With it looking increasingly unlikely that the annual European metal and rock festival season will be taking place in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the annual ‘Graspop Metal Meeting‘ is the latest festival to fall victim to the situation. The long-running festival was to be held in Dessel, Belgium this June with headlining sets from Iron maiden, Faith No More, Judas Priest, Korn and Aerosmith.
In the face of limitations put in place by Belgian authorities, the festival will now skip this year and will return in 2021. The following statement was issued on the matter:
“The Belgian government has just announced new measures: there are to be no mass gatherings in Belgium until the end of August 2020. We have done everything we could to make sure that Graspop Metal Meeting could go ahead this year, so it is with deep regret that we inform you that the 25th edition of GMM has now been postponed until 2021. It was a very difficult decision.
In 2021 we will be back with a vengeance to celebrate GMM’s 25th anniversary from 17 to 20 June 2021. Every effort will be made to include as many of the bands from the #GMM20 line-up in the #GMM21 line-up as possible. The full line-up will be announced at a later date.
We are working closely with our ticketing partner to contact everyone as soon as possible. More info is to follow soon. We are doing everything in our power to come up with a suitable solution for all festival-goers within the shortest possible time frame so please bear with us.
Stay metal, stay safe and take care!”
With other countries extending restrictions and deadlines as well, it currently looks rather bleak for any festivals this taking place in the foreseeable future.
