Metal Group Meeting 2024| Page 901

For me, Graspop ’24 was the first release of its kind. This was the first time I didn’t go all weekend. And also the first time I spent the night in a house instead of a boneyard. I really like both!

The festival is of course several days of music on multiple stages. But there is much more to an enjoyable experience. For those who like it, I’ve written below my findings for a number of these things based on two days at Graspop.

My Graspop 2024 adventure began on Saturday this year. After a short night and a long flight (yes, the opposite would have been more perfect). ) I walked to the Holy Meadow around 1:30 p.m. After all the stories about mud and puddles on Friday, I was prepared for the worst. But I liked it a lot right away. The organization has a large load at night A straw Posted on the site. Really cool! This made it very accessible almost everywhere.

I had nowhere to go at the time, so I first took a tour of the grounds. In fact, I immediately turned right towards Metal Plaza, because that’s where most of the changes were made. At first I noticed that the stage Jubiler training It’s been rotated a bit, creating more space there, and you now have a better view from below the tree line with nice shaded areas. Very pleasant! A huge improvement to the experience. The only downside I found was that they didn’t have screens in the Jupiler Theater again. Due to the placement of the sound tower, you will not be able to see the stage from the stands for large portions. This is a shame and I think it can be easily resolved. Large space next to training. Live and screen filming is also done at food trucks (more on that in the next paragraph), so it’s just a matter of hanging up two screens and running a cable. Next year then! Furthermore, nothing but praise for this part of the site. No more funnel formation, as was the case two years ago. And a lot of attention to comfort and experience.

But the biggest adjustments were with Food truck area. Where this was just a place to get some delicious food, they have now turned it into a full lounge area. Including plenty of seating and shade and a serious upgrade to the specialty beer bar. summit!!! So my biggest criticism from last year is no longer on the table. Eating at Graspop is another party, and therefore an important part of my festival experience. On top of all that, there was also a screen where you could follow the performance on the Jubilee Theater and watch football in a number of matches. I really hope this setup is here to stay. With the Marquee, Metal Dome, Jupiler Stage, CRC, and renovated food trucks, Metal Plaza is truly a festival within a festival. Even if they prevent me from entering the main stage, it will not be at the expense of my experience at the festival. Most of the works I want to see are in the tents anyway.

About the crowds in toilets Much has already been said on this subject. So I don’t really understand how queues can suddenly appear regularly since last year. I thought the toilets were cleaner than last year, when I would regularly find my rectum exploding in a cubicle. Not at all now. But maybe you’re lucky. I don’t know what the situation was like in the camp either. I hope the organization’s evaluation will reveal a cause and then a possible solution to the long lines. Because it’s not really nice to have to wait a long time to get to the toilet. Once again, a big shout out to all the volunteers who had to provide clean toilets and adequate toilet paper. What heroes!

However, this should not go unmentioned. the Volunteers In fact all the staff at Graspop are so great! I have never seen such an angry face. Behind bars, in front of the stage, at the cash register, all the way. But even in places I wasn’t there, like Inter and the entrance to Hell, I heard only positive stories about the staff in attendance. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when thousands of people contribute to making this the best possible experience for the visitor. Without these people there is no festival, it’s that simple. As far as I’m concerned, the heroic work these people are doing can never be emphasized enough.

Then it is voice. Man… I’m still a bit of a purist when it comes to (live) music. I can appreciate a lot of different things for what they are, but if you want to take me to the show, the audio simply needs to be perfectly edited. Example: A band like Dark Funeral is very difficult. With a mix that isn’t set properly, it quickly becomes too noisy for me. But if the sound is as perfect as it was yesterday, the subtle guitar melodies come to the fore and I’m all for it. The Marquee sound engineer actually deserved a statue based on previous years. After this year, it may be a statue of pure gold. And either the sound from the dome has redeemed itself in an epic way from last year, or they’ve now put the brother of the guy from the tent in there, because the sound in the dome was also passable at most shows this year. Then you are truly a pro if you can deliver a perfect mix with so little conversion time and such a variety of ranges (and sounds).

This year for the first time in a house and within cycling distance of Graspop, and also for the first time in Bike park He was. Wow, this is so big! Bigger than I imagined. But it is very easily accessible and is just a few minutes walk from the entrance. On the website they talk about a guarded bike shed. And so I was wondering how they do it through surveillance. But they have a very clever system for that. You can only enter the park with your bike through a trap with staff. They will give you a sticker with a number for your bike. Then they give you a receipt with the same number. You must show this at the end of the day (or a photocopy of it if you lost your receipt) to make sure it matches the number on the sticker on your bike. really good! A skilled thief will probably be able to come up with something new. But this way there’s definitely no room for some gangs standing behind each other to load bikes into a truck or something. And you will get ecocoin every day with which you can win things like gadgets, Fastlane tickets, etc. Also nice! I’m excited about it, because cycling after a long festival day is so beautiful.

Another shout out to the giant a fan In the metal dome, which provided the necessary cooling, especially on Sunday. And a big thumbs up for that return system With reusable cups and returnable coins. There were points in every corner of the site where you could exchange your cup for a coin. Anyway, it was very nice to get two when you arrived. The location was also very clean and I didn’t have to stand in line for drinks. It seems like a tough switch for an organization, but Graspop pulled it off.

Although it’s last on this list, it’s certainly no less important: Visitors! And in that regard, Graspop was once again a hit for me as usual, after a slightly lower release last year. I did not see or experience any form of negativity, aggression, bullying or any other unpleasant behavior anywhere. That’s not to say it wasn’t there, but I (thankfully) didn’t see it myself. On the contrary: a lot of respect for each other. Hardly anyone tried to force their way forward in an unfriendly manner on the show. We have not seen any cases of Dutch disease at all. I was also very happy with the number of people who excessively photographed the concerts. Overall, it meant I could really dream with my eyes closed about the shows I wanted. This is not least because I was surrounded by very nice Festileakers at most of the shows.

In short, you can find many things in and around Graspop. But the main focus is of course the music. I’ll try to write something about that this week. Spoiler/Teaser: IT WAS GOOD!!