Friday
The first band I saw on Friday were called Japanese Voyeurs. I left after three or four songs. Playing in the Bohemia tent, the third stage as it were, they were too loud and lacked creativity in my eyes. The singer was obviously a Skunk Anansie fan because she tried to emanate Skin's, the Skunk Anansie frontwoman's, style of soft verses that immediately launch into crushing chorus vocals. It didn't work. So I left them and caught the end of the set of Hammer of the Gods who were very good. I wouldn't deem them to be the most creative band in the world, but they were entertaining and the crowd loved them.
I then returned to Bohemia to catch one of the best performances of the festival. Lower Than Atlantis demonstrated their talent for raw hardcore music and were everything I hoped them to be. During one of the songs the crowd were urged to sit down and then jump up, a move probably borrowed from Slipknot. As it is LTA were masters of working the crowd and provided a hugely entertaining set.
Later on I saw Firewind, again in the Bohemia tent, on whom opinion in our group was divided. I personally found them boring. The constant shredded melodic solos wore thin after a song or two and I was left underwhelmed by the seeming lack of creativity from such a famous band. However, as I said, many in our group liked them, the crowd certainly appeared to.
At around 7 in the evening I went to see a band called Black Breath who I'd heard a lot about but had never listened to. Playing on the Jagermeister stage, formed from an open truck, they were crushing. The music was so powerful that it was like an assault on your mind. I was one row from the front and I could feel the band's ferocity coursing through my veins. A truly fantastic set and a highlight of the festival.
I then went to get a good spot for Metallica. I'd not gone to see any of the other Big Four bands (Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer) since I'd already seen two of them and the one I hadn't seen (Megadeth) I had no interest in seeing since I'd heard they are a weak band live. Anyway, Metallica emerged onstage beginning with Kill 'Em All, a track from the album of the same name released in 1983. Previously I hadn't liked the album. I'd thought that the time changes made it difficult to get into. However I listened to it again yesterday and have changed my mind. Metallica's set was fantastic. A few rarities were thrown in including Welcome Home (Sanitarium) which was great. For me the setlist was a little disappointing because it didn't include Nothing Else Matters which until recently had been a staple for the band akin to Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark. Overall it was a great performance made better when members of the other Big Four bands came onstage and played Diamond He
ad's Am I Evil? like they have done at all the Big Four shows. The difference between Sonisphere UK and the other Sonispheres where The Big Four played was that at our festival a member of Diamond Head, Brian Tatler, who had written the song played as well. A truly phenomenal gig which I enjoyed immensely.By Alberto Cabello from Vitoria Gasteiz (James Hetfield (Metallica)) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53477761@N08/4936122349/
Saturday
Late Saturday morning I sat down and watched Richard Cheese and Lounge Against The Machine, a group that plays jazz versions of various songs. Their set included covers of Nine Inch Nails and Pink Floyd, but the highlight has to be their cover of Slipknot's People=Shit which was in such contrast to the original song that it belied belief. It was a nice change to have some jazz amongst the metal, it changed the rhythm of the event somewhat which worked well. Last year on the Sunday The Fab Beatles played who, as you'd expect, were somewhat different to the other bands playing at Sonisphere 2010.
Next up were Architects followed by Gallows. Having seen Gallows before back in December 2009 and being blown away I was expecting a great show. I wasn't disappointed at all by their performance. My favourite part was when they played London Is The Reason, which is among my favourite of their tracks. What made it a little more unique was that it was renamed to match the location. They've done this before on their current tour. So this time the lyrics, instead of including the phrase "London is the reason,", were "Knebworth is the reason". However I still left their set downhearted since their singer, Frank Carter, confirmed what I'd heard the night before: he is leaving Gallows at the end of this tour. In my opinion Gallows will never be the same without Frank's raw vocal strength, but time will tell.
At 3 in the afternoon Bad Religion emerged onto the Apollo stage to deliver a great set of their brilliant pop punk anthems. 21st Century Digital Boy was the best moment of their set but the absence of Incomplete was a shame. A problem with their set was that the singer's mic was too quiet. At the beginning I couldn't really hear him at all, and this wasn't fully rectified. Other bands also suffered from parts being too loud or quiet across the weekend.
