Graspop

Bands I Saw

Rise Against

  The band was really good and had lots of energy. The lead singer seemed to have a really good time. He jumped off the stage to go into the crowd once. When he went to go back on the stage the security made him walk around instead of jumping on the stage. I found that funny.

Here is a link to Rise Against's website http://www.riseagainst.com/.

Stone Broken

  This was a British band that I had never heard of till I went to Graspop. They played early and I was just walking around and sort of stumbled upon them. Since it was early and not many people were there I got to stand right against the rail to see them. They played some good old style raw rock and were pretty good. The drummer did a wicked solo as well. During this concert, I did not wear earplugs, but after it, I decided it would be a good idea to wear some for the rest of the festival. Later in the day, I was able to get their autograph on my Graspop flag.

Here is Stone Broken's website https://www.stonebroken.com/home

Seether

  This is a band I have known for a long time and I really enjoy most of their music. I was expecting more from their performance. It was a good show, but I enjoy listening to their recorded version more than hearing them live which is very rare for me. I think maybe it was because I was standing further away and it was an open-air festival, but I am not an acoustics expert.

Here is Seether's website https://seether.com/

Arch Enemy

  This is a band that I had never heard of before Graspop. A guy told me about them when we were waiting for Stone Broken to start playing. He explained to me that the lead singer is a woman, but sounds like a 50-year-old man who has smoked his entire life. Initially, I did not believe him but it is certainly true. 

Here is their website http://www.archenemy.net/en/ 

And here is a link to the youtube video of one of their songs if you don't believe me on how she sounds singing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk2-bgwA0Ro

Megadeth

  I think most people already know who this band is. I found them very good. One thing I really noticed though is that the lead singer, Dave Mustain, looked very old. I also later went to try and get their autographs but the line up was way too long for me. 

Here is the Megadeth website https://www.megadeth.com/

Volbeat

  This is one of my favourite bands and I was not disappointed by them. I love how a lot of their songs have some influence from the wild west. They even have an album where each song is about a different person from the wild west called Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies. I learned that the band is Danish which I found interesting. One of their songs even had some Danish lyrics. Overall I found the band to be very entertaining and fun.

Here is there website http://www.volbeat.dk/en/

Marilyn Manson

  Everybody who knows of this performer knows he is creepy. He is like some weird hybrid between a vampire and human. During the show, he asked who in the crowd would kill for him and quite a few were very enthusiastic to do that for him. I was later told that he was very tame compared to other times. 

Here is the website for Marilyn Manson http://www.marilynmanson.com/

Hollywood Vampires

  This is a band that I did not know of before I saw them, but I did know who the band members were. The main members are Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, and Johnny Depp. They mostly played songs from their other bands which was cool. I just really liked who laid back everyone in the band was during this show it felt like they were up there just to have some fun. 

Here is their website https://www.hollywoodvampires.com/welcome

Limp Bizkit

  I had listened to this band before, and I must say they are much better live than I would anticipate from their music. I was also surprised at how nice the lead singer, Fred Durst, is. He constantly complimented people in the mosh pit on how they were taking good care of each other while they were slamming into each other. He also brought a girl in a wheelchair onto the stage after she was crowd surfing. He then told her to just look and watch the crowd as he and the band did another song since it apparently looks amazing from up there.

The website of Limp Bizkit is here http://www.limpbizkit.com/

A Perfect Circle

  This band has many good songs and a few that I have listened to repeatedly such as The Doomed. The concert was also very good, and no-one that I know of got kicked out for using their phone (they've been known to do that). The only issue I had is that they finished 15 minutes before they were supposed to which really disappointed me.

Here is their website https://www.aperfectcircle.com/home/

Judas Preist

  This is the only band ever that I have seen twice now. They were just as good as last time, and last time they were great. This time around I was a little bit closer to the stage but things were a bit hard to see because of all the people. I was also on the side of the stage since I wanted to get a good place to see Ozzy which was going to play after on the opposite stage. 

This is the Judas Preist website http://judaspriest.com/home/

Ozzy Osbourne

  If I met someone who has never heard of Ozzy I feel sorry for them right away. His music is great and his career has stretched for what seems like eons. The performance he put on was magnificent even if he was a bit creepy throughout the show. He also really seemed to enjoy himself even though this must be his one millionth or more time playing. Ozzy's main guitarist, Zakk Wylde, was also great. He played his guitar for a bit with his leg on the railing, which made me wonder whether he is serious about wearing nothing under his kilt because if he is the audience there would be able to see everything. Overall it was a great show and I included some photos below.

Here is Ozzy's website https://www.ozzy.com/

Zakk Wylde being awesome

If you can't tell I was only three people away from the rail.

Other bands I saw were Bullet for my Valentine, Eskimo Cowbell, and I believe a few others but I forget them.

Food and Beverages

  The food offered was varied and contained many good options. There was a food called beer balls which was a meatball that contained a good amount of beer as well. They had some fries that were very thin and it was called 'metal grass'. The metal grass also came with a variety of sauces which was nice. Along with all the neat and interesting foods, there was also some normal ones like hot dogs, braadworst, pizza, pasta, and even ice cream!

