|
User
Reviews 40
Approval 97%
Soundoffs 85
News Articles 10
Band Edits + Tags 119
Album Edits 148
Album Ratings 1283
Objectivity 69%
Last Active 12-26-14 5:51 pm
Joined 04-16-11
Review Comments 6,525
| Clercqie's Big Groezrock Adventure
Just came back from Groezrock 2012 and I can happily say it was the best fucking weekend of the year so far. The weather wasn't as bad as I feared it would be, drinks were aplenty and - most of all - I got to see a shitload of awesome bands. | | 1 | Chixdiggit
This was the first band on Saturday. I checked them out because of the quite funny name, but they were pretty boring. Standard pop-punk fare. And the singer couldn't shut up for 5 minutes. A slow start of the day to say the least | | 2 | Authority Zero
Now this was more like it. Fast and steady, mindless punk rock. Pretty forgettable afterwards but the pit was nice. | | 3 | The Menzingers
The first band I really wanted to see and they were great. Too bad the sound mix wasn't really good (the guitars were too quiet, something that plagued a lot of other gigs as well), but the songs were awesome! Nice mix between the fast rockers from Chamberlain Waits and their newer stuff. Cool concert all-in-all | | 4 | Royal Republic
These Swedes played no-nonsense hard rock which was really good. Great guitar sound, a cool, charismatic front man and lots of dumb fun. Perfect for an afternoon festival show. | | 5 | Belvedere
Man, this was really really boring. You know the cliché about punk where all the bands only have 1 song? Well, these guys really made that true. | | 6 | The Wonder Years
This was terrific! The style of music they play isn't original at all, but they really made up for that with tons of energy and enthousiasm. They played on the smallest stage and the crowd was amazing: moshing and stage diving the whole time. Really great atmosphere. | | 7 | Heideroosjes
This was one of the last shows for the legendary (around these parts at least) Dutch punk band. They played a fun greatest hits show and were awesome as always. | | 8 | Verse
I didn't know their music, but I wanted to check them out because they recently reunited. And I'm glad I did, because this was one the most energetic concerts of the weekend. | | 9 | The Dillinger Escape Plan
Utterly batshit insane. It's only a shame the guitars were too quiet. Otherwise it would've been perfect. | | 10 | Lagwagon
Not really a fan of their style of punk rock, but the show itself was pretty decent. But for me, an hour of their stuff was too much. | | 11 | Gallows
And I'm a dumbass, because I forgot Gallows began sooner than Lagwagon ended. As such, I missed a great deal of their set. But what I saw was really impressive. Sure, it's not the same anymore as with Carter, but the music is still fantastic. Had I seen the full show, it would've been one of the best of the entire weekend. | | 12 | Rancid
I don't know why I never really cared about Rancid, but this concert changed that. Downright fantastic show. They grabbed my attention effortlessly for an hour and a half and it's always nice to see a band so enjoying themselves on stage. Wonderful end of the first day of the festival. | | 13 | Red City Radio
This was the first band I saw yesterday and they killed it. Thet were ten times better than on record. | | 14 | Zebrahead
Man, this was annoying. Constantly begging the crowd to mosh or do circle pits and bringing a plastic swimming pool and cocktail bar on stage and a whole lot of other stupid stuff, just to hide the fact their music is rubbish. | | 15 | MXPX All-Stars
Good but forgettable punk rock show. Not much else I can say about this. | | 16 | The Old Firm Casuals
Another band of the singer of Rancid, and they were - in my humble opinion - better than Rancid themselves. Not that Rancid was bad, on the contrary! But this was a fantastic set of fast paced, old school punk. Refreshing after a day and a half of sometimes standard punk rock, Bad Religion style. | | 17 | Hot Water Music
Just ace! Fantastic singer, great lyrics, exciting guitar work and tons and tons of fun. | | 18 | Alkaline Trio
I enjoy their music, but the gig itself was pretty lifeless. Forgettable show, and that's a damn shame because this was a band I had high hopes for. | | 19 | The Bronx
One of the best "new" hardcore I ever heard. I'll definitely check these guys out in the future. | | 20 | Thrice
This was perfect in every sense of the word, except for the fact that 50 minutes of playing time was waaaaaaaay too short. | | 21 | Terror
