Sonisphere 2011: Before

It's that time of year again! Sonisphere 2011 is this weekend and I'm rather exited. In this post I'll discuss the bands I'm most looking forward to and why. Then after the festival there'll be a post where I review the post.

The UK stop of the Sonisphere 2011 tour is at Knebworth House in Hertforshire from 8-10th July with an option to get there the day before (the Thursday). Last year I bought an early entry ticket, and I've done the same thing this year. It's not that much more, and it's really worth it. It allows you to ensure a good camping spot and time to explore the festival grounds whilst there aren't many people around. Anyway, the festival itself. Here's the day by day breakdown of what I think will be the highlights.

Friday

The Big Four are playing the first day of Sonisphere UK, their first time ever appearing in Britain on the same stage. It's a historic event for the UK sector of the world of metal and I'm very much looking forward to it. However I won't be seeing all of the bands, or rather I'll miss bits. For instance I'll miss a lot of the first of the Big Four, Anthrax's, set so that I can go and see Lower Than Atlantis on a different stage. I saw Anthrax last year so it's not too much of a problem for me, but I'm sure I'll enjoy the part of their set I see. Joey Belladonna is a phenomenal frontman and really injects energy into an already energetic band. Next up is Megadeth. I haven't seen them live before, but I've heard that they are (allegedly) not that good a live act. Furthermore I saw them in the Big Four film (filmed at the first Big Four show in Sofia, Bulgaria last year) and they didn't meet expectations. However I'll reserve judgement. After Megadeth are Slayer, who I've also seen and love. They clash with Protest the Hero, who I'm yet to see, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do yet. Slayer are an ace live act but I really like Protest the Hero, their Mathcore genre with its high pitched melodies works well. The headline act, Metallica, should be great. I really like their studio work and I haven't yet seen them live. My only concern is that they won't play Nothing Else Matters, my favourite song of theirs, even though it's usually a staple of their live shows; they haven't been playing it much of late.

Saturday

There are two bands that stand out for me from Saturday's lineup, and they are entirely different. The first band is Gallows, whose studio work is great and whose live performance is mind blowing. Their stage presence is like nothing else. For me they're the second best UK live act in existence, second only to Iron Maiden. I really hope they play my favourite song from their two albums, Kill the Rhythm; it's not always on their setlist so I won't be too disappointed if they don't. The other act is The Mars Volta. Their prog-heavy music is full of interesting interludes and effects and I love them. I thoroughly recommend Octahedron, my favourite album from what I've listened to of their discography, it's fantastic. I'm really looking forward to seeing how different their live show is; apparently a large part of their set is improvised, something that few bands do nowadays.

Sunday

Mastodon play the last day of the festival and will be fantastic. There's no question about it. I saw them back in February 2010 and I still can't believe how good they are. They played Crack the Skye, 2009's critically acclaimed album, from start to finish before returning for an encore of crushing classics. Truly they are a band to be reckoned with. Bill Bailey's worth a mention, he's one of the many comedy acts at the festival (another is Steve-O), however the difference with this act is that he's headlining the second stage. According to him he's preparing a special metal-themed set to include Rammstein/Kraftwerk inspired music as well as some old favourites. By "old favourites" I very much hope he means that he'll play his love ballad which I encourage all of you to search for, it's great. Finally the headline act, Slipknot, should be amazing. Their album Iowa is great and from what I've heard of their performances from the Sonisphere's that have already gone so far this year they shouldn't disappoint.

So that's my festival lined up. I couldn't possibly include all the bands I'm looking forward to, those are just some of the highlights. I'll be back after the festival to post a review of the event. If you want you can check out last year's Sonisphere articles here: Sonisphere 2010: Before and here: Sonisphere 2010: After.