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.
Showing posts with label Sonisphere. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sonisphere. Show all posts
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
What the (Near) Future Holds
The year of 2011 looks to be a good one for music; there are many albums I'm anticipating as well as various events I look to attend. Whatever the state of the music industry I maintain that album releases still retain their status as important milestones for bands and should be respected as such. So what does the future hold for this year at least?
Mastodon:
Progressive metallers Mastodon are due to release their fifth studio album this year. The followup to their critically acclaimed Crack The Sky, this next work is to be entitled The Hunter. There's much interest into what kind of sound to expect from the new album since its predecessor was so much more progressive than their previous work. According to their drummer, Brann Dailor, it's going to be "Faster, heavier, crazier". Bill Kelliher, guitarist for the band says: "It's a good representation of where we are," and that there's "A lot of short bursts of energy going on". This suggests that in this album, while exploring new material, the band are returning to the likes of Leviathan and Blood Mountain, whose songs were generally shorter than their counterparts on Crack The Skye. The Hunter will have its work cut out if it's to match the reception that 2009's album received. Mastodon will be playing this year's Sonisphere UK (among other Sonispheres across Europe), I'll be sure to mention them in this year's "Sonisphere: Review" post. There should be a review of the album on this blog as soon as I get hold of a copy. So far there isn't a release date for it yet, but it should be out by the end of the year. Stay tuned.
Paramore:
This band haven't been given their due credit on this blog. Paramore received much praise for their 2007 album Riot!. Full of power it was a hit and is still my favourite album from what I've listened to of their discography. They currently have three albums released as well as three EPs. Their debut All We Know Is Failing was released back in 2005. The band's latest album, Brand New Eyes is a great example of Paramore's talent for their punk genre and, while not quite to the same standard as Riot!, it is a thoroughly entertaining album. In the early weeks of 2011 (Source MTV), Paramore took some time off in order to focus on a new album. I'd anticipate that, while no formal release date has been set, if all goes well the new work should be out by the end of the year.
Sonisphere Knebworth (UK)
In terms of musical events for this year this is the one I'm most looking forward to. I won't go into vast detail about all the different bands since there'll be two posts dedicated to Sonisphere 2011, one before and one after (like last year). However I will talk for a bit about the importance of this year's festival to the world of metal. Last year, after what seems like centuries of arguments and feuds, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax, better known as The Big Four of thrash metal, shared the same stage for the first time in history at Sonisphere Bulgaria. The festival in Sofia was the setting for this historical event which culminated in the bands coming together (with the unfortunate absence of most of Slayer due to non-argumentative issues) in playing Diamond Head's Am I Evil?. This year these four bands will be coming to the UK to share a stage for the first time in this country. Other historical events are occurring at this years Soniphere Knebworth in the form of Biffy Clyro's first ever festival headline. Yes the alternative rockers have been given their first headline slot by the Sonisphere organisers, a decision that prompted much debate among the musical community with heavily polarised viewpoints shared. So all in all it looks to be a very important festival for the world of music, one I most certainly will not be missing. As I said I'll talk more about Sonisphere 2011 closer to the time when all the details have been finalised in two blog entries; one before the festival in anticipation, and one after the festival to act as a review.
Tool?
It's looking very unlikely now but I thought I'd mention it briefly anyway. Tool (who I talked about in Notable Artists... V) haven't released an album since 2006's masterpiece 10,000 Days. The gap between their last few albums seems to be usually five years, so we're due a new one any time soon. What's stopping the album is that some members of the band, particularly Maynard James Keenan, have side projects that need time and effort, for instance Keenan has been working with his other band A Perfect Circle. All we can do is wait patiently and hope that an album will be out in the next couple of years. One of the great things about Tool is that although they don't release new material very often, they have yet to release an album that isn't brilliant. I'll keep my eye out for news.
So that's 2011 for me. There are a few things I haven't included, like the fact I'm seeing Iron Maiden in August, but they may get their own blog posts in the form of reviews. Anyway that's all for now.
Thanks,
big_friendly_letters.
Mastodon:
Progressive metallers Mastodon are due to release their fifth studio album this year. The followup to their critically acclaimed Crack The Sky, this next work is to be entitled The Hunter. There's much interest into what kind of sound to expect from the new album since its predecessor was so much more progressive than their previous work. According to their drummer, Brann Dailor, it's going to be "Faster, heavier, crazier". Bill Kelliher, guitarist for the band says: "It's a good representation of where we are," and that there's "A lot of short bursts of energy going on". This suggests that in this album, while exploring new material, the band are returning to the likes of Leviathan and Blood Mountain, whose songs were generally shorter than their counterparts on Crack The Skye. The Hunter will have its work cut out if it's to match the reception that 2009's album received. Mastodon will be playing this year's Sonisphere UK (among other Sonispheres across Europe), I'll be sure to mention them in this year's "Sonisphere: Review" post. There should be a review of the album on this blog as soon as I get hold of a copy. So far there isn't a release date for it yet, but it should be out by the end of the year. Stay tuned.
