Sara Hammerzmith

So, last night ended pretty late because of Marilyn Manson, but it was sooo worth it! Got up a bit later the next day, and I took it fairly slow, seeing my first band wasn’t until Korpiklaani, but no rest until your dead, right, so I got up and figured I’d spend the day checking out the metal market and the shopping. I had a few CD’s, or well, a lot of CD’s I was looking for, so why not?

W went around a bit looking for Kittie albums, met up with Robert and Mie and then headed over to Exodus. It was nice seeing the guys again, despite not calling myself a fan.

Right after this, I headed over to Korpiklaani.

Korpiklaani

So, here’s the deal. Without being fully informed of every band in this world, I believe there are two bands, no matter what band you put up next to them, no matter how much you love or hate them, you will, wheter you want it or not, have fun. The first band is Alestorm, and the second one, is Korpiklaani.

The set lasted about an hour, but seriously, it felt like it was shorter. I’m not sure exactly what it is with this festival, but it feels like everything just ends faster. Gladly, unlike Butcher Babies the crowd had a lot better energy and like I said above… Ultimate partyband. I don’t regret going for them over Lacuna Coil.

After Korpiklaani, I wandered off to the market in order to first of all pick up some pins, one Ghost one for Michelle and Alestorm, Sabaton and Steel Panther for me. I sent my mother a picture on Facebook of the SlipKnot t-shirts as I couldn’t make up my mind.

You see, I went to the merch booth so determined to get the Korpiklaani tanktop and the yellow (so to put it) SlipKnot shirt, but once at the barrier I noticed this other shirt that wasn’t freaky-freaky, with all their masks in the shape of an S AND a skull, which wasn’t a tour shirt (opens up possibilities) and with that, my brain was messed up, so I got at first only the tanktop and uploaded the picture. I can’t send actual photo messages with my phone, so uploading is the best option. Only annoying thing is that everyone and no one keeps liking the pic. And I’m like, people. It’s just shirt. A bunch of them.

But, like Johnny Depp once said, “If you are torn between two women, always go for the second one. If you loved the first one, you wouldn’t have fallen for the second one”, said and done. I went for the S / Skull shirt and I’m pretty pleased with my choice. I already have a tour shirt for Prepare for Hell so I’ll live.

This took longer than you think it would, and I headed back to Mainstage 2 to catch God himself play, with other words, it was time for my annual Alice Cooper show.

Alice Cooper

The started off the entire set to big cheers with “Department of Youth” before continuing with “No More Mr Nice Guy” and was quickly launched into “Under My Wheels”. Alice Cooper shows progress pretty quickly thanks to the lack of mid-speaking. I love mid-speaking when it’s Ola Salo doing it, but most other bands could really just shut up since most of them don’t have anything worthy to say anyway.

The show was just as fun and eventful as usual, but I need to highlight one particular event.

Which is “Welcome to my Nightmare”. I LOVE, maybe it’s me who have forgotten, but I love, love, love how he’s brought back the… how do I put it? The Welcome to my Nightmare costume? The big hat and everything. All I need now is the dancers with the bloodfilled bag on their heads, and the song will be perfect. But it is just as good right now.

I’m not gonna go over this much more, due to me wanting to keep these entries somewhat short, but I can only say two things – Alice Cooper never fails to impress nor entertain, and Nita Strauss is a queen.

After Alice Cooper we headed over to the Metal Dome to see Alcest. I must admit I was a bit torn between Alcest and Korn, but feelings decided against Korn in favor of Alcest.

While I do have quite a few friends who enjoy Alcest, I can’t say I’ve myself ever been a fan, but I did enjoy the show. Atmospheric, and despite being metal, there was this certain kind of calm over everything. It was very nice.

After Alcest was done, I headed over to Mainstage 1 to wait for what was the band I looked forward the most to see, SlipKnot, and thanks to Graspop’s good taste in stage-placing, we could catch Judas Priest from where we stood.

