Graspop Metal Meeting is a Belgian heavy metal festival held in Dessel each year since 1996, excluding 2020 and 2021 due to covid restrictions. 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 the world, with a total of 220,000 visitors in 2022 and 2023, up from 200,000 visitors over the course of the 2019 edition, and 152,000 in 2015.

History

Graspop was not originally a heavy metal festival; rather, it was conceived as a local family rock festival, first organised in 1986. In 1995, the headliners were Joe Cocker and Simple Minds. However, due to the public being oversaturated with family festivals, the number of visitors had dropped to an all-time low. 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 (Motörhead, Ramones, Paradise Lost, and so forth) and on his own musical preferences, he decided in favour of a drastic reorientation. After discussions with Werchter festival promoter Herman Schueremans, Van Geel contacted Bob Schoenmaekers, the owner of the Biebob concert venue and metal club in nearby Vosselaar. A couple of years earlier, Schoenmaekers had set up his "Midsummer Metal Meeting" 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 "Graspop Metal Meeting". The date of choice was to be the last weekend of June. 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 has been the most frequent headliner with 10 appearances. Other bands which have prominently been featured are Hatebreed (9), Saxon (9), Sick of it All (9), Slayer (9), Cradle Of Filth (8), Epica (8), In Flames (8), Moonspell (8), My Dying Bride (8) and Within Temptation (8). The current stages are :

Location

The festival is located in Kastelsedijk, in Dessel and is situated about 60 km away from Antwerp, 99 km from Brussels and 35 km from Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Dessel is a municipality with 9103 inhabitants in the province of Antwerp in Belgium. The 27.03 km ² comprehensive community lies in the Flemish Region, also known as Flanders, this is the officially Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. The distance to the Netherlands is less than 10 km. The largest part of the economy of Dessel is determined by different regions of the nuclear power industry. Dessel is the twin town of Hesse-Lichtenau.

Tickets

Combination tickets for the Graspop Metal Meeting include camping from Thursday to Monday, parking for a vehicle (until 2022) and entry to the festival site. Day tickets are available, and before 2013 they did not include camping; camping tickets could be purchased separately. Camping tickets allowed day ticket holders to spend the night on the camping site. A camping ticket was valid on the same day as the festival ticket. From 2013 onwards, a day ticket included admission to the campsite. In 2009 Graspop Metal Meeting introduced a VIP ticket. The VIP package consists of: parking space in the VIP car park; which is nearer the festival ground, access to the VIP lounge, and separate entrances to the campsite and the festival arena.

Accommodation

Most people who stay at Graspop Metal Meeting will camp in a tent. Campsite accommodation is provided in the cost of a combi ticket but festival-goers must bring their own tents. Caravans and trailer tents are not allowed onto the camp site. However attendees can book a pitch in addition to the main ticket which allows access to Graspop Metal Town.

Graspop Metal Town

Graspop Metal Town is located at just 1 km from the festival site and is a veritable open air hotel with its proper sanitary facilities, breakfast tent, bar and reception desk. Attendees can either spend the night in a Festihut or can book a pitch for their motorhome, caravan or tent.

Festihuts

Introduced in 2008 the Festihut is a wooden cottage equipped with beds or bunk beds and mattresses. Festihut details:

Pitches

Metal Town has space for 250 standard pitches and 50 XL pitches, for people who want to bring a caravan, mobile home, or tent. Pitch details:

Graspop Metal Meeting 1996

Graspop Metal Meeting 1997

My Dying Bride was announced as headliner in the Marquee but they had to cancel because of the illness of their drummer. Obituary was replaced by Napalm Death.

Graspop Metal Meeting 1998

Graspop Metal Meeting 1999

Graspop Metal Meeting 2000

Graspop Metal Meeting 2001

Graspop Metal Meeting 2002

Graspop Metal Meeting 2003

Graspop Metal Meeting 2004

Graspop Metal Meeting 2005

Graspop Metal Meeting 2006

Graspop Metal Meeting 2007

Graspop Metal Meeting 2008

Graspop Metal Meeting 2009

Graspop Metal Meeting 2010

Graspop Metal Meeting 2011

Graspop Metal Meeting 2012

Graspop Metal Meeting 2013

Graspop Metal Meeting 2014

Megadeth had to cancel their show. They used to be the headliner on Mainstage 2 on Sunday.

Graspop Metal Meeting 2015

Graspop Metal Meeting 2016

Graspop Metal Meeting 2017

Graspop Metal Meeting 2018

In 2018 the Festival will have 4 full days and was completely sold out for the first time in its existence. (*) Replacing P.O.D.

Graspop Metal Meeting 2019

Graspop Metal Meeting 2020 (cancellation)

In 2020 the festival planned to organise the 25th edition. Therefore, they would have celebrated it as a full 4-day festival. Bands intended to perform included Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Aerosmith, Mercyful Fate, Disturbed, Faith No More, Killing Joke, The Offspring, Korn, Airbourne and others. On 15 April 2020, the festival announced on its Facebook page that the 2020 edition would be cancelled because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The festival was rescheduled to 2021, and then again rescheduled to 2022 because of the ongoing pandemic in 2021.

Graspop Metal Meeting 2022

Graspop Metal Meeting 2023