  The beer selection was also quite good. I think if you counted all the different beers offered there would be about 20 or so different kinds which is pretty good for a festival. The main one being sold was Jupiler. I tried to try several of the beers, but not too many since I still wanted to remember the concerts 😂😂. 

Accommodation

  I just set up my tent in the overflow campsite that was about a 10-minute walk from the stages. This was actually the first time I got to use my tent.

Conclusion

  It was a very good festival with an amazing lineup of bands. I would definitely recommend going. This was the website for the 2018 festival https://www.graspop.be/en/. If you look at the lineup you can see I missed several great bands on Thursday or Friday.

Genste Feesteen

What is it?
  Genste Feesteen is a 10-day long festival that happens in Gent, Belgium. The entire city centre of Gent turns into a party. In one area they had a Mardis Gras area, which is where I spent most of my time, it played mostly jazz and blues music through the day and at night they had some interesting shows. There was also Trefpunt which had some good bands. One stage had rock music quite often. Another stage had some more poppy bands. There was also many other countless stages The variety of music at this festival was phenomenal.

Mardis Gras Area
  This was where I spent a considerable amount of my time. During the day I went there a few times and was able to see some very small jazz/blues bands. This was also where a lot of the IAESTE people came during the night.

  One time when I was here I got a mask for doing the limbo. There was a kind of circus performance going on, and for part of it they did a limbo competition. There was only one prize, it was for participation, and it was a Mardis Gras mask. I was drinking a beer while I did it, but I was still able to accomplish the task.

Some Photos of the smaller jazz/blues bands

Trash Beatz
  There was a street band called Trash Beatz, and they play music with trash. The music they made was surprisingly good and very upbeat. The band members were dressed up in a chemical safety suit, and all played various 'instruments'. None of the instruments were easily recognizable since it was all built with trash. The reason they do this is that they want to bring attention to wastefulness and to encourage recycling. It was probably the best street band I saw at the festival.

Sint-Baafs Cathedral
  During the Gentse Feesteen Sint-Baafs Cathedral is open to be climbed! IAESTE arranged an event where a bunch of us climbed the Cathedral. At 1 or so everyone met to go climb it. I already had a beer which some people bugged me about 😕. There was only one set of stairs, so it was a bit awkward to traverse it since quite a few people were climbing it. The top had a very nice view which, I believe, is the tallest in Gent.

Here are some photos of that view

Trefpunt
  This stage had a few good bands that I saw. There was one from Zimbabwe that was called Mokoomba. This band had lots of energy. They were also very good dancers. Another thing I liked is that every song they have has a meaning. There were a few other bands that played here that was also good.

  At and around this stage there were many options for drinks and food. Irish coffee could be obtained here. There was also pizza, pasta, burgers nearby. It was a nice place to be overall.

These photos were of the band Mokoomba

Food
  There was a varied selection of food all across the Genste Feesteen. Waffles and fries could easily be found almost anywhere in the festival. There was some Indian food close to the stage by the Sint-Baafs Cathedral. A few places had pasta and pizza. Many other foods could be found but that is a couple of the best.

Beer and Drinks
  It seemed that a lot of the stages were selling different beers, and this made for a decent selection. The only thing was is that each of the stages had a different glass, so each time you changed stages you had to return your glass. There were also many other drinks you could buy like Irish Coffee. If none of these were apetizing the many bars in the city centre were happy to serve with their outstanding selection of beer

The Dragon
  Gent has a tower that overlooks the city called the Belfry and it has a dragon on top of it. This dragon usually just sits there and doesn't do much, but during Gentse Feesteen it spits fire. For many years it did not do this because it was deemed a fire hazard, but this year it did for the first time in a long time. At 10 pm each night of Gentse Feesteen it spit three shots of fire. It was very cool and the photo below should convince you of that.

Vrijdagmarkt
  This is a square in Gent, and it hosted some festivities during the festival. It mostly hosted games and some rides. There was also some classic fair style gambling games. It was also possible to get some nice food here.

Conclusion
  There were many other stages than the few mentioned here and there was lots of other stuff going on. There was a good selection of food and beer. The atmosphere varied depending on which part of the festival you are at, but it was always very good. If chance to go back someday I definetly will.

Oktoberfest

First night

  On the first night, I checked into the campsite while having my first litre of beer. Then I set up my tent so I could head out to the city. I intended to go to Oktoberfest first but then I stumbled upon a very nice beer gardens that I later learned was close to Oktoberfest. I also learned that it is better to stay there since Oktoberfest was probably already full.

  At the back is where the beer was being served. There was a guy continuously pouring beer and people just grab one if they want. I found it to be a very efficient way to distribute the beer. Towards the middle of the location was a live band that played pretty much all night. There was also some very good food that was served in cafeteria style near the beer.

  I ate some of the food and had a few beers here. At the start, I sat and talked with one guy from Germany and another from the Philipines. Towards the end of the night, after the band was done, I ended up talking to two people from South Africa and three others from Poland.

  After I just left to go back and sleep in my tent.

