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The final day at Graspop was shaped by two things: Japan and veteran bands playing to disappointingly small crowds. At noon, Crossfaith from the land of the rising sun made it immediately clear that the audience was expected to move and with countless circle pits and nonstop jumping, the crowd followed that call without hesitation.
The third festival day had already begun in the tent with Vowws, whose performance felt more like modern art than a concert. Afterwards, Last Train managed to impress far more — their energetic performance left no one untouched. Back in the Metal Dome, it was unusually crowded around midday. The reason was the Swedish band Self Deception. Their very pop‑leaning core metal went over well, and their stage show featured plenty of pyro effects, but overall they didn’t fully win me over.
The second day was heavily dominated by metalcore. Things kicked off at noon with newcomers Static Dress, who managed to impress under the blazing sun on the Jupiler Stage. Afterwards, the atmosphere continued inside the tent with As Everything Unfolds, before the Spanish band Bloodhunter delivered the first thrash‑tinged sounds of the day. Employed To Serve then shifted things back toward core territory, before the Brits from Green Lung slowed the pace. Their slightly psychedelic stoner metal made for a very relaxed afternoon—at least until The Ghost Inside brought the festival back to metalcore, though their set didn’t quite grab me as much.
After Bush left the stage, preparations for the evening’s headliner began in earnest. To avoid further “distractions,” a massive banner was raised in front of the stage. The tour is part of the release of their latest album “God Of Angels Trust”, and is cheekily dubbed the “GOAT – Greatest Of All Tours.” As such, the goat motif is omnipresent.
After the very disappointing start, I was now hoping for improvement. I still remembered Bush from the '90s and was really looking forward to their performance. Founded in England in 1991, they reached their first career peak in the late '90s with their alternative rock sound, riding the wave created by Nirvana. Since then, they had somewhat disappeared from my radar, though they remained consistently productive.
Originally, GEL were supposed to be the first opening act for Volbeat, but even before the tour began, they had disbanded due to internal disputes. So a quick replacement was needed—and that came in the form of Witch Fever from Manchester.
It was quite early when I had to get up because already at 5:30 more than 500 Krefeld Pinguine supporters had to gather at the Krefeld main station to start their long trip towards Straubing at 6:00. But this was gladly accepted and so the athmosphere was excellent on the way there.
Already very early on Saturday morning a bus started form Krefeld towards the hanseatic town to first visit the monuments and on Sunday the O2 World to hopefully take the three points back home. Because of Servus TV is broadcasting live on tv the first bully was delayed by one hour. Therefore they kindly showed the prepared choreography of the motto "Ballermann 6-undreissig". Especially for this many supporters came wearing shorts and t-shirts (kudos for this because it was extremely cold outside).
The game was announced quite short-termed and so "only" 513 fans went to the Nordhorn Ice Rink. For the Ritter it should be the first test against an equal or even better opponent because no one else than the present champion of the Dutch 2nd division, the Romijnders Devils from Nijmegen were guest.
This summer, the vacation headed south. After a first stop in Kehl on the Rhine, it was just a short bike ride across the bicycle/pedestrian bridge over the river into the French city of Strasbourg. The contrast couldn’t be greater: Strasbourg, with its medieval charm and beautiful old buildings throughout the city center, versus Kehl on the opposite bank, built more functionally and radiating a 1960s vibe.
I had learned through a conversation that there is a zoo in the Netherlands dedicated entirely to monkeys. A quick bit of research revealed that it was Apenheul in Apeldoorn. So, just like that, another destination was added to the zoo list.
It's only been two years since I last visited the NaturZoo Rheine. But even now in autumn, the zoo has its charm. The focus here is on the many species of monkeys that can be observed. Whether it's the lemurs, macaques, or the impressive geladas in their large enclosure. The monkey forest, where you can have close contact with Barbary macaques, whether you want to or not, had already impressed me in my childhood.
