Graspop Metal Meeting

Graspop is a "metal meeting" in Dessel, Belgium that has taken place each year since 1996. The event was not originally a heavy metal festival. In 1995, the headliners billed were Joe Cocker and Simple Minds.

Founder Peter Van Geel realised that mainstream rock music wasn't the ticket. He reflected on the most memorable acts of the preceding years: Motörhead, Ramones, Paradise Lost, Biohazard and so forth. He also considered his own musical preferences and that started him thinking: why not go for a drastic reorientation?

Peter discussed the matter with Werchter festival promotor Herman Schueremans, who advised him to get in touch with Bob Schoenmaekers, the owner of the Biebob concert venue and metal club in nearby Vosselaar. A couple of years earlier, Schoenmaekers had set up his "Midsummer Festival" in Vosselaar and he was thinking of an open air festival. The initial contact soon led to close collaboration. The duo decided to launch a brand-new metal festival under the name of "Graspop Metal Meeting". The date of choice was to be the last weekend of June.

Previous line-ups

June 30 1996: Iron Maiden, Slayer, Life Of Agony,Channel Zero, Sick Of It All, Fear Factory, Helloween, Skin, Gorefest, Type O Negative, Morbid Angel, Downset, Shelter, Drain, Manhole

June 29 1997:Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Biohazard, Saxon, Obituary, Grip Inc., Samael, Entombed, Pist-on, My Dying Bride, Tiamat, Moonspell, Cradle Of Filth, The Gathering, Dimmu Borgir, Madball, Lagwagon, Rykers, Millencolin, Deviate, Handsome

June 28 1998:Black Sabbath, Dream Theater, Deftones, Soulfly, Savatage, Coal Chamber, Obituary, Spiritual Beggars, Paradise Lost, Moonspell, Dimmu Borgir, In Flames, Within Temptation, Primus, Madball, Pro-Pain, Misfits, Congress

June 27 1999:Manowar, Sepultura, Motörhead, Stormtroopers Of Death, The Gathering, Kreator, Primal Fear, Darkane, Ancient Rites, Cradle Of Filth, Mercyful Fate, Immortal, Anathema, Children Of Bodom, Hypocrisy, Danzig, Slapshot, Rykers, Pitchshifter, Ignite, Out

June 24 2000:Iron Maiden, Machine Head, Rollins Band, Saxon, Testament, Gamma Ray, Entombed, Dirty Deeds, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Tristania, Samael, Apocalyptica, Cannibal Corpse, God Dethroned, Oceans Of Sadness, Cro-mags, Madball, Skarhead, No fun at all, 59 Times the Pain, Liberator, Bombshell Rocks, Voice Of A Generation

June 23 2001:Judas Priest, Cradle Of Filth, Megadeth, Bad Religion, Motörhead, Suïcidal tendencies, Savatage, Marduk, Within Temptation, Dropkick Murphys, Sick Of It All, Six Feet Under, Macabre, Shelter, Awkward Thought, Primal Fear, The Haunted, Orphanage, Backfire, Farmer Boys, Unleashed, Kill II This, Pist-on, Nevermore, Rose Tattoo, Destruction, Devin Townsend, Ancient Rites, Metalium, Action In DC

July 5 - July 6 2002:Slayer, Dream Theater, Machine Head, Bruce Dickinson, Halford, My Dying Bride, Biohazard, Immortal, Cannibal Corpse, Tristania, Symphony X, Hypocrisy, Arch Enemy, Slapshot, The Vandals, D.R.I., Deviate, Dismember, Subzero, Calibre, Evergrey, Saxon, Agnostic Front, Anathema, Moonspell, Kreator, After Forever, Less Than Jake, In Extremo, Doro, Skarhead, Rage, Manic Movement, Massif, Xeah

July 4 - July 5 2003:Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Within Temptation, Ministry, Anthrax, Stone Sour, Murderdolls, Lacuna Coil, Sick Of It All, Six Feet Under, Hatebreed, Finntroll, Prong, Arch Enemy, The Haunted, Youth Of Today, Doro, Pro-Pain, Destroyer 666, Convict, Killer, Type O Negative, Stratovarius, Sepultura, Apocalyptica, Opeth, Overkill, Samael, Masterplan, Mastodon, Atreyu, Oceans Of Sadness, Aborted

June 25 - June 27 2004:Iced Earth, Exodus, Anathema, Hypocrisy, In Extremo, After Forever, Suffocation, Circle II Circle, Action in DC, Epica, Dillinger Escape Plan, Cowboys & Aliens, Alice Cooper, Slipknot, Motörhead, Cradle Of Filth, Queensryche, Soulfly, My Dying Bride, Agnostic Front, Anthrax, Terror, Blood for Blood, Pleymo, Oomph!, Morbid Angel, Brides Of Destruction, Evergrey, Backfire, Discipline, Scarve, Do or Die, Judas Priest, Life Of Agony, Dimmu Borgir, Saxon, Fear Factory, Children Of Bodom, Therion, Hatebreed, Testament, Ill Nino, Death Angel, Ignite, Chimaira, Killswitch Engage, Dying Fetus, Malevolent Creation, Seven Witches, Shadows Fall, Destruction

June 24 - June 26 2005:The Ga*Ga*s, Alter Bridge, Helmet, Papa Roach, Within Temptation, System Of A Down, Immolation, Enslaved, Grave Digger, Metal Church, Megadeth, Nevermore, The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Caliban, H2O, Madball, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Kreator, Chimaira, Judasville, Sengir, Cowboys & Aliens, Axamenta, In-Quest, Autumn, Skitsoy, Soilwork, Epica, Kamelot, Hatebreed, Accept, Slayer, Slipknot, Behemoth, Gorefest, Amon Amarth, Samael, Sirenia, In Flames, Peter Pan Speedrock, Pro-Pain, Rose Tattoo, Mastodon, Sick of it All, Anthrax, Stormrider, DragonForce, Axel Rudi Pell, Primal Fear, Yngwie Malmsteen, Dio, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Oceans of Sadness, Dark Tranquillity, Nuclear Assault, Arch Enemy, Lacuna Coil, Hatesphere, Murphy's Law, Walls of Jericho, Amen, Terror

June 23 - June 25 2006:Guns N' Roses, Whitesnake, Motörhead,Lacuna Coil, Satyricon, Soulfly, Cradle of Filth, In Flames, After Forever, Helloween, Saxon, Opeth, Arch Enemy, Michael Schenker Group, Moonspell, Evergrey, Edguy, Trivium, Y&T, The Gathering, Leaves' Eyes, Leatherwolf, Gojira, My Dying Bride, Nile, Alice In Chains, The New York Dolls, Stone Sour, Obituary, Bullet for my Valentine, Bloodsimple, Akercocke, Exodus, Armored Saint, Dragonforce, Ignite, Ensiferum, Machine Men, Sevendust, Stream of Passion, Sengir, Death Angel, Jon Oliva's 'Pain', Ill Niño, Beyond Fear, Enthroned, In-Quest, The Maple Room, Battalion, Iconoclasm, Panchrysia, Callenish Circle, Leng Tch'e and Ancient Rites.

External links

*Official website