I appreciate what they're doing, but this is not my thing at all. I'll just say that their little speech about "real" underground punk and hardcore vs. fake bands (namely Refused) was one of the stupidest things I ever heard a man say on stage. | | 22 | Gorilla Biscuits
Now this was what a hardcore show should be! Crazy crazy band, and they earned their quasi-legendary status with good reason. | | 23 | Reel Big Fish
Just realised I forgot to put Reel Big Fish with the bands I saw on Saturday, which is just dumb of me, because this was probably the biggest party of the entire festival. | | 24 | Refused
And now for the real reason I went to Groez in the first place. And they absolutely killed it! Everyone, for the love of god, go see them if you get the chance, because this was otherworldly! Just don't pay attention to the - admittedly - meticulously rehearsed and fake sounding speeches about how "this is the best show we ever played", yada yada. | |
clercqie
04.30.12 | And now, for a loose ranking of shows:
1. Thrice
2. Refused
3. Old Firm Casuals
4. Gorilla Biscuits
5. Rancid
6. Reel Big Fish
7. The Bronx
8. The Dillinger Escape Plan
9. The Wonder Years
10. Verse / Gallows tied | Deviant.
04.30.12 | Have a feature | Tyrael
04.30.12 | How can you like hardcore/metalcore but dislike metal is beyond me
but hey I'm jealous man Reel Big Fish are godlike live | clercqie
04.30.12 | Yay! Thanks Dev :)
Well, it's just because I don't mind aggressive music at all, but I personally find a lot of metal to drag after a while. Also, a lot of metal bands, I feel, tend to showcase how "godlike" they are with their instruments, but that doesn't interest me at all. I want songs, goddammit! :)
And yeah, Reel Big Fish was really epic :D | clercqie
04.30.12 | Also, just realised The Wonder Years should be tied with Hot Water Music. | CasinoColumbus
04.30.12 | My top 5:
1. Refused
2. Thrice
3. The Wonder Years
4. Hot Water Music
5. Yellowcard | CasinoColumbus
04.30.12 | I agree that Thrice played way too short by the way. Also, lost my wallet while crowd surfing during Refused, but a friend of mine managed to find it, so he saved my day. Forgot about Reel Big Fish in that top 5, they were great. | clercqie
04.30.12 | Hey hey, looks like we went to a lot of the same bands. :)
Also, I'm sorry man but who's that stupid that they crowd surf with their wallet? That's just asking for problems... During Verse, the frontman was practically more busy with getting everyone's wallets and stuff back, than with actually performing. | CasinoColumbus
04.30.12 | Haha. I know man. I used to put my wallet in a pocket which can be closed, but I bought some food before Refused and forgot to put it back. But yeah, we've mostly seen the same bands.I guess you've seen a couple more than we did though. | clercqie
04.30.12 | How was Yellowcard by the way? I wanted to go see them for nostalgia's sake, but I feared I'd find it really boring so I went to Verse instead. Glad I did though, 'cause it was awesome. | iPim
04.30.12 | Thrice really disappointed me. Refused, Gorilla Biscuits, Verse, The Bronx, The Dillinger Escape Plan and The Menzingers were the best bands in my opinion. Had some good fun during For Today, The Ghost Inside, Heaven Shall Burn, Parkway Drive, Terror and the last three songs of Your Demise. | clercqie
04.30.12 | How come? Not enough old stuff? I personally like the new stuff better so that wasn't really a negative for me. | iPim
04.30.12 | I am not sure why I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have wanted to. I was stoked to see them, but they didn't play some of my favorite songs and their performance as in how they acted on stage was a bit dull. I am not asking for a whole circus on stage, but it looked like they were not having that much fun playing there - as if they were forced to. The show didn't feel natural with respect to that and it felt like they just didn't care. Would've expected just a little bit more for one of their final shows. Apart from that, I had really high hopes for this. It was good, but not awesome. | FelixCulpa
04.30.12 | Nice list clercqie. Would have loved to see Thrice, The Bronx. I'm at least catching Refused later
this year. | clercqie
04.30.12 | iPim: I thought their stage presence was pretty good, actually. They seemed to enjoy themselves, just not on a exuberating level. They just don't play that kind of music where you "throw your hands in the air, like you just don't care" so to speak.
