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Festival Reviews
Festival Review: Sonisphere 2010
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 11 August 2010
The second ever UK leg of the Sonisphere European festival tour was highly anticipated by the 55,000 strong crowd.
Disappointment had been evident as two of the Big Four of 80s thrash, Metallica and Megadeth, who had headlined the festival in other countries, were missing from the line-up of the UK finale, though Slayer and Anthrax did play. However, filling the two holes were British heavy metal legends Iron Maiden and German industrial showmen Rammstein, so the festival-goers could hardly complain.
In what seemed to be a progression from a two-day event towards a three-day event (fingers crossed for next year), the organisers offered music on all but the main Apollo stage on Friday night. These acts included fist-pumping battle-metal from Turisas, a one hit wonder from Europe, and a fantastic headline slot from Alice Cooper who faked his own death four times during the performance and played his timeless classic ‘School’s Out’ both as an opener and a finale. The Bohemia tent presented an evening of alternative stage shows and smaller musical acts, many of whom had played at High Voltage festival the previous weekend.
Saturday’s line-up was kick started by Swedish power-metallers Sabaton who saluted the hangover-ridden audience before launching a powerful assault on the morning crowd’s ears. The rest of the day was divided between metal from the likes of Anthrax and Fear Factory, and pop-punk/emo presented by the seemingly out of place Papa Roach and Good Charlotte.
Placebo added a post-punk tinge to the afternoon, followed by an acoustic set from Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor, whose relaxing un-distorted set made for a pleasant break before the evening’s heaviness.
Mötley Crüe played a brilliant show chock-full of classic songs from their 80s heyday, none of them seemed too addled by age or substance-abuse and so were able to put on a crowd-pleasing performance.
Saturday headliners Rammstein came out swinging with their furious industrial metal. The reaction from the crowd was massive, fuelled by one of the most intense stage shows in the world. Arriving with six lorries of pyrotechnic equipment, Rammstein set about using all of it, from flame throwing guitars to fire-breathing masks and pyro-jets shooting from the floor, not to mention the fireworks shooting up from behind the backdrop. Cynics might say that Rammstein use this extravagant display to distract the crowd from less talented musicianship, but this was not so. The band played very well together and really gave the following day’s line-up something to think about.
Sunday started with post-grunge rockers CKY who were almost perfect for the half-awake crowd as their trundling stoner-influenced set fell on attentive yet somewhat muffled ears. Madina Lake followed on the Apollo stage but didn’t go down very well – vocalist Nathan Leone sounded quite off-key and the more metal-inclined audience had witnessed enough pop-punk the previous day. Skindred, however, managed to get the entire crowd bouncing with their potent combination of metal and reggae, followed by what can only be described as an interesting set from the Japanese band Dir En Grey who enthralled the crowd with a dark and sinister set comprised of super-progressive doom metal.
Ageing thrash titans Slayer followed the Japanese youngsters, pulling out all the stops with a classics-filled set including ‘Angel Of Death’ and ‘Raining Blood’, which they executed with incredible accuracy considering the blistering speeds.
Sheffield deathcore upstarts Bring Me The Horizon and grunge legends Alice In Chains paved the way for a heavy electronic and visually inspiring slot from Pendulum who had the majority of the crowd jumping up and down in time with their pounding bass lines.
Bohemia tent headliners on Sunday night were Welsh screamo pioneers Funeral For A Friend whose well-established sound and fanbase led to impressive crowd-participation with epic singalongs to ‘Streetcar,’ ‘Rage’ and ‘The Art Of American Football.’
Iron Maiden completed the weekend with a well-rounded set that included a lot of material from their latest three albums. The more old-school Maiden fans were disappointed not to see more of the classics from the 80s, but a flamboyant set and impeccable musicianship had the crowd’s full attention for their two hour slot.
All in all it was a successful weekend with a strong eclectic mix of performers: I look forward to seeing what next year will produce. TC
