Face Tomorrow
Hailing from Rotterdam, the Netherlands Face Tomorrow had to perform pretty early. I can`t remember visiting festivals that started at 9.30 A.M. (Skool`s Out had the honour to open this years festival). Face Tomorrow showed up a little late because of heavy traffic. Not bothered by this the band gave a great performance.

Combining musical elements ranging from pop to hardcore and punk, Face Tomorrow sounds not unlike BoySetsFire, old Sunny Day Real Estate (Diary era) and At The Drive-In. Songs like "Live The Dream", "Worth The Wait" and "Puppet On Strings" really got the audience excited, judging all the hands in the air and the applause.

I even heard a couple of fresh new songs. Altogether a decent and passionate show of one of the most talented Dutch bands of the moment. Their Refused cover "Rather Be Dead" sealed the deal.

Gameface
Of course, it’s cool to have a festival with more than one stage, but unfortunately this also means that it’s impossible to see the full set of all the bands playing. Because two of the announced bands had to cancel their whole European tour, the time schedule for the Main Stage went straight out the window.

(I still don’t know who the infamous ‘surprise act was, dammit!) Throw in a festival market with over 100 metres of punk/HC-stands and you need more than a split personality to keep an eye out on everything that’s going on.

Because split personalities are all we have to offer here at RockEZine, Gameface played the first half of their set without REZ-coverage. The second half consisted of the poppy, melodic emo rock they’re known for.

They reminded me a lot of Jimmy Eat World, without the vocal harmonies and super-catchiness (That’s not a real word, but try to come up with something better if you like) perhaps. The band members aren’t as young as most of the bands playing today, so the stage performance isn’t too exciting but the band played a good, solid set.

Rise Against
Touring offers with Sick Of It All can be very inspiring. Rise Against were added to the bill at the last moment, because Glassjaw and Dredg got cancelled (Daryl, GlassJAw`s vocalist got ill again).

To be honest I don`t know much about Rise Against, but what I do know is that they gave a damn good show! These guys really know how to rock. Their melodic hardcore punk got a lot of hands in the air. Crowdsurfers were passing by continually.

Songs like "Blood-Red White & Blue", "Everchanging", "My Life Inside Your Heart" and the crowds’ favourite "Like The Angel" really got me excited. I`m definitely going to check out their albums and that`s what festivals are all about, right?

Biohazard
As one of the headliners, Biohazard gave an entertaining show. As usual they tell their practical jokes (Yes, Evan we know all of them by now) and their mix of "Biohazard", "Urban Discipline", "State Of The World Address" and songs from their latest offering Kill Or Be Killed. A lot of songs from this album were played.

Their other albums (Mata Leao, New World Disorder etc.) were ignored. Biohazard keep saying that their new stuff is so great, but when they release a new album they already seem to have forgotten what they said about their previous albums. Not that I dislike hearing songs from Urban Discipline, but it seems so contrary to what they say.

Enough complaining about their statements and let`s check out their music. "Shades Of Grey", "What Makes Us Tick" and "Down For Life" are still classics. The most memorable moment of the show is when members of both Terror and Caliban enter the stage to play along during a couple of songs: a short Slayer riff, "Punishment" and their last song of the night "Hold My Own".

Dropkick Murphys
I’m starting to suspect that new European laws state that you cannot have a festival without the Dropkick Murphys on this side of the ocean and boy, am I glad about that! The band has been a welcome guest on all kinds of festivals throughout the continent and they deserve it as much as (if not more then) anyone else.

The Murphys have worked their asses off throughout the years, went through a series of line-up changes but have now entered the major league of punk.

The band starts the set with ‘Barroom Hero’, one of their classics. Before the band entered the stage, I was afraid they would play almost the same set as on their recent Live On St. Patrick’s Day album, but fortunately that wasn’t the case at all.

Playing on a punk/hardcore fest must have inspired the band to come up with some juicy stuff themselves, so they did a lot of fast songs like ‘On The Attack’ and ‘The Legend of Finn MacCumhail’, together with crowd pleasers as ‘The Spicy McHaggis Jig’, ‘Good Rats’ and ‘Curse Of A Fallen Soul’.

The Dropkick’s new album is scheduled for an early summer release, so the band played some new songs as well. Despite the late hour and a very long day filled with bands, the tent wasn’t big enough to fit the crowd. From front to back, people were dancing, singing along and raising their fists, and probably downing more than a few pints of lager. (Mmm... Belgian beer!)

The atmosphere and the crowd response were great throughout the entire performance and I think our favourite Irishmen left very few people unsatisfied when they sent the crowd home after the traditional ending of their set, ‘Skinhead On The MBTA’. Great band to end a great festival!

BACK TO BASIC STAGE

Severance
A little before noon, Belgium’s own Severance kicked off on the smaller of the two stages, quickly labelled ‘The Hardcore Stage’ by everyone involved. Even though being the opening act on a festival always sucks, Severance does manage to wake up the crowd for what’s still to come.

The band’s style lies somewhere in between hardcore and emo and the singer switches between clean vocals and shouted lines quite well. I don’t know the band at all, so I can’t really say what songs they played, but half an hour on a big stage in front of lots of friends should have been a great experience for this young band.

The sound during their set is great and fortunately this fact will remain the same for the rest of the day.

Between The Lines
Between The Lines, also from Belgium, is the second band to mosh it up in the BTB-tent. The band played a lot lately to promote their new album Wake Up Call and give their set a good kick-start with the title track from that album.