Thanks Felix! Brace yourself for Refused, it's going to be wicked, I promise you. | OnlyAnchors
04.30.12 | so goddamn jealous you saw verse | iPim
04.30.12 | Those moves of the singer of Refused were damn sexy. | clercqie
04.30.12 | He's like the Mick Jagger of punk | iPim
04.30.12 | Sexy and he knows it. I agree with you on the fact that that speech of Scott Vogel was pathetic. Was the fourth time seeing Terror, and I usually am indifferent towards his speeches since they do not really apply to me. This time around, he was just straight up selling bullshit. It might be true that this Refused-comeback-tours seems a bit money-whore-ish - and that is where I agree with him. Especially when Refused talked about their issues back then and how they are still true to their previous selves and then play irrelevent festivals such as Coachella and Lowlands. What Scott Vogel accused the band of was that they just wrote their songs, wrote their lyrics, made their dollars and got out, withouth ever supporting ''the scene'' afterwards. Refused last couple of shows in America were played in front of a handfull of people, so they did not make their major dollars. Furthermore, Refused came from Sweden - and I although I am not familiar with ''the scene'' there, I can safely say that it is not as ''active'' as the ''scene'' that Scott Vogel is in in America. So how the fuck could Refused ever support the ''scene'' after their disbanding? Sorry Scott, but I just have to disagree with you. Even though you might seem like a stand-up guy that says what he thinks, but what you thought was just stupid. | Rev
04.30.12 | so excited to see Thrice this weekend | clercqie
04.30.12 | I sure hope they get to play longer than an hour, Rev.
Pretty much my thoughts iPim, and also the fact that his praisal of "underground culture is the only true one" is not only very narrow-minded and a sign that they take themselves way too seriously, but also a very dumb thing to say when you're playing for a fully crowded tent.
I'm also curious how many of the fellas who cheered and agreed with that speech were rooting for Refused an hour later... | CasinoColumbus
04.30.12 | Yellowcard were pretty good, but it's just like you said, I went for nostalgia's sake. I saw the first
three songs from Verse, but the friends I went with aren't that much into heavier music, so we moved
on to Yellowcard. Only saw the first 15 minutes or so from The Dillinger Escape Plan for the same
reason. Also got to speak with the singer from Make do and Mend after their gig in the merch tent.
He's a great dude. | bungy
05.01.12 | Ugh fuck off that sounds awesome | bungy
05.01.12 | Just watched Gorilla Biscuits on YouTube there oh my god | Aids
05.01.12 | DUDE great list.
bungyyyyy rep Sasquatch hard for me this year. I'm gonna miss it :( | tuk
05.01.12 | Dude you totally missed out on some good stuff at the acoustic stage. Dustin and Chuck were damn great. I agree on what you said about the Alkaline Trio show, same thing applied for the Bouncing Souls.
My top 10 would include Thrice, Refused, Red City Radio, Chuck Ragan, The Menzingers, Dillinger Escape Plan, The Bronx, Lagwagon, Hot Water Music and Verse. | clercqie
05.01.12 | Yeah, I wanted to check it out but there was always some other band playing I wanted to see.
Gorilla Biscuits was unreal! | cvlts
05.01.12 | goddamn this lineup looks sexy. lucky asshole
terrors response is funny as fuck. | clercqie
05.01.12 | Hehe :]
Did they respond to the controversy surrounding their statements? Or do you mean their speech? Because that was more sad than anything. | theacademy
05.03.12 | dude definitely check out everything the bronx has done theyre so much fun | theacademy
05.03.12 | also they're far from "new" | clercqie
05.03.12 | Hence the ""s ;) I just meant as opposed to the old school 80's sound.
And yeah, they're incredibly fun. Like the first album the best so far, but the others are very cool as well. |
|