First Full Day
  On my first full day in Munich, I got to Oktoberfest around 10:30 and immediately got my first beer. Getting a beer here was more difficult than the day before. Eventually, I figured out they only serve to a table so I went and sat one. After a few beers outside I decided to go into one of the tents. Most of the tables inside the tents were reserved so I had to go around it looking for people to let me join their table. It actually was not very hard since there was a lot of people who were quite happy to let others join. I ended up talking to lots of people from the US and Europe.

  During this day I was surprised by a few things. One of them was the sheer size of the Oktoberfest. It was like a small city with its own streets and everything set up. There was little stores along these streets, as well as the entrances to the big beer tents. Another thing was how many beers the servers could carry. I swear there were some women about half my size carrying 3 or 4 beers in each hand!!!. There was also rides and other attractions within the Oktoberfest and I didn't really expect that. I have included photos of most of these at the end of the post.

  When I got back to my tent I discovered that it had been blown down by the wind. It turned out setting up a tent after many beers is harder than setting it up sober. I was able to do it, but it was windy throughout the whole night and I thought it may blow done again.

Second Full Day
  The tents opened later on this day since it was a Monday, so I decided to go to the Deutsches Museum for a few hours. It is a massive museum with 6 floors and they are very substantial floors. The exhibits I saw include the aviation, marine navigation, mining, computing, physics, energy, microelectronics, and astronomy ones. The mining one was very cool since most of it was made to look like you were in a mine. The marine navigation and aviation ones were also very cool and I have included a few photos at the end. The energy one included information on nuclear, petroleum, wind, solar, and many others. The energy one also had a bike you could ride to see how much energy you could produce, and as you produced more some electronics came alive. Unfortunately, it is so large that in 4 hours I could only see about half of it.

  After seeing the museum I went back to the Oktoberfest. I went to a few tables and talked to some people while drinking beer. One table I was at was with a bunch of rowdy Italians and they were very fun. I figured out to get a beer without a table you have to ask a waiter and they will ask one of the tables if it is alright to serve an extra beer at their table. This gave a new to obtain a beer.

  Two of the tents I went to apparently are frequented by celebrities. A friend of mine told me that Arnold Schwarzenegger goes every year. I was told that he was there on Saturday (when I was at the beer garden place). Also, this article says he was there with his family, but I don't know when that was.

Last Day
  It was mostly uneventful except for all of my trains being delayed.

  I should also mention that next time I will probably buy a lederhosen since it seemed like most others were had. It may also increase beer drinking ability but I am not too sure about that

This photo shows one of the rollercoasters at the Oktoberfest

This photo has one of the beer tents on the right.

The next two are from within one of the tents.

This one is a picture of one of the rides

This a photo from the marine navigation exhibition.

This is from the aviation part

Another from marine navigation

Another from aviation

This is from the mining exhibition.

This is an automation exhibition. There is a robot arm close to 

Theme Park: Bobbejaanland

  On a Saturday IAESTE went to a theme park called Bobbejaanland. It was excellent, and we went on a lot of rides. The food at the park was, of course, costly. Overall it was an outstanding experience.

  The first ride that was encountered was a decently fast roller coaster. There was a significant drop and a few sharp turns that get more excited than your run of the mill bus ride in Regina. I did not find it too terribly extreme though. A friend of mine, who has not been on roller coasters before, did not think that I got excited enough. I told him that after a while he won't get that excited too.

  There was also a ride that was similar to the 'swinging ship' rides. It swang from side to side like normal, but the place where everyone who goes on sits is round and spins. This means as you are swinging back and forth you are also spinning. On the downswing, the ride got impressive speed. It was probably my favourite ride at the amusement park.

  There were two water rides. The first one the person in the front got wet and the rest of the people came out sort of dry. The second one everyone got wet because where you sat for the ride was round and it spun, so this meant that each person usually got a chance to be hit by water when coming down from a hill. Both of these rides were quite fun.

  It was a great day.

Here is the Wikipedia page about the theme park
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobbejaanland

Here is the Wikipedia article about the swinging ships ride
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_ship_(ride)

Roller Skating

Roller Skating (Friday)

  In Brussels, during the summer they have times when people can go rollerblading in the street escorted by the police. During this, the police go in front and close down the intersections and stuff, so that rollerbladers can travel unimpeded. Next, some DJs play music to make the atmosphere more festive. The roller-bladers are behind or around the DJs. Behind the rollerbladers, there are the people who did not want to rollerblade, so they just rode their bike.

  I have now gone to this event twice, and it is the last time, for at least this year, since there will be no more of them till next summer. Rollerskating is very similar to ice skating, so I did not have much trouble (only fell twice). Braking when rollerskating is different from ice skating though. To brake when roller skating I dragged one of my skates behind the other, and that worked well.
 
  I also got to see the hooker street in Brussels too during this event. There were women in the front of each store being shown off kind of like mannequins. There was a guy who was rollerblading with us that seemed very interested in the women, which another IAESTE member and I found amusing.

  It was a good experience, and if I had another chance, I would do it again.

For more information about this go to the following link
https://www.wikorollerbikeparade.be/en/