Most of the songs they play are from Wake Up Call, but the band has time left to squeeze in a few old songs as well as a new one, called “Wall Of Death’. The crowd seem to enjoy BTL’s fast oldschool sound and created a big moshpit during songs like ‘Heroes’ and ‘Words For Free’.

Do Or Die
Coming straight from the Main Stage where Gameface did their thing, there could not have been a bigger difference in bands then this: going from Gameface’s poppy emo to Do Or Die’s balls-out moshcore in less than ten seconds. (Show THOSE stats to Ferrari! Ha!)

The band hits it of with a really metallic intro followed by songs from their latest album The Meaning Of Honor. After a few songs the tougher-than-life attitude of the band starts to get on my nerves a bit, but that’s what you get with this type of hardcore.

Fans of their older material might be a bit disappointed by the show, because after the departure of their second vocalist, the band leaves the old stuff virtually untouched. The newer songs kick just as much ass though, and the band work their way through an aggressive set of metalcore-by-the-book.

The crowd reacts very well and a big pit and plenty of stagedivers are Do Or Die’s reward for playing here. The band ends their set with a surprising cover of Sepultura’s “Roots Bloody Roots”, which they do surprisingly well considering the fact that the band is neither Brazilian nor capable of playing the berimbau.

Terror
I was really anxious to see Terror play live, because even though the band has been around for not even two years, they have been getting a shitload of media attention. On the other hand, all this attention has created a hype of biblical proportions, so I wanted to see for myself whether the fuzz was justified or not.

Apparently, I’m not the only one, because as soon as the band starts playing, the crowd goes nuts. The hardest pit I’ve seen in years, combined with a hyper-energetic band and lots of stagedivers make this an event to be remembered.

The band members have already made a name for themselves in bands like Carry On and Buried Alive and it shows: the band radiates energy and intensity, and despite the pissed-off lyrics on their MCD Lowest Of The Low singer Scott Vogel encourages everyone to have fun and interacts very well with the crowd (‘I need more stagedives! I need more stagedives!).

Virtually all songs from the debut are played, together with a few new ones. Songs like “Better Off Without You”, “Lowest Of The Low” and “Another Face” hit like a sledgehammer and the kids work their asses off in the pit and up front, finger pointing and singing along. Easily the best band of the day if you ask me.

Caliban
The only `metal` band on Groezrock`s bill is Caliban. Although most people came out to see punk bands, Caliban`s performance was really intense. These Germans combine metal and hardcore (metalcore) not unlike other bands, but yet so much more impressive.

Their live set consisted of songs from all three of their albums: A Small Boy And A Grey Heaven, Vent and their new opus Shadow Hearts. Songs like "Arena Of Concealment", "Seventh Soul" and "Forsaken Horizon" really got the crowd moving. From mosh pits to circle pits to even a wall of death (the crowd splitting into two sides and then at the first notes of a song slamming into each other: from left to right and right to left). A-m-a-z-i-n-g performance.

Give Up The Ghost
Due to legal bullshit involving a lawsuit by some wankers using the same band name, American Nightmare had to change their name to Give Up The Ghost not long ago. This obviously sucks balls for the band, who once again need to make people remember their name.

Their songs are as great as ever, so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but still... The band opens with ‘Hearts’, from their Year One album, and continue to work their way through a balanced set with songs from Year One and Background Music.

The Americans give it their best, but it’s a bit too obvious that their current tour has been lasting for more than three weeks already, which has taken it’s toll on the bands stamina. The crowd doesn’t pick the over-the-top oldschool up as well as they should and react way too lame, especially when compared to the sheer craziness during Terror and Caliban.

“There’s A Black Hole In The Shadow Of The Pru” wraps up the festival for Give Up The Ghost, leaving the stage wide open for Stairland, who will without a doubt freak everyone out with their weird drum’n’bass-core.

Open Hand
As support act of Poison The Well, I figured Open Hand wouldn’t have the chance to play on Groezrock. Surprised by the fact that Stairland stopped so early I never thought about Open Hand climbing the stage.

Their debut album The Dream is released on Trustkill Records somewhere back in 2002. I can’t remember anymore where I first picked up on these guys, but I do remember that their music was good enough to convince me to buy their album. Open Hand make so-called emocore: a combination of emotional poppy hardcore with a little touch of screamo every now and then.

Most people entered the tent to see Poison The Well, but stayed for a while to witness Open Hand`s show. Most of them won`t regret watching the show, because songs like "In Your Eyes", "The Dream" and "Life As Is" are true beauties.

Poison The Well
This is the band I have been waiting for so long. As one of the new school hardcore movement members, Poison The Well (PTW) got themselves copied by a lot of other bands, but always created a new sound to blow away all those imitators.

This is the first time PTW is in Europe and it probably won`t be their last time, according to the audience`s response. Although their set was a bit short (just like during their club tour) they played an impressive collection of songs: "Botchla", "Slit Paper Wrists", "Lazzaro", "Artists Rendering Of Me" and "Turn Down Elliott".

During the gig one of Jeff`s (vocalist) earplugs got stuck in his ear. The guitarist of Give Up The Ghost had to come to the rescue. At the end of PTW`s set the small tent was packed and not without reason. These guys are one of today`s leading hardcore bands and hopefully their new album You Come Before You (released in July) will settle their position even more.

We had the chance to hear some new songs and they sound promising, but to judge if they are as good as their older stuff we have to wait a little longer. Hopefully it`s worth the wait.

(Review & Pics: Dennis van den Berg)