Graspop Metal Meeting is a festival in Dessel, Belgium that has been around since 1996. Graspop was originally a rock festival conceived by a local family. Founder, Peter Van Geel, recognized that solely rock music did not produce sufficient funds to keep the festival going. 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. Between the both of them, they decided to launch a brand-new metal festival under the name of “Graspop Metal Meeting”. They decided the festival would take place the last weekend of June.

Since the new heavy metal direction, the festival has seen a continually rising number of visitors over the years. The festival draws a large number of festival goers despite its small size of less than 4 km.

Since the festival’s opening in 1996, Iron Maiden has been the most frequent headliner, with seven appearances. Other bands that visit often are Arch Enemy (6), Cradle Of Filth (6), My Dying Bride (8), Moonspell (7) and Saxon (8).

Graspop Metal Meeting 2016 Lineup

Abbath
Amaranthe
Amon Amarth
Anthrax
Apocalyptica
Aarcturus
Atreyu
August Burns Red
Black Sabbath
Borknagar
Bullet For My Valentine
Bury Tomorrow
Dark Funeral
Delain
Devil You Know
Dirkschneider
Disturbed
Down
Dropkick Murphys
Eisbrecher
Firewind
Fleshgod Apocalypse
Foreigner
God Dethroned
Gojira
Grand Magus
Heaven Shall Burn
In The Woods
Iron Maiden
Killswitch Engage
King Diamond
La Muerte
Legion of the Damned
Loudness
Megadeth
Monuments
Moonsorrow
Moonspell
Myrkur
Nightwish
Norma Jean
Obituary
Oomph!
Overkill
Paradise Lost
Pennywise
Powerwolf
Raven
Sacred Reich
Satyricon
Saxon
Shinedown
Shining (SE)
Sixx:A.M.
Skillet
Slaves
Slayer
Tesseract
Testament
The Algorithm
The Amity Affliction
The Midnight Ghost Train
The Raven Age
The Wild Lies
Thy Art Is Murder
Tremonti
Trivium
Turnstile
Twisted Sister
Virgin Steele
Volbeat
Windhand
Zark Wylde