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.
The Graspop Metal Meeting 2025 was on the home stretch. Only one act remained, and for me personally, it was the most controversial of them all. None other than Till Lindemann and his band were set to close out the fourth day and thus this year’s festival. Surprisingly, the area in front of the stage was still extremely full. I couldn’t see the South Stage very well, but even there, many people had stayed after Judas Priest.
As empty as the huge Marquee tent sadly had been for Triptykon just before, the smaller Metal Dome was already packed early on for Alcest. The festival was rapidly approaching its end, but shortly before the finale, the French band offered a moment of calm with their atmospheric blackgaze sound.
Somehow, this really seemed to be the day of poorly attended shows. Just like the veteran acts Krokus and Savatage, who both faced large gaps in the crowd, Celtic Frost successor Triptykon suffered the same fate. Unfortunately, the large Marquee tent was only half full when Thomas Gabriel Fischer and his bandmates, V. Santura on guitar, Vanja Slajh on bass, and Hannes Grossmann on drums, took the stage shortly after 20:30.
The day continued with true old‑school power metal with a progressive edge. Savatage have been shaping the scene since the early 1980s, and after more than 20 years they finally returned to Graspop once again. After disbanding in 2007, they reunited in 2014, and they still stand on stage with remarkable energy, delivering a genuinely strong show.
Heaven Shall Burn are always a sure bet at any festival, so they were naturally a fixed part of my running order for the day. I had read with regret that vocalist Marcus Bischoff had been forced to end his Rock am Ring performance after just one song and, on medical advice, wasn’t allowed to sing for the time being. Fortunately, the band found an excellent stand‑in with Britta Görtz from Hiraes, who filled in for the rest of the festival and concert season remarkably well.
The afternoon moved on, and it was time for the first veteran act of the day: Krokus from Switzerland, a band that can look back on no less than 50 years of history. With them, the festival took a trip back to the early days of hard rock, and for the next hour it was hard not to think of AC/DC at almost every turn.
I stayed right where I was in front of the Jupiler Stage. Today really felt like a Japanese day, even though the next band, Rise Of The Northstar, don’t actually come from the Land of the Rising Sun. Instead, they decorated the stage with Japanese motifs and manga imagery. Japan is a major theme in their music, and the band is deeply connected to the country in general, for example, through their social engagement after the Fukushima tsunami disaster.