The Bands

Let’s start whith the reason one decides to go to a festival; the bands that are playing. There are 4 days of metal madness to choose from, or for you to all enjoy together. On thursday June 18, we get to see main acts like The Offspring, Within Temptation, A Day to Remember, Limp Bizkit, Megadeth, Tom Morello, … It’s filled with punk heroes and melodic metal, with some metal core on top.

On Friday June 19 there’s Volbeat, Alter Bridge, Sex Pistols feat Frank Carter, Trivium, … This day will give you more punk heroes and classic rock heroes that even your mother likes, also with some metal core on top.

Saturday June 20, Bring Me The Horizon will close the south stage, and Bad Omens will do that for the North stage. This day also offers you Babymetal, Three Days Grace, Sepultura, Architects, Ice Nine Kills, … A heavier day with mainly metal core, thrash and some horror.

Sunday June 21, we get to see Sabaton, Def Leppard, Alice Cooper, Electric Callboy, Black Label Society, Foreigner, Europe, … You name it, all the great bands and rising bands are coming, closing Graspop Metal Meeting, or GMM, with some classic rock, metal core with disco beats and powermetal.

There are of course many more bands. In fact, there will be more than 100 to be seen. Some are already great metal heroes, some are just starting or climbing to the top. There is so much to see, and this is just a preview.

The Timing

GMM will take place form June 18, till June 21 2026 in Festivalpark Stenehei in Dessel.

• Thursday 18/06/2026: Bands will be playing from 11u45 till 01u30.
• Friday 19/06/2026: Bands will be playing from 12u00 till 01u30.
• Saturday 20/06/2026: Bands will be playing from 12u00 till 01u30.
• Sunday 21/06/2026: Bands will be playing from 12u00 till 00u45.

The website or app will give you more detailed information.

The Grounds

Above, I only briefly mentioned some bands that will play the two main stages; The South Stage and the North stage. But there are much more bands to be seen on the smaller Jupiler Stage and the two tents called Marquee and Metal Dome. With all these different stages, there’s something for everybody all the time. It also creates some difficulties sometimes, as you have to choose which band to see and which to miss. Better check that running order soon!

 

This is the way

How can you get there you ask? There are many options, all having pro’s and cons.

You can go by car: If you go by car, you can park on the parking that the festival has near each campsite. All parkings are at walking distance from the festival site, although I can say that some are closer than others. You also have to pay for your car. The website doesn’t state a price at the moment since parking tickets become available closer to the festival, but expect 10 euro’s or more. It is not allowed to park on the campsite next to your tent. On the public road, it’s not allowed either.
Pro: You don’t have to carry all of your stuff to the festival site.
Con: It’s expensive and you still have to walk to your tent with your stuff anyway.

You can go by train By train: When you go by train, you can get off at the station of Mol. There, a free shuttle bus will wait for you to take you to the festival site. This option I’ve taken quite a few times. It’s easy and you can get a cheaper ticket if you use the NMBS train code on your GMM ticket.
Pro: It’s cheaper and you don’t have to worry about alcohol consumption.
Con: You have to carry your stuff everywhere, so you are limited to how much stuff you can take with you.

You can go by shuttle bus: These things are like VIP Taxi’s. They come and pick you up if you live far away from a train station or from a festival. They can also pick you up if you are from abroad and land at Brussels Airport or Charleroi airport in Belgium or Eindhoven Airport in Netherlands. You need to book a separate ticket for this, starting at 37 euro’s, but you are sure you can get to the festival without worries and on time. GMM takes care of you and tries to get as many cars to stay home. So if you live far away and want to attend the festival, this option might be something for you. Especially since the shuttle will drive you home to the place where you got on the bus. So even if you plan on visiting for just one day, this is possible.
Pro: You can get to GMM without a care in the world.
Con: This is only if you live far away and it costs more money.

You can go by bike: If you live close, of course, you can go by bike. GMM will make sure there are enough places where you can park your bike safely.

There’s no map available of 2026, but the 2025 one displayed above should be pretty similar.

The Stay

Camping Boneyard: The closest campsite to the festival site. Camping Boneyard lies directly next to the festival ground, so it’s the campsite that has the least amount of walking. Boneyard costs 35 euro’s. Because the campsite is that close, it means that there is also more noise from the festival ground that can be heard in your tent.

Camping The Crypt: This campsite is 1.3 kilometres from the festival ground, so still on walking distance. But, since it’s a bit further, there’s also less noise from the festival ground. Camping The Crypt is also 35 euro’s.

