• Sonisphere 2010

    Ago 8 2010, 13h46 por smaister

    Fri 30 Jul – Sonisphere Festival 2010 - Artists I saw all or most of:

    Friday
    First up were Bigelf, who laid down some seriously chunky sabbath-esque grooves with lashings of extra organ. Retro to the point of slightly silly, but still an awesome opener.

    Gary Numan seemed to surprise half the crowd he played to, purely by being good. I saw him in 2001 so already knew he was good. Numan's knowing smirk during Cars was quite amusing, and his onstage presence certainly proved that he had exerted more than a purely musical influence on the likes of Trent Reznor. The set was a great mix of newer and older material played with intensity and passion befitting the original industrial rock icon.

    Chrome Hoof get better every time I see them, and this was no exception. With their utterly infectious dirty basslines, the Hoof come over like a freakish funk orchestra of doom, a giant disco ball with lots of legs and big metal teeth. Highlights were the giant chrome robot which came walking through the crowd…
  • Sonisphere Festival 2010 - Sunday

    Ago 5 2010, 20h53 por jsw92

    The Fab Beatles (The Beatles tribute act) - An enjoyable singalong, odd how they referred to themselves as though they actually were the original members, but I guess it was supposed to add to the authenticity along with the costumes. Members looked nothing like the originals but sounded like them. A good tribute act if there ever was one to warm people up for the main attractions of the day, and closed with a nice Beatles-esque rendition of "Run To The Hills", pleasing many of the seeming millions of Iron Maiden fans on site. 6/10

    Skindred - Benji Webbe must be one of the greatest frontmen in the world today. No joke. He had tens of thousands of metalheads in the palm of his hand, and when he asked them to bounce to his band's energetic "ragga-metal", bounce they did, from front to back. It was insane. Whoever had come last year would have expected such a brilliant performance, but this year was even better, and some of the crowd were left genuinely shocked afterwards. …
  • Sonisphere U.K. 2010, Knebworth. Best fuckin' weekend in my life.

    Ago 5 2010, 18h48 por mroczna_sarna

    Pia 30 VII – Sonisphere Festival 2010
    Note for all non-Polish users: This review is unfortunately in weird, Polish language, because I'm a lazy bastard and it's much easier for me to write in my first language. However, you can still enjoy brilliant pictures, taken mostly from first rows, close to the stage. Just look into links which are located in almost every part of my review. And, of course, you'll notice, I attached ratings(bolded) into review of every band. I'll be pleased if you agree or disagree with my conclusions. Ok, "hey, ho, let's go!" :-)

    Po pierwsze, ORGANIZACJA festiwalu.

    Tutaj należą się wielkie brawa dla wszystkich osób biorących udział w tym, niewątpliwie wielkim przedsięwzięciu, jakim był tegoroczny Sonisphere. Nie ma chyba ani jednej rzeczy, ani jednego aspektu, do którego mógłbym się przyczepić. Zaczynając od lokalizacji samego festiwalu - oddalonego na północ, praktycznie 35 minut M1 z Londynu; samego miejsca nie sposób było przegapić…
  • Sonisphere Festival 2010 - Saturday

    Ago 5 2010, 17h42 por jsw92

    Lacuna Coil - A very shaky start to the set from the Italian metallers, and while they pick up towards the end of the set with a decent rendition of "Our Truth", they fail to really bother much of the crowd and feel very much like a warm-up act. Mediocre. 5/10

    Soulfly - Max Cavalera's "other band" are on brutal form here, and ripping through songs such as "Eye for an Eye" and "Back to the Primitive" create massive pits. It's a shame that they only play for half an hour and when they blast through Sepultura covers "Roots Bloody Roots" and "Refuse/Resist" towards the end of the set, you can't help but wonder how mind-blowing a Sepultura re-union would be at a festival like this. 8/10

    Anthrax - Joey Belladonna is back and Anthrax perform the original classics just the way they were meant to be played, and add in a couple of nice surprises like covering Joe Jackson's "Got the Time" as well as Black Sabbath's "Heaven…
  • Sonisphere Festival 2010 - Friday

    Ago 5 2010, 16h32 por jsw92

    Delain - Vocals from Charlotte Wessels were top notch and the performance was tight although they didn't have the back catalogue to really get the crowd going. Decent opener nonetheless 7/10

    Turisas - Definitely a metal band with a difference, entering the stage with war paint and accordions and violins and playing their "battle metal" to a huge reception to the crowd and some even bigger mosh pits made this the highlight of the day for me, especially their rendition of the song "Battle Metal" and the singer's banter with the audience. Cheesy, fun, and one to watch. 9/10

    Black Spiders - A new classic rock-style band from Wolverhampton who had spades of energy on the stage, even if, much like Delain, they didn't yet have any big tunes to pull it off fully. 7/10

    Gary Numan - This was a surprise. Playing a really dark, NIN-esque set and playing a version of "Cars" more similar to the heavy Fear Factory version…
  • Stevie Fkn Gerrard

    Ago 2 2010, 21h59 por chealec

    Fri 30 Jul – Sonisphere Festival 2010

    (k - that's an in joke from the campsite)

    Right - I'm home, I've shat, slept, showered and shaved and I'm beginning to feel like a member of the human race again, so while it's fresh in my noggin (and yeah, I'm just writing this to remind myself of what it was all like ;) ) - my first festival at Knebworth!

