10 new additions to the bill

Graspop Metal Meeting 2016 is shaping up nicely with 10 new additions to next year’s bill. Punk heroes Anti-Flag and Bad Religion, occult metal flagbearers Ghost, the devil’s cohorts from Behemoth, Belgian sludge masters Steak Number Eight, energy bombs Skindred and metalcore stalwarts Architects have been confirmed, as well as three GMM newcomers: Monster Truck, Halestorm and Sikth.

Click here for the day splits of the bands that have been confirmed so far.

A decent night’s rest is key if you’re going to survive three days of heavy metal festival violence. Eager to please, Graspop offers the following options:

The festival campsite is located next to the Metal Plaza and the festival arena is accessible between 2pm on Thursday 16th June and noon on Monday 20th June. All festival ticket holders have access to the campsite, where you can spend the night in your own tent. If you don’t feel like lugging around a tent and an air mattress, you can always rent a tent on-site. Full details on the festival campsite here.

You want to catch every minute of the festival but you’re also hell-bent on a good night’s sleep? In that case Metal Town might be just the ticket for you with its Festicabins and Festihuts, or you can also rent your own slot for your campervan, caravan or tent. Located just under a kilometre from the festival arena, Metal Town offers a host of amenities: an extensive breakfast buffet, mains power at every slot, toilets, free showers and those who don’t fancy the short hike to the arena can use the free shuttle service. Full details on Metal Town here.

If comfortable accommodations are a priority for you, you’ll be pleased to learn Graspop Metal Meeting is introducing a unique formula in collaboration with holiday park Kempense Meren. Situated at 15 km from the festival grounds in a relaxing natural setting, Kempense Meren has holiday cottages for rent. A fun GMM welcome package is waiting for you and our free shuttle service will take you to the festival site. Of course, you can also take a dip in the subtropical aqua paradise in between gigs. A word to the wise: there are just a few cottages left for rent so book yours today! Full details on Kempense Meren here.

22 new names for Graspop

We thought we’d end the year with a bang by announcing 22 new names for GMM2016. And not just any 22 names either: Nightwish, Apocalyptica and Slayer will be just a few of the top acts to tame the masses on the Stenehei in Dessel next year. With 73-odd bands confirmed so far and some 40 left to go, our 2016 line-up is really starting to take shape.

Our 22 new additions in alphabetical order: Amaranthe, Anthrax, Apocalyptica, Atreyu, Devil You Know, Gojira, Heaven Shall Burn, In the Woods, Moonsorrow, Nightwish, Raven, Saxon, Shinedown, Skillet, Slayer, The Amity Affliction, The Raven Age, The Wild Lies, Tremonti, Turnstile, Windhand and Zakk Wylde.

More good news: the day splits are also available. Click here to check when your favourite bands are playing. Masters of ceremony on Friday 17 June are Black Sabbath and King Diamond. Volbeat and Nightwish are headlining Main Stages 1 & 2 on Saturday 18 June, Iron Maiden and Twisted Sister have the honour of closing GMM 2016 on Sunday 19 June.

Boodschappentasjes For Life!

Naar aanleiding van de Warmste Week van Studio Brussel, verkoopt Intro Events unieke festivalgadgets. Oude festival t-shirts worden gerecycleerd tot tasjes, kussenslopen, sjaaltjes, … Het zijn allemaal unieke stukken met veel liefde gemaakt.

Van welke Graspop t-shirt wil jij een kussensloop? Of een bandana? Of een buff of colsjaal?

Kijk voor meer inspiratie op de FB-pagina van ‘Boodschappentasjes For Life’.

Bestellen kan via dit bestelformulier of mail naar boodschappentasjes@gmail.com.

De voorraad van ieder artikel is beperkt. Dus haast je! De opbrengst gaat naar INTRO EVENTS die oa. Graspop Metal Meeting toegankelijk maakt voor mensen met een beperking.

18 new names added to the 2016 line up

Next year’s line-up is starting to take shape with the addition of Megadeth, Disturbed, Dropkick Murphys, Foreigner, Down, Killswitch Engage, Sixx:A.M., Pennywise, Powerwolf, Obituary, Paradise Lost, Eisbrecher, Firewind, Shining (se), Tesseract, Thy Art Is Murder, God Dethroned and Norma Jean. These 18 new acts take the total number of confirmed bands to 51.

Have been confirmed so far (in alphabetical order): Abbath, Amon Amarth, Arcturus, August Burns Red, Black Sabbath, Borknagar, Bullet for My Valentine, Bury Tomorrow, Dark Funeral, Delain, Dirkschneider, Disturbed, Down, Dropkick Murphys, Eisbrecher, Firewind, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Foreigner, God Dethroned, Grand Magus, Iron Maiden, Killswitch Engage, King Diamond, La Muerte, Legion of the Damned, Loudness, Megadeth, Monuments, Moonspell, Myrkur, Norma Jean, Obituary, Oomph!, Overkill, Paradise Lost, Pennywise, Powerwolf, Sacred Reich, Satyricon, Shining (SE), Sixx:A.M., Slaves, Testament, Tesseract, The Algorithm, The Midnight Ghost Train, Thy Art Is Murder, Trivium, Twisted sister, Virgin Steele, Volbeat.

