Sonisphere 2010: UK's Largest Metal Festival Only Hours Away
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Written by Jon Stickler
The roaming juggernaught that is Sonisphere Festival kicks-off for its second year running in the UK this weekend, bringing with it a stunning cast of some of the biggest names in heavy–metal.
Having only landed in the UK last year, Sonisphere Festival is already competing with the “big-guns” on the summer festival scene. Taking place at Knebworth over the weekend of July 30th to August 1st, this year’s line-up boasts some of the most heavy-hitting bands on the planet.
At the top of this year’s bill we have Alice Cooper, Rammstein and Iron Maiden headlining the Friday, Saturday and Sunday night respectively. Gary Numan and Europe warm up the crowds before shock rocker Alice Cooper, famous for hits such as Poison and Schools Out, as well as a guest appearance in the brilliant Wayne’s World film, headlines the Saturn Stage Friday night. Over at the Bohemia Stage Terrorvision and 65 Days of Static tread the boards.
Saturday sees the Apollo Stage open up and fans will have to be quick in moving from one band to the next in order to catch the day’s acts sprawled over three stages. Over at the Bohemia stage, Enforcer and Futures light the day’s fuse, with Futures being marked for big things in the future. Lacuna Coil sound out their warbling delights over at the Apollo stage before fans have a difficult choice to make between scene veterans Soulfly, Fear Factory and Anthrax, who all play different stages at the Saturday schedule’s halfway slot. Leaving behind nu metal, Papa Roach perform a little later and Good Charlotte will be no-doubt showcasing some new material from their new album.
Other acts featured on the Saturday bill include punk-rockers Gallows and Sick of it All, a rock revival appearance from Skunk Anansie and stateside legends of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll - as well as my personal record collection - Motley Crue.
Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor leads us into the dark with an evening acoustic solo set, yes you heard correctly, an acoustic set. This, although different to his usual screaming vocals and thunderous backing music, should be a unique treat for fans. Then it’s all about the Apollo stage as Brian Molko’s Placebo warm us up for an exclusive festival appearance from German firestarters Rammstein who will be exploding onto the stage, quite literally, with a reported 200 tonnes of TNT in tow!
The pace doesn’t slow down for Sunday either. Madina Lake play as a three piece this time around following the appalling news of Matthew Leone’s assault, they start the proceedings for Sunday’s Apollo stage while Welsh reggae rockers Skindred are ready to skank up the early crowd capable of fighting off the after-effects of that damn Jagermeister.
Kings of metal Slayer take to the Apollo stage at midday, before Alice in Chains reign over the gathering evening crowd waiting for you know who! Just before Eddie and the gang take to the stage however, there’s a choice between Aussie drum n bass outfit Pendulum, The Cult and Henry Rollins who are all spread over the three stages.
Closing the festival it’s either Funeral for a Friend or British metal icons Iron Maiden! I know who I’m going to be watching (up the Irons!) and although Funeral for a Friend are more than capable of performing a stunning show, do you really want to miss any of Maiden’s homecoming show, especially with their fifteenth studio album ‘The Final Frontier’ set for release next month.
Other highlights for Sunday include ever-mental Iggy Pop, who will be performing with his backing group the Stooges. Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and Converge will also be performing.
With such a good line-up it’s easy to loiter at the main stage all day but be sure to check out the smaller bands on site too. You never know, you could be witnessing the next Iron Maiden, AC/DC or Black Sabbath in the making.
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