Immediately afterwards I saw Sum 41 who were boring. I was surprised. In fact the best part of their set was the few minutes they spent playing bits of Metallica songs. However later the second stage headliner came on and really made an impression. Tool-esque prog rockers The Mars Volta were underwhelming for the first 20 minutes of their 1 hour 15 minute set, but after that they really got going. Playing some new songs before embarking on a tour of various classics. They were mind-bogglingly good and their singer was fascinating to watch. At one point he started to climb underneath the staging before wrecking a kettle and trying to fit into a box. The set was fantastic, definitely one of my top five performances of the weekend.
Then it was time for the day's headliner: Biffy Clyro. Having heard only heard one or two Biffy Clyro songs before I went I was expecting to enjoy their set only somewhat. I was wrong. They were brilliant. When they were originally announced the internet was on fire with so many people saying they weren't headliner material, since they hadn't headlined anywhere before. I think it's safe to say those people were proved wrong on Saturday 9th July 2011. Biffy looked like they'd been headlining festivals for years. And so ended the Saturday's music for me.
Sunday
Around midday I watched House of Pain on the second stage. Their set was ok they suffered from what all one hit wonders suffer from. The crowd were only their for one song. Predictably that one song was played last. Last year's Sonisphere UK booked Europe who were the same with their hit The Final Countdown. When House of Pain finally started Jump Around the crowd when mad. So many people leaping into the air that early hour (relatively, it's a festival after all) was quite a sight.
Later on Mastodon took to the mainstage. One of the bands I'd been looking forward to the whole weekend did not disappoint. Playing a greatest hit set this time meant it was quite a different show from when I saw them in Bristol in 2010 when they played all of 2009's Crack The Skye. If I'm being honest I enjoyed the latter more, but their performance at Sonisphere was still fantastic. I love the distinctive hum overtone they add to their pieces, it's something unique to them. They didn't play The Last Baron (the last track of Crack The Skye) but they played lots of other great songs so I wasn't all that annoyed.
The next act on the main stage were Motorhead. For such an old experienced band I was expecting to enjoy a great set of classic rock. Disappointed isn't a strong enough word. Lemmy was drunk, the songs were monotonous and impossible to tell apart, and Ace of Spades was boring. I came away feeling I'd wasted an hour of my life.
Just after 7 o'clock in the evening Alestorm took to the Bohemia stage and began with Shipwrecked, a song from their new album Back Through Time. They were fantastic. It was hit after hit. They even played Nancy The Tavern Wench which is something of a rarity. Barriers were set up to stop any more people entering the already packed tent. After the gig the crowd leaving Bohemia took up the chant of "Alestorm. Alestorm. Alestorm" an en masse we descended upon the space in front of the second stage ready for Bill Bailey.
Playing a greatest hits set that included the BBC News Rave, Das Hokey Kokey, and his Love Ballad, Bill Bailey was great. He also played a Rammstein-esque rendition of Scarborough Fair. The most surprising thing was that there actually was a mosh pit, and a circle pit, to the comedy act. The gig also broke the world record for largest comedy audience.
Finally Slipknot walked out onto the mainstage to enthrall the crowd. The performance was all about celebrating the life of their bassist, the late Paul Gray (right). All wearing orange jumpsuits and masks it was quite a sight, and a great gig. At one point one of the members, I forget which one, crowdsurfed all the way to the sounddesk, quite a distance. He then climbed onto the roof and then leapt off into the crowd during the next song. The band played classics like Heretic Anthem and People=Shit, the same song that Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine had covered the previous day. Towards the end of their set they asked the entire crowd to sit down, before commanding them to "Stand the fuck up", the crowd interaction move that I mentioned earlier when talking about Lower than Atlantis.
I was left stunned after the end of the gig, craving more. They were, and still are, fighting Metallica for my favourite performance of the festival.By bill from jersey city (Slipknot, Nassau Coliseum, 8.06) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72935807@N00/2744748856/
So there we have it; Sonisphere Knebworth 2011. I'll definitely be there next year. Tool are heavily rumoured to be headlining, which would be reason enough for me to go. They're top of my list of bands to see, followed by Flogging Molly (whom I have tickets to see in November). Overall it was a great weekend packed with talented bands.
