REVIEW: Groezrock Festival 2012

Groezrock Festival 2012 Day I     w/Rancid, Parkway Drive, Gallows, Hazen Street, Face to Face

Within seconds of being in Belgium I was approached by six skinhead men who dragged me along to join their convoy en route to Groezrock. We jumped in a taxi, which sped it’s way through the Belgian countryside while the guys sang at the top of their lungs,making what had so far been a pretty arduous journey, the perfect way to travel to a festival.

As I didn’t arrive until 7pm I hurried to see the first band I could which happened to be Face to Face. In true pop-punk sensibility it was a set full of good vibes and singalongs. It turned out to summarise what the rest of the weekend would be like. Nostalgic punk. But in a good way.

I was stoked to see Hazen Street just for Freddy from Madball to be honest, not to mention the rest of the lineup consisting of members from H2O and Cro Mags. Call it a supergroup if you will.  Firmly living up to his reputation as one of the best frontmen in hardcore Freddy announces: ‘We don’t know what the fuck this is but it’s not hardcore, rap or hip hop. This is Hazen Street’.  I gotta say I’m not a massive fan of the recorded tracks but live they do  resonate a lot of energy and quickly charm everyone with their fun New York attitude.

Next I was lured towards the heavy blundering bass lines and drum rolls of Heaven Shall Burn but only caught one song as it was time to see long-standing Fat Wreck Chord band Lagwagon who have released TEN albums on the label. Despite being a band so long they still definitley have it in them.    .

This was the first chance to see Gallows live with new frontman Wade from the recently defunct Alexisonfire.It’s really difficult to forget the legendary frontman that was Frank Carter and until the band write some new songs it will take time to embrace the change unfortunatley. The most recent album ‘Grey Britain’  was all the more powerful with Frank’s stage dives and snarls. Only time will tell if Wade can live up to the former frontman. The fact the band have just announced the launch of their own label suggests a big change is imminent.

Obviously I wasn’t going to be at Groezrock and not check out Parkway Drive, one of my favourite bands. Just like a proud mother off I went and smiled at every breakdown I heard. They never disappoint live and the fact the tent was filled with people tightly squeezed together was a true testament to that.

Seeing Rancid is what most people were waiting for and ‘Radio’ was a great choice to start the set with. The tent erupted with people dancing boistorously, waving pints of beer in the air. This year the band celebrate two decades together and the songs chosen painted a decent picture of the discography. Tim Armstrong told anecdotes about certain tracks and introduced all the members one by one- adding that in 20 years together they have always had eachother’s backs. I left the tent with satisfaction that I had finally seen one of the bands that made modern punk exciting to me when I was a teenager. Full setlist here!

Day II     w/ Red City Radio, The Bronx, Make Do And Mend, Dave Hause, Anti Flag, Terror, Motion City Sountrack, 7seconds, Refused and lots moreI started day two watching Red City Radio who impressed everyone with their energetic pop-punk growly songs. They;re certainly one band to keep your eyes on .

The whole time I was watching Make Do And Mend I was hoping to hear their version of ‘Home Away From Here’ by La Dispute but really this set was about their own songs, which incidentally, are full of melodies that give you a warm feeling while maintaining authenticity.  The band’s second album will be released in June and hopefully it’ll do well because they definitley deserve more exposure.  Interview here!

The Bronx were one of the most enticing bands to watch especially since they’ve been galavanting round the world with their side-project Mariachi El Bronx for what seems like years. Although those Mexican inspired songs are certainly beautiful every Bronx fan has been waiting for what they do best. And that’s putting on a memorable punk rock show. Perhaps going soft in his age this time there were no stage dives from delay towers or bleeding noses. Instead frontman Matt  got down on one knee and asked Groezrock Festival to marry him. ‘When I first saw you Groezrock it was love at first sight. Now will you make me the luckiest guy on earth and do me the honour of marrying me?” Playing live favourites History’s Stranglers, Shitty Future, False Alarm and Heart Attack American the band were welcomed back from their love affair with open arms.

Dave Hause played ‘C’mon Kid’ beautifully underneath the candle adorned chandlier on the acoustic stage and within minutes it was obvious why the tent overspilled with people trying to catch a glimpse of the awesome song writer formerly of The Loved Ones. Interview here!

Anti Flag pleased a lot of old fans by playing Fuck Police Brutality and Underground Network which led to one guy climbing up the delay tower and graffiting the cover on the side. Last time I saw Anti Flag I was worried they had lost their punk grit. This time I was convinced that it was well and truly still there.  Interview here!

To say this is Thrice’s farewell tour the tent was only half full. The Artist and The Ambulance was the highlight of the set but to be honest it wasn’t the most excting or engaging of shows. What could have been a memorable goodbye was more of a whispered ‘see you later’.

I caught Motion City Soundtrack play My Favourite Accident which sounded just as good as it did the first time I heard it live when they supported Blink 182 in 2006.

Having never had the chance to see Hot Water Music before I was pretty damn excited and was happy to hear  Paper Thin and Jack of All Trades. I just wish they played more songs from that album. A highlight was obviously Dave Hause joining the band on stage to sing ‘Trusty Chords’. They also played two tracks from new album ‘Exister’, State of Grace and Drag My Body.  Interview here! 

7seconds justified why they’re cited as one of the most influential hardcore bands with people crowdsurfing all over the place. Personally I’d put them in the punk category as opposed to hardcore but having formed in 1980 they’re certainly one of the longest standing bands of that genre. They spoke about how a group of people tried to squash the subcultures of punk in 1984 but failed to do so because they are are still around!

Thank god for Terror for showing everyone how hardcore is done time and time again. Definitley one of the best bands to see all weekend. Most notable was their enraging speech which ripped apart the Refused, calling them a ‘fake shell of what they once were. I do not support Refused. I support Agnostic Front, Sick of it All, Hatebreed, Murphys Law…” This is hardcore. And it’s not going away any time soon. Of course LiveForThis, being massive fans of all of those bands, totally respect Terror and their views, but personally I’m putting the debate to one side to enjoy the festival.

As it turned out, Refused were one of the major highlights of the weekend. In fact 56 seconds in of ‘New Noise; was definitley the best second of the whole weekend.  Rather than lazily play the songs and rely on hype alone, the band who split up for 14 years in 1998 made sure it was a tight and memorable set. What might be surprising to many is the fact that this was the biggest show Refused had ever played. The first time round they never really got much support. Probably reacting to the negative reaction that some people have had towards the reunion, frontman Dennis Lyxzen made a speech about how he feels his bands lyrics have more importance now than ever, before launching into Liberation Conspiracy. It was a great set and not one person left the tent without a huge smile on their face.  Full setlist here! Other bands that put on a great show include Chuck Ragan, Slapshot, Gorilla Biscuits, Zebrahead, Good Riddance, MxPx, Cobra Skills, Old Firm Casuals. Non-music highlights were: seeing drunk naked men on the rodeo and watching a guy smoke a cigarette out of his friends nose! ,

Thanks to Groezrock and all the hard working organisers, the PR guys, the cheap cigarettes, the ‘3 beers for five euro deal’  and of course the bands. See you next year!