{"id":115,"date":"2022-05-12T15:34:35","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T13:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuelfh.be\/concrete-jungle\/?post_type=event&p=115"},"modified":"2022-05-20T11:17:57","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T09:17:57","slug":"second-event","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/manuelfh.be\/concrete-jungle\/event\/second-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Graspop Metal Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Graspop Metal Meeting<\/strong> is a Belgian heavy metal<\/a> festival held in Dessel<\/a> each year since 1996. Despite the small size of the festival grounds (upholding a perimeter of only ~4 km) the festival draws a large number of spectators from around Europe, with a total of 152,000 visitors in the course of the 2015 edition<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graspop was not originally a heavy metal<\/a> festival; rather, it was conceived as a local family rock festival, first organised in 1986. In 1995, the headliners were Joe Cocker<\/a> and Simple Minds<\/a>. However, due to the public being oversaturated with family festivals, the number of visitors had dropped to an all-time low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founder Peter Van Geel realized that mainstream rock music held insufficient appeal to festival visitors. Reflecting on the most memorable acts of the preceding years (Mot\u00f6rhead<\/a>, Ramones<\/a>, Paradise Lost<\/a>, and so forth) and on his own musical preferences, he decided in favour of a drastic reorientation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After discussions with Werchter festival<\/a> promoter Herman Schueremans<\/a>, Van Geel contacted Bob Schoenmaekers, the owner of the Biebob<\/a> concert venue and metal club in nearby Vosselaar<\/a>. A couple of years earlier, Schoenmaekers had set up his \u00ab\u00a0Midsummer Metal Meeting\u00a0\u00bb in Vosselaar and because of space limits, he was considering 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 \u00ab\u00a0Graspop Metal Meeting\u00a0\u00bb. The date of choice was to be the last weekend of June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new direction proved to be a successful one. The festival has seen a continually rising number of visitors over the years, and has been able to attract the most popular international bands in the genre. Since the festival’s inception in 1996, Iron Maiden<\/a> has been the most frequent headliner with 10 appearances. Other bands which have prominently been featured are Hatebreed<\/a> (9), Saxon<\/a> (9), Sick of it All<\/a> (9), Slayer<\/a> (9), Cradle Of Filth<\/a> (8), Epica<\/a> (8), In Flames<\/a> (8), Moonspell<\/a> (8), My Dying Bride<\/a> (8) and Within Temptation<\/a> (8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current stages are :<\/p>\n\n\n\n