Sonisphere 1st August Review!

1/8/2010 Sonisphere festival Knebworth UK

Being our first festival experience we didn’t really know what to expect. We arrived on the Sunday morning and trekked across numerous fields and were greated by Iron Maiden’s Killer Krew sound checking and setting up the stage. When we finally reached the main arena Karnivool burst onto the Apollo Stage. The Ozzie experimental group certainly got the crowd hyped for the rest of the day with vocalist Ian Kenny stating “Sonisphere we are your ... Breakfast”. After finishing their set with the classic “Themata” we headed down to the Bohemia stage to check out Rise to Remain who never fail to mesmerise the crowd. Clearly buzzing from their recent Kerrang! award for “Best British Newcomer” the band romped through the set and, also threw a new song “The Serpent” into the mix. Apart from a few problems for bassist Joe Copcutt this will be a performance the band will never forget for all the right reasons. Skindred are not everybody’s cup of tea but certainly struck a chord with their hardcore fans and no doubt will have gained some new ones. As the intro to “South of Heaven” comes through the speakers, all of the Slayer fans suddenly rush to the Apollo stage to catch the iconic thrash legends. Their unstoppable performance brought chaos to the main arena with nothing but “SLAYER” being chanted at the top of hardcore fans voices. As the set closed with “Angel of Death” many now stayed and opted for the long wait until Iron Maiden hit the stage. In the meantime Alice in Chains brought a classic rock/grunge element to the festival by playing classics such as “Them Bones” before the love or loathe moment of the festival as Pendulum took to the stage. Many people were disheartened to find out that Iron Maiden’s special guests were Pendulum when it was announced but, give them some credit as they sure got the younger members of the audience pumped for Maiden. The older members were not happy though by the choice of support and many had just come to see the main act. So after a long wait the fans jump to their feet when they hear UFO’s “Doctor Doctor” as this signifies the onslaught of Iron Maiden is about to take place. The Sci-Fi show starts with Holst’s Mars, The bringer of war which abruptly ends and Adrian Smith jumps out on stage with the opening riff of “The Wickerman” before being joined by the rest of the band. The show belts through at a phenomenal pace even longer songs such as “Dance Of Death” and “The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg” seem to fly by. The show only briefly slows down (but for a good cause) as Bruce Dickinson tributes the song “Blood Brothers” to the late Ronnie James Dio. Before you know it “Iron Maiden” is playing and Alien Eddie is attacking Janick Gers and Dave Murray before getting a guitar of his own. The band leave the stage briefly before coming back to finish up with a few older songs and ending with “Running Free”. As stated in many interviews with the band it is clear they are having fun and they will continue (to play) as long as they can, so this may not yet be The FINAL Frontier!

Sonisphere: 9/10

sources http://uk.sonispherefestivals.com/pics-and-flicks-2/sonisphere-2010-sunday/

Photo credit John McMurtie