    Overall, awesomeness incarnate with 3 of the most spectacular headliners imaginable - so here's a quick run down (the order might not be quite chronological - there was beer involved):


    Friday
    I somehow managed to miss Delain and Turisas - I suspect I was tanking down some cans in the campsite I'm afraid, £3.70 a pint (yeah, yeah, I know - standard festival prices and so on - but I don't even like Carlsberg much) in the arena was a good way to ensure I didn't get too wasted inside I guess. So, on to what I did see.

    Europe - yeah... not really my thing, my other half had a great time bouncing around though…
  • Sonisphere 2010, Bands seen and some comments

    Ago 2 2010, 19h02 por Oshunai

    Fri 30 Jul – Sonisphere Festival 2010

    First off, let me just say what a fantastic weekend with some very friendly people!

    Friday Bands seen:

    Delain 7/10
    Turisas 8/10
    Bigelf 5/10
    Europe 2/10
    Sylosis 6/10
    Alice Cooper 6/10

    Saturday Bands seen:

    Sabaton 8/10
    Lacuna Coil 3/10
    Soulfly 6/10
    Anthrax 8/10
    Futures 4/10
    Katatonia 10/10
    Apocalyptica 9/10
    Good Charlotte7/10
    Placebo 2/10
    Rammstein 10/10

    Sunday Bands seen:

    Karnivool 7/10
    Madina Lake 0/10
    Skindred 9/10
    Slayer 9/10
    Alice in Chains 7/10
    Pendulum 6/10
    Iron Maiden 11/10

    Best act(s) of the weekend: Iron Maiden, Katatonia, Rammstein
    Worst act of the weekend: Madina Lake
    Biggest disapointment: Lacuna Coil
    Biggest surpise: Skindred

    You may disagree but theres not much I can do about it.
  • Sonispire 2010 UK

    Ago 2 2010, 12h56 por mrgumowski

    Pia 30 VII – Sonisphere Festival 2010 Was awesome and great gig to see!
  • My Sonisphere 2010 - A review

    Ago 2 2010, 12h33 por raw_melody_man

    Fri 30 Jul – Sonisphere Festival 2010


    I attended sonisphere festival for the first time this weekend, and has i have today off work i thought i would write a quick review of some of the bands i saw over the 3 days and rated them accordingly. So... here it goes..

    Delain - 1/5
    The band kicking off sonisphere was Delain - a goth-rock band from holland with a female vocalist. I wasn't convinced with the vocals and i thought their music was a bit one-dimensional. I may be a bit biased here, because i love the gathering and delain are always going to be in their shadow.

    Turisas - 4/5
    I've always liked metal bands that are unusual and these guys really are unusual. Coming out on stage dressed in bear furs and red and black war-paint, they are only metal band i have ever known to have an accordian player alongside a violin player and get away with it. Great banter from the front man with the crowd aswell.

    Europe - 4/5
    When i saw the lineup for the first day i saw that Europe had…
  • Gigs and events I have been to.

    Ago 22 2008, 11h44 por KCKate

    Perpetually a work in progress, I hope.
    ♪ = Gig
    ◙ = Festival
    ○ = Future event
    ◘ = Other (In-store, signing, other artist-linked event)


    Kaiser Chiefs, Wolverhampton Civic Hall, 23rd Feb 2007
    Robin Williamson, St Paul's Gallery Birmingham, 1st Sep 2007
    Maxïmo Park, Wolverhampton Civic Hall, 10th Oct 2007
    Biffy Clyro, Birmingham Academy, 13th Nov 2007
    Envy & Other Sins, Wolverhampton Little Civic, 10th Apr 2008
    The Wombats, Birmingham Academy, 10th May 2008
    Kaiser Chiefs, Elland Road Stadium Leeds, 24th May 2008
    The Pigeon Detectives, Birmingham Academy, 1st Jun 2008
    Pritchattsbury, Birmingham University Campus, 7th Jun 2008
    IndieCo Sunday Social, The Quarry Shrewsbury, 13th Jul 2008
    Pheasant, Highbury Park Moseley, 2nd Aug 2008
    Biffy Clyro, Birmingham HMV, 27th Aug 2008
    Envy & Other Sins, Cox's Yard Stratford, 12th Sep 2008
    Birmingham Artsfest, 14th Sep 2008
    Envy & Other Sins, Birmingham Bar Academy, 13th Oct 2008
    Foals, Birmingham Academy, 14th Oct 2008