Sonisphere Festival, Knebworth UK
Sonisphere Festival
July 30-August 1, 2010
For a festival that’s only two years old, Sonisphere UK 2010 has been a success in almost every way. The traveling European music festival made a stop at Knebworth, England this past weekend, treating 55,000 rock and metal music fans to some of the biggest, baddest names in rock’n’roll history, including Iggy and the Stooges, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden, Rammstein and other influential rockers.
The sold out three-day festival is remarkably well-organised and surprisingly tame. On the first night of arrival, before the live musical acts begin, the campsites are quiet and the main festival area is deserted by 2am – which, for a festival, is an early night. Besides a silent disco and some rock karaoke (think a tent full of metalheads singing along to Guns N’ Roses), there’s not much reason to be there yet – except for scoring a good place to pitch a tent.
Friday kicks off full force, though, as campers are woken up at 10am by Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing In the Name Of’ blasting over the speakers. The rest of the afternoon is lacking in excitement, though, as the main Saturn Stage acts don’t begin until 5pm. After performances from Delain and Tsurias, fans wait rather impatiently through Europe’s set, sticking around until ‘The Final Countdown’ is played – it’s clear that’s the song everyone is waiting to hear. And for Europe fans, the fun continues, as a marching band donning striped trousers and mullet wigs play the song while marching around the festival for the remainder of the weekend.
Unfortunately, we miss Gary Numan – we would have loved to hear ‘Cars’. But we make it back to the Saturn Stage just in time for the night’s headliner, Alice Cooper. His first festival appearance for nearly 30 years is nothing but perfect. Not only do fans get to hear ‘School’s Out’ twice (as the first and last songs), but the shock-rocker’s set is full of death-related stunts and props, including his rather famous guillotine act. No matter how many times this guy dies on stage, not once does his performance suffer. Even in a red straightjacket, he manages to impress every single person in the crowd. Let’s hope he doesn’t wait another few decades to make his next festival appearance.
Saturday’s wake-up call (for late risers) is to the tune of Family Force 5’s dance party at the Apollo Stage – which later sees performances from Papa Roach (again, the majority of the crowd seems interested in their final song, ‘Last Resort’) and Placebo (who play a good mix of old and new material, as well as a cover of Nirvana’s ‘All Apologies, and put on a hell of a show that is one of our favourites of the weekend). Good Charlotte also make an appearance, but we decide to give the Bohemia Tent’s comedy series a try, with some hilarious bits from transvestite metalhead Andrew O’Neill and Australian funnyman-with-a-piano Tim Minchin.
Brian Molko, Placebo
Rammstein’s Saturday night headline performance is over-the-top and brilliant. Their first ever UK festival appearance is full of fireworks and flame-throwers, and the German industrial metal band pump out some heavy foreign tunes. At one point, a “punter” jumps on stage, catches on fire, and is “rescued” by some stage technicians. It’s all staged – but it looks convincing and leaves us a bit rattled. They close out their set with a cannon that shoots foam and confetti at the crowd, and keyboardist Flake crowd surfs on a mini boat.
Rammstein
By Sunday, despite being exhausted and in need of a good shower, we’re ready for some of the best performances to come. Before Alice In Chains, Slayer and Pendulum arrive, we’re treated to a thirty-minute set from The Fab Beatles, a cover band that manage to inspire a huge crowd of rockers to dance and sing along to ‘Twist And Shout’ and ‘Hey Jude’. When Iggy Pop later plays with the Stooges, he proves that at 63, he’s still got a whole lot of rock and rebellion in him, and he doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon. He might have sold out in many’s eyes after signing on to sell car insurance, but that doesn’t make him any less of a rock and roll legend.
Iggy and the Stooges
Closing out the weekend are Iron Maiden, who play for two hours (unfortunately, though, it’s heavy on new material). Although we would have personally enjoyed seeing Iggy and the Stooges or Alice Cooper play for a full two hours instead, Iron Maiden prove to be deserving of the coveted end slot.
Sonisphere UK 2010 is full of amazing live music, well-structured performance scheduling, genuine music fans and a surprising amount of families with young children. This festival just goes to show that no one is too young or too old to enjoy metal, and we really look forward to Sonisphere 2011.
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