The troops left Dublin on the 6.30am flight to Charleroi, after the flight a quick bus trip to Brussels and set up in the hotel the first beers where sunk. A bit of sight seeing ensued along with some more beers. After a quick kip and shower it was of to the hard rock classic bar - decent pints, good music and a large video wall playing Pantera and AC/DC, everyone got well hammered and back to the hotel.

Day 1

Headed to the festival a 2 hr train journey we arrived in MOL - a trip to the supermarket for the essential beer, cigs and crisps and off to the gig we went. Disaster struck - 2.5 hr queue to get into the campsite in blistering 34 deg heat. Made it thru got set up, drank some beer headed to the gig.

The festival is spread across 3 stages - 2 tent stages and one outdoor one which means you aren't in the sun for painfully long periods of time. When the mainstage is in operation the tents are quiet and vice versa. Makes for some nasty clashes but what can you do eh?

First band I seen where Papa Roach - Not intolerable but not great by any stretch, all the "hits" wheeled out, tried hard to appeal to a more mature audience and got a good reaction. Next up Metal Church - fantastic we got songs mostly from the first two albums, opened with 'Ton of Bricks' then in no order, 'Start the fire', 'Watch the Children Pray' and a good few from the first album.

Within Temptation - Lame ass gothic pish

Megadeth - A fine performance with the likes of Holy Wars, She Wolf, Peace Sells, Hangar 18.

System of a Down - Good live band, seemed reasonably good stage show with a great sound and played all the popular numbers

Nevermore - one of the main reasons I was there, 4 songs of Dead Heart In A Dead World, 2 New Ones, 3 other older tunes - fantastic band I urge you all to check this metal behemoth out. This meant only catching one song of Kreator - who seemed bang on the money.

Much drinking took place into the early hours of Saturday morning, few hours sleep - then more metal. The shower and toilet facilities are excellent - very clean and accessible. Checked out some Soilwork, seen them a few times so took the chance to have a browse around the metal market, good prices and selection wasn't bad at all and catered for all tastes.

Day 2

So onto the first band Peter Pan Speedrock - does exactly what it says on the tin, flat out dirty ballsy rock on speed - imagine Motorhead jamming with Quo after bangin down a few grams of the Columbian Marching Powder - wonderful!

Then checked out half of Behemoth's set a total contrast of Black Death Metal, furious windmilling, blasting and hailing Satan - also great.

Then more gothic whinging wenches in the shape of Epica - nasty.

Gorefest reunion was nice but sounded dated but was a nice wee bit of nostalgia.

Kamelot I had only brief knowledge of - a nice mix of Fates Warning and Queensryche.

Rose Tattoo - more dirt and sleaze being entertained with songs such as One of the Boys, Assault and Battery and Nice Boys - great stuff, what a voice and energy.

Hatebreed where Hatebreed, not bad not overwhelming.

Mastodon performed a competent set and March of The Fire Ants sounded mighty, great sound as well.

Accept - the one I had been waiting for - looked old and decrepit but sounded like kids. Some real classics performed, 'Starlight', 'Metal Heart', 'Head Over Heels', 'London Leatherboys', 'Balls to the Wall' and 'Monsterman' amongst others.

Slayer - Suffered with quiet sound and didn't seem all that enthusiastic, even Araya's rap about Older Women was lacklustre, a good greatest hits set opening with 'South of Heaven' running into 'Silent Scream' then running through 'Raining Blood', 'Post Mortem' and five songs from Seasons in the Abyss.

Anthrax - I had my doubts about the reunion but they delivered, songs included 'Among the Living', 'Caught In A Mosh', 'Anti Social', and 'Madhouse'. Superb even had a patented Scott Ian Mosh in front of the Pizza Van much to the amusement of the locals:

Slipknot - Entertaining, impressive stage show and definitely not a nu metal band.

After Slipknot we headed to the metal dome tent where a covers band where ripping through a back catalogue of Forbidden, Annihilator, Angelwitch, Warlord, Death, Metallica, Maiden and Ozzy all perfectly performed - classic, (things got hazy here) much more beer drank and falling around.

Day 3

We took the decision after much merriment the night before to leave going into the gig until late and sat about the tents having a few beers and bit o craic. The weather was scorching and be well advised to be armed with the sun tan lotion. First band of the day I seen where Murphy's Law - old school hardcore - got the cobwebs out of the system immediately. For the rest of the day it was all the heavy hitters.

Yngwie Malmsteen - pure unadulterated showmanship - no songs of note just pure twiddle, good on the old fella I say.

Nuclear Assault the last time I seen them were on the ropey side of things but they where on fire at Graspop - bashing through a set of oldies with the likes of 'Critical Mass', 'Trail Of Tears', 'Buttfuck', 'Survive' - I was in thrash heaven.

Dio as always was a pleasure though drum and guitar solo much not required - set wise, opened with 'Killing The Dragon', 'Holy Diver', 'Long Live Rock N Roll', 'Egypt', 'Gates Of Babylon' and 'Heaven and Hell' plus more - October dates should be blinding.

Dream Theater performed what could be described as a difficult set, not many really well know songs - nothing of 'Scenes' but the set did include 'Pull Me Under' and 2 of the new cd. Not their best performance but still mighty.

The festival closers where the mighty Iron Maiden playing their early years set (only songs form the first four albums) they delivered with a new stage set and no less than 5 songs from the first album inc 'Prowler', 'Remember Tomorrow'- Killers wheeled out 'Murders In The Rue Morgue' and 'Drifter' as surprises. The rest of the set was mostly the traditional Maiden live numbers such as 'Hallowed Be Thy Name', 'Run To The Hills'. A great performance not to be missed when they hit Dublin later in the year.

So yet ends another year of festivities - the trip back was taken at a leisurely pace- no rush. Highly recommended festival - good beer, decent food, clean toilets and great line-ups and cheap as chips to get to if the booking is done early enough. Until next year!!

Now just to work out where the rest of the year's invasions are going to happen

Check out the previous line-ups at www.graspop.com

Dave McCallum

Dave is the bass player for Bangor Metal titans Devilmakesthree. Check out the band's site HERE