 bands I needed to see on Friday, I was pretty pissed they played at the same time as Motörhead. But since I already saw Motörhead before, I decided to go to Nile. I was not disappointed. Extremely tight playing. Karl Sanders is almost as old as Kerry King (I think King is three days older, yes, days), and seeing the two play on the same day just made clear how much better Karl is. He barely made any mistakes, same with the rest of the band. Seeing Dallas bald was pretty weird, but the second Kafir started I just didn't give a fuck anymore and started headbanging. Great set, probably my third-favorite show of the weekend.
I was thinking about going to see Saxon, but considering I saw some people I knew at the camp site and I already saw them back in '08, I decided not to.
Saturday:
Sabaton
This my fifth time seeing them, and as always, a great show. Very energetic performances, jokes(?) about their supposed(?) homosexuality, and a great setlist. I didn't like Coat of Arms that much, but the three songs they played from said album were probably the best of said album, and pretty solid material (title track, Screaming Eagles and Saboteurs). Like always, the crowd loved them. Joakim could've kept his metal machine is his pants, but oh well, you can't have everything right? Second best show this graspop, and probably second best Sabaton show I saw so far.
Carcass
I only saw a small part of the show, but the show I saw was pretty solid. I wasn't paying a lot of attention so I don't have a lot to say about this gig.
Obituary
Great show. The setlist I checked before the gig didn't have Find The Arise, so I was really fucking glad when they opened with Find The Arise. I got hit in the face pretty hard in the pit during said song, and lost a small piece of one of my teeth. But the band was great, I do have a question though: where the fuck was the second (and lead) guitarist? The riff lost some of their power and most of the songs had no solo (I only heard one). Aside from that, it was a good show. Growling the lyrics of songs like Chopped in Half and Find the Arise together with thousands of other metalheads was just mindblowing.
Tankard
They never were my favorite thrash band, but they're great live. They generally sound more 'fun' than other German thrash bands (referring to lyrics here), and this works great live. Solid setlist as well, and (Empty) Tankard remains of the greatest thrash songs of all time.
Sunday
Necrophobic
The sun fucked up pretty bad the past two days, so I just sat back for this one. I didn't see a lot, but what I heard was great. I will be certainly looking deeper intro their discography.
Exodus
This was a disaster (and no, not just because of Dukes). I heard they played Bonded By Blood + The Toxic Waltz, so I was pretty excited actually. Yeah, Dukes was there, but I was convinced the rest of the band could make it enjoyable. They came on, and immediately started with one of their new, overlong, boring songs. However, the disappointment I felt however, became relief. When they played A Lesson In Violence (third song I guess) I was just baffled over how terrible it was. Dukes vocals were bad, but the sound of the band was just horrible. If Dukes hadn't announced the song I would not have recognized it until the chorus. They didn't get a lot of crowd response, and quit 10 minutes before they should have (I didn't mind).
Bloodbath
Their 6th show ever. They're decent on record, but great live. I only knew a few songs, but I really liked the gig. Just seeing musicians of their caliber together on one stage was a treat. The drumming especially sounded very good live. I don't know how Akerfeldt managed to survive in that heat with that leather jacket on.
Amon Amarth
Best show of the weekend. By far. Great band performances and incredible crowd response. I also really liked the set list too, especially the first part. Near the end of their set during Cry of The Black Birds the power was cut, but Johan Hegg entertaining the crowd for ten minutes only added to the experience.
As I said, this was the best show I saw at the festival, and a great way to end the weekend.
Overall, I really enjoyed myself and it was yet another great Graspop.
