Saturday April 29 2006, Meerhout-Gestel (Belgium)
Groezrock Festival 2006

That time of the year again...Groezrock...number 4 in a row...And every year the line-up seems to become better and better. This year we came down for Sick Of It All, Less Than Jake, The Lawrence Arms, Anti-Flag, Raised Fist and Comeback Kid. This year the festival began on Friday, I wanted to see Thrice and Goldfinger that day but I'll never camp and it was a bit too much effort to drive all the way home so we just went Saturday. The first band we wanted to see was A Wilhelm Scream, they played at 11 am or something so that was not an option. The Lawrence Arms at 1 pm was luckily just late enough cause I really wanted to see them again. Liked their show a lot, fortunately there was a lot of dancing and a lot of space in front. Cool that they played the old songs Nebraska and 100 Resolutions and the new songs were also pretty good. A great start of the day.

Then we went to check out the market but we didn't buy anything, actually, apart from the ticket I haven't spent a single euro today. All our food and drinks were in the car so we didn't need to buy anything and parking was free. Pretty funny I only realized it now, usually we spend way too much money on useless things...So when we came back from the market we saw a big part of The Maple Room, which we all liked a lot. We kept watching their show so we missed a half of Death By Stereo's show. Didn't matter much cause they didn't play any song that I know and somehow I expected more of them. Then Bold was playing on the other stage but we didn't see them and I can't remember why, think we did something useless...At least we were in time for Anti-Flag, the next band on Main Stage.

They opened with Fuck Police Brutality, like in the old days. They were the first punkrock band I ever saw and at the time I liked them a lot...So it's always good to see them back. These last years I started to like them less and less because The Terror State and because 80% of their set used to be filled with songs off that, but they're back. They made a good new album, they only played three songs off the Terror State and 5 old songs. Their live show became very energetic and tight and the whole crowd went off. Especially during new song The Press Corpse the whole place sang along. Good to see they're back.

Up next, No Use For A Name. Seen them once and didn't like them, so a good moment for dinner at the car. We had 60 minutes to be back for the almighty Raised Fist. So that's what we did and Raised Fist blew us away. They opened with You Ignore Them All and Running Man and were energetic as always. Didn't see the whole set, cause after Get This Right my friends wanted to see Less Than Jake. They had already started so we went to the front on Short Fuse Burning. It was way too busy and like always when I've just seen a cool hardcore act the skapunk band cannot beat that. Just like two years ago with Liar and The Mad Caddies. Even though I know every single Less Than Jake song. They played History Of A Boring Town and All My Best Friends Are Metalheads after it and that's when I decided to go back to Raised Fist. They just played Killing It and their final song so I haven't heared Dedication, Stronger Than Ever and some of the many other cool songs.

So back to Main Stage for another 30 minutes of Less Than Jake. They were just doing something called the chicken fight when people had to sit on eachother's shoulders in the pit and knock other people off during The Science Of Selling Yourself Short. During that song I walked into some friends so I didn't get to see much of the rest of the show. Later I found out that they played Al's War and Gainesville Rock City while I was watching Raised Fist. Two of the greatest songs, especially Al's War. The ending was pretty cool with Johnny Quest and Look What Happened which have always been some my favorite songs by them and the circle pit on Last One Out Of liberty City was cool to watch. Still a great band. Too bad that I couldn't see them in Amsterdam earlier this month.

Right after their last song we went to the other stage for Comeback Kid which had already started. Stupid that we didn't go there earlier but I guess we can see it all again on Thursday in Haarlem with Raised Fist. Their show was a little bit fucked up already cause the last 20 minutes were scheduled against Sick Of It All. Before I had to go back to Main Stage I saw an very energetic show with great songs like Final Goodbye, Step Ahead, Partners In Crime, All In A Year, Talk Is Cheap and Our Distance. Then like many others I had to go to main stage for the best live band ever, Sick Of It All.

The western intro tune started and there was the greatest opening song that any band could ever have, Good Looking Out, followed by Clobberin' Time. It's hard to say anything about them without repeating myself, they're just fucking amazing. I like every single song, also the new ones Take The Night Off and Uprising Nation. Disco Sucks, My Life, Step Down and Goatless remain my favorites. Of course there was a Wall Of Death on Scratch The Surface which was a pretty big one this time.

Fucking tired after this one, we just watched a bit of Born From Pain from the back before we returned to Main Stage for Me First And The Gimme Gimmes. I didn't like it as much as in Antwerp. Probably because we were tired and wanted to go home or maybe because it was so fucking busy or maybe they just played not as good. I felt like they were in a hurry to play their songs, they didn't joke as much as in Antwerp. Of course their songs are always cool to hear. End Of The Road, Wild World, I Believe I Can Fly, Over The Rainbow, Blow In The Wind, Stairway To Heaven, so cool...After them we went home. Saw a little bit of All Out War on the way home, it seemed pretty heavy...So I had a fun day, but it's fucked up that after half a day on a festival you already feel so totally wasted. Anyway, happy to have been at another great Groezrock. Like every year I'll end with a top/bottom list of what I liked most...