Camping Inferno: Graspop’s Glamping. This campsite is about 500 metres from the festival site, so it’s close but also offers a lot more comfort than the other two campsites. The glamping has various options of different pre-built tents and cottages, for different size groups or for solo campers. If you want to have the comfort of a bed and electricity and are willing to pay some extra money, this might be the option for you.

Grub and Booze

From Experience I can tell you that the food on GMM is really diverse. Of course you can get the standard festival food like fries, snacks, pizza and hamburgers. But there is also pasta, rice and fruits. For dessert, think about different kinds of ice cream, churros and waffels. Then, there’s also the food corner. It might cost you a Skully or two more, but the food is delicious over there. Those foods are freshly made. Think off poke bowls, hamburgers with special sauces and fresh meet, and also vegetarian and vegan foods. So even if you have a special diet or a more specific taste, Graspop has you covered.

For the drinks, think about your standard sodas and alcoholic beverages. The festival also takes care off free drinking water. Close to the toilets are facilities where you can wash your hands, but also fill you foldable drinking bottle if you have one. Or you can just refill a bottle of soda you bought on the festival.

Damage and Tickets

Tickets: Click Here

Good To Know

1.Pricing: Now, the ticket prices are not the only prices to talk about of course. Lets see how much one Skully, GMMs local coin, will cost us this year. In 2025, One skully was worth 3 euros and 80 cents. When you bought them online before the festival started, it was 3 euros and 50 cents. The prices for this year are not online yet, but they will probably increase a bit. Keep in mind that a beer is one skully, and that food can easily be four Skullies or more.

The Ferris wheel that GMM has every year, will cost you two Skullies. Sometimes they also have bumper cars, which are great fun, also for two Skullies. Another side activity that’s always there are the ducks of thrash. Or in other words, rubber duck fishing for adults. That one will cost you one eco coin. Eco coins can be obtained by handing in a full PMD bag (a thrash bag with cans and plastic bottles) at the campsite, or by travelling by train, bike or by foot. You used to be able to collect thrash on the festival too for eco coins, but that wasn’t the case in 2025. Then I had the question; how does one acquire an eco coin if you stay in the vacation parks close to the festival? For example metal town? Well, you don’t. So that means that I had no chance of getting an eco coin, and also couldn’t get various awesome gadgets like GMM cups, GMM patches and chances for a backstage tour, fast lane ticket or skydeck view. Hopefully, that changes this year.

2.Phone charging: There are many ways to charge your phone while on the holy grounds. There are lockers available for rent that have a plug in them. You do need to bring your own charger, but you can charge your phone safely while rocking out to the best music. The next option is a rentable powerbank. It speaks for itself; you rent a powerbank and bring it back when you are done. You can keep your phone on you and move around while doing so. There are also dedicated recharge stands; a stand that has chargers and cables for free, but that means you can’t move around and you have to wait with your phone until it’s charged all the way up. The cheapest and easiest way is of course to bring your own powerbank, but it is very nice to have all these options available.

3.The GMM APP: The GMM app offers you all you need to know in one click of your finger. Right now, it counts down to the festival, tells you about ticket sales and sends you notifications about bands being added or important news about the festival you need to know. You can check the running order and add bands that you like by clicking the red lightning bold in the right corner. Those bands will be highlighted and you will get a notification when they start to play. You can browse bands by day and by stage. Your personal schedule can be viewed in ‘My GMM 2026’, right in the middle of the option row on the bottom of the app. At the right corner, there is a ‘more’ button. That one allows you to view all the artist that are playing GMM alphabetically. It also has a playlist that has songs of bands playing this years GMM, so you can get in the mood already. For now, the gallery option shows you some atmosphere photo’s of last year, but that will be updated with photo’s of 2026 once the festival has taken place. The info button shows you all frequently asked questions with their answers. And of course you can adjust the settings of the app the way you like it. The app used to have a map function too, which made it very easy to navigate the festival. Especially if it’s your first time attending. I can’t seem to find it this year, but I’m sure they’ll put a map on the festival ground itself.

4.Accessibility: Graspop has amazing accessibility. The organisation works together with Inter, where I have assisted myself. Inter takes care of everything a person might need. Think about a higher platform where people with limited mobility, vision, or any other reason that you can prove, can sit on to watch the bands. Think about accessible showers and toilets, a campsite close to the festival where they can help take care of your needs, electricity on the campsite if you apply for it, a fridge to store possible medication, … you name it. There is always somebody there to help you on the GMM site and around it. It is incredible and makes GMM great for everyone.