New: festicabins and bungalows

There’s a new kid in Metal Town: as of now we’re also letting festicabins. These highly compact modern duo pods are equipped with all basic amenities including a covered terrace, a USB charger and a double bed for all you lovebirds.

Another novelty are the bungalows in holiday village Sunparks Kempense Meren, at approx. 15 km from the festival site. Amongst others, this offer includes a fun welcome package and use of a free shuttle bus to and from the festival site. Naturally you can also go for a dip in the park’s subtropical Aquafun water paradise.

More details on our accommodations: www.graspop.be/info

Danish dynamite at GMM 2016 with Volbeat!

Many were sceptical when Danish heavy metal band Volbeat first headlined GMM two years ago. It’s unusual to have such a young band top the bill at a metal festival but a blistering show in the pouring rain convinced even the biggest critics. Michael Poulsen’s signature vocals and the band’s trademark mix of classic rock, punk, rockabilly and metal set the arena ablaze. We are pleased to announce that Denmark’s favourite heavy rock gangsters are coming back next year to add another notch to their GMM belt.

Volbeat fits in nicely with the rest of our impressive list of headliners. Black Sabbath and King Diamond are the main acts on Friday 17 June, Volbeat is our first headliner for Saturday 18 June, and Iron Maiden and Twisted Sister will close the 21st edition of Graspop Metal Meeting on Sunday 19 June.

Skully wants to win an award!

In what is a first for Graspop Metal Meeting, the festival has been nominated for two European Festival Awards in the categories ‘Best Major Festival’ and ‘Best European Festival Line-Up’. We’d like to call on all you loyal Graspop fans out there to help us bag these awards. Cast your vote before 12 November on eu.festivalawards.com/vote-now. Skully will be forever in your debt.

Twisted Sister! King Diamond! And more names!

From 17 through 19 June, the Dessel plains will once again form the backdrop for three days of metal mania. It gives us great pleasure to announce the legendary King Diamond. The Danish heavy metal outfit around the eponymous eccentric frontman is releasing a long-awaited new album next year. Brace yourself for pure and unadulterated heavy metal horror, vocal acrobatics and a satanic experience of the highest order. King Diamond is co-headlining with Black Sabbath on Friday 17 June.

Also confirmed for this 21st edition is Twisted Sister! After more than four decades, the American heavy metal band around the flamboyant Dee Snider is bowing out with a blistering farewell tour: ‘Forty and Fuck It’! Twisted Sister will close the 21st edition of Graspop Metal Meeting on Sunday 19 June on Mainstage 2.

The line-up is shaping up nicely with another 28 household names! Confirmed acts in alphabetical order: Abbath, Amon Amarth, Arcturus, August Burns Red, Black Sabbath, Borknagar, Bullet For My Valentine, Bury Tomorrow, Dirkschneider, Dark Funeral, Delain, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Grand Magus, Iron Maiden, King diamond, La Muerte, Legion of the Damned, Loudness, Monuments, Moonspell, Myrkur, Oomph!, Overkill, Sacred Reich, Satyricon, Slaves, Testament, The Algorithm, The Midnight Ghost Train, Trivium, Twisted sister, Virgin Steele

Iron Maiden to headline Graspop 2016!

It gives us great pleasure to confirm Iron Maiden as our top of the bill to close the Graspop Metal Meeting on Sunday 19 June. Heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN will be flying in to Dessel on board their 747-400 Jumbo Jet Ed Force One on The Book of Souls World Tour. Tickets go on sale on 15 October. This follows the recent announcement of BLACK SABBATH as the headliner for the first festival day.

With over 90 million albums sold worldwide since the band’s inception in 1975, Iron Maiden can rightfully be called a heavy metal supergroup. In sold-out stadiums and arenas all over the world, millions of fans scream genre classics such as The Number of the Beast, Fear Of The Dark and The Trooper at the top of their lungs. Every self-respecting metal fan is aware of the impact this British band has had on the heavy metal scene as a whole and with seven Graspop shows to their credit, IRON MAIDEN’s popularity in Belgium is beyond dispute. The September release of their brand-new album, The Book of Souls, which debuted at #1 in Belgium and over 40 countries around the globe, seemed like the perfect excuse to invite them for the 8th time and they were happy to accept.

Frontman Bruce Dickinson will once again navigate the globe on the flight deck, this time aboard an enormous Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet. The new “Ed Force One” will carry the band, crew, stage production and equipment over 55,000 miles around the world visiting around 35 countries.

Bruce comments: “It’s been some time since our last show and we cannot wait to get back out on tour. Maiden thrive on touring and playing to our fans, it’s what we enjoy the most. We look forward to returning to Graspop, we always enjoy playing here. We haven't decided on the set list as yet and won’t until we start rehearsing but we really look forward to playing a number of new songs live, especially as the recording of The Book of Souls was so much live. However, as it’s been a while since we saw you all, I am sure we will include plenty of older fan favourites too. I think the fans will be delighted by what we have in mind. We are also in the middle of creating the new show and rest assured we are working hard to bring you all something spectacular, something with a lot of heart!!! You certainly deserve it for your patience. We very much look forward to seeing you all at Graspop Metal Meeting next year“.