I was really worried. I sat down for most of the Priest set, feeling really tired, and tried to drink in case it was because of dehydration, but it didn’t help. And it pissed me off a bit, since I hate when I don’t sleep properly so I end up tired for the things I’m excited for. But when Judas Priest started playing “Jawbreaker” I kind of woke up a bit, and after that… I couldn’t stand still.

I just kept jumping around in small jumps to the point Antoine even pointed out to me that SlipKnot hadn’t even started yet, but you know, that doesn’t stop me. Once I’m up I’m up, you know?

SlipKnot

BUT, then, “XIX” started and internally, I kind of exploded. I guess this is what it truly feels like being REALLY exicted for something. Most of the time, I feel excited, but it has been some time (last time was probably Madrid or even Prepare For Hell tour itself) where I’ve felt like my organs were about to explode. And when “Sarcastrophe” began…

First of all, it took me all up to now to realize the song is actually called “SARcastrophe” and not “SCARcastrophe”, so I’ve basically spelled it wrong for over six months. Nice.

But aside typos, I kind lost it. Like you always do at SlipKnot shows. Or at least the two I’ve been with before. Since I completely owned my company I sort of half assed teamed up with some other guys and just you know… like the guy said “You’re in the headbanger zone!” And yes, they were. My hair even got stuck in a guys backpack. Oh dear.

Oh right, the show. After “Sarcastrophe” they continued, just as previously with “The Heretic Anthem”, “Psychosocial” and “The Devil in I” before the first surprise of the evening came – “AOV”.

Like… I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of that particular song, but it was cool to hear live. Not the best, but it’s fine, you know? And then….. DING DING DING DIIIIIINGGG

“Vermillion“.

The horrible part of me wished for this NOT to be “my” setlist, because I didn’t wanna give Antoine that satisfaction, but I’m also very very very very secretly happy they did “my” setlist. When I’m saying “my” setlist, it means they play “Vermilion”, “Eyeless”(these two are my two fave songs of SlipKnot) and “Wait and Bleed”. Michelle’s setlist is the one that includes “Dead Memories”, “Disasterpieaces” and “Opium of the People”.

After “Wait and Bleed” Corey started talking about some new video they made. And that is basically what made my eyes pop. The only, ONLY SONG I missed during Prepare for Hell Tour earlier this year was “Killpop”, and hearing Corey say in an interview that Clown dislikes playing slow songs, I didn’t ever see them actually playing this piece of art live. But as soon as that man started talking about a new video clip, I knew what was coming.

The moment, the only moment I missed earlier this year happened now.

“Killpop“.

And by this, right here right now, the festival was complete. I didn’t need anymore than that, but again, who am I to complain for some more? “Before I Forget”, “Duality” and my personal favorite “Eyeless” (seriously, how can you not go batshit to that song?) followed by “Spit it Out”, and as you guys know, “Spit it Out” is my favorite moment of the entire show. Wrapped it up with “Custer” and left the stage.

(This is literally the only decent shot I have, haha)

For encore they did the “(sic)”, “People = Shit” and wrapping up the entire set, and for my part, the festival with “Surfacing”. I’m not gonna lie when I say I was SO TEMPTED to go in the mini moshpit that was behind us. Maybe next time.

And with that, they left the stage and I left the arena. Or actually, I bounced. I’m running on pure adrenaline after a show like that, and even thought I can’t recall actually SEEING anything off the show, more than my own hair and a few dots moving on the stage, I can’t help myself but to keep bouncing around. I need to get rid of the energy, you know? Oh, I also said goodbye to the two guys who just for the moment became my SlipKnot brothers. A shame I never caught their names. Bummer.

Got back to the camp, ate a bit and fell asleep with Dionysus in my ears. Even though I never liked the idea of going home on Sunday, SlipKnot helped me feel content.

// Sara

This entry was posted on June 20, 2015 at 4:31 am and is filed under Concerts, Music, Uncategorized with tags alice cooper, graspop, Graspop Metal Meeting, metal, slipknot. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.