Paramore:
This band haven't been given their due credit on this blog. Paramore received much praise for their 2007 album Riot!. Full of power it was a hit and is still my favourite album from what I've listened to of their discography. They currently have three albums released as well as three EPs. Their debut All We Know Is Failing was released back in 2005. The band's latest album, Brand New Eyes is a great example of Paramore's talent for their punk genre and, while not quite to the same standard as Riot!, it is a thoroughly entertaining album. In the early weeks of 2011 (Source MTV), Paramore took some time off in order to focus on a new album. I'd anticipate that, while no formal release date has been set, if all goes well the new work should be out by the end of the year.
Sonisphere Knebworth (UK)
In terms of musical events for this year this is the one I'm most looking forward to. I won't go into vast detail about all the different bands since there'll be two posts dedicated to Sonisphere 2011, one before and one after (like last year). However I will talk for a bit about the importance of this year's festival to the world of metal. Last year, after what seems like centuries of arguments and feuds, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax, better known as The Big Four of thrash metal, shared the same stage for the first time in history at Sonisphere Bulgaria. The festival in Sofia was the setting for this historical event which culminated in the bands coming together (with the unfortunate absence of most of Slayer due to non-argumentative issues) in playing Diamond Head's Am I Evil?. This year these four bands will be coming to the UK to share a stage for the first time in this country. Other historical events are occurring at this years Soniphere Knebworth in the form of Biffy Clyro's first ever festival headline. Yes the alternative rockers have been given their first headline slot by the Sonisphere organisers, a decision that prompted much debate among the musical community with heavily polarised viewpoints shared. So all in all it looks to be a very important festival for the world of music, one I most certainly will not be missing. As I said I'll talk more about Sonisphere 2011 closer to the time when all the details have been finalised in two blog entries; one before the festival in anticipation, and one after the festival to act as a review.
Tool?
It's looking very unlikely now but I thought I'd mention it briefly anyway. Tool (who I talked about in Notable Artists... V) haven't released an album since 2006's masterpiece 10,000 Days. The gap between their last few albums seems to be usually five years, so we're due a new one any time soon. What's stopping the album is that some members of the band, particularly Maynard James Keenan, have side projects that need time and effort, for instance Keenan has been working with his other band A Perfect Circle. All we can do is wait patiently and hope that an album will be out in the next couple of years. One of the great things about Tool is that although they don't release new material very often, they have yet to release an album that isn't brilliant. I'll keep my eye out for news.
So that's 2011 for me. There are a few things I haven't included, like the fact I'm seeing Iron Maiden in August, but they may get their own blog posts in the form of reviews. Anyway that's all for now.
Thanks,
big_friendly_letters.
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Sonisphere: After
Well I'm back, I'm barely awake, but I'm here to give my thoughts on Sonisphere UK 2010. I arrived on the Thursday, as I had chosen early entry as opposed to arriving on the friday, which turned out to be a good thing as the campsite was much quieter and it mean that those of us in our group could get a good spot to pitch our tents. As there were no bands on the Thursday and none on the Friday until 5pm, we sat in our tent circle and spent a little while exploring the festival grounds. Ok, but what about music? Well here's my report:
Friday:
The first band I saw on the Friday was Delain, in fact this was the first act of the festival. The genre of this band was had a sort of symphonic rock/metal feel to it, similar to H.I.M., I thought they were ok, a couple of their songs were quite good. The next band I saw was Turisas, they are classified as battle metal, and perform dressed as war painted warriors. I really enjoyed their set, they got the crowd moving and their music was great, I loved the presence of an accordian in their band, I think I have a soft spot for rock and metal bands that have accordians, I'm not sure why. After Turisas was Europe. I was somewhat surprised by their set, as I didn't know their music very well. I quite enjoyed it, but the last track was the best, as it was the track I, and doubtlessly a lot of the crowd had been waiting for: The Final Countdown was awesome, it had the audience leaping into the air and was a great end to their set. The next act was Gary Numan. His set was just awesome, again I didn't know his music but I enjoyed it all the same. The final act I saw on the Friday was Alice Cooper, Friday's headline act. He put on a great show, he performed his Theatre of Death performance where he dies several times whilst delivering all the hits of his career. He started and finished with School's Out, it really was a great gig.
Saturday:
I saw many acts on the Saturday, so I shall only describe a few in detail. I thought Anthrax were brilliant, they were really tight musically and seemed on even better form than at the Big Four Show at a European Sonisphere that was broadcast in cinemas. Joey Belladonna showed his skill as a frontman once again. One of my favourite acts of the day was Skunk Anansie. This band were the first metal band I ever listened to and I never expected that I would see them live until they reformed last year. At Sonisphere they played for about 45 minutes, with Skin the lead singer performing with such skill and energy. It was a truly awesome performance. The headline act of the Saturday was Rammstein. Their stageing consisted of 200 tonnes of stuff that had to be hauled in several lorries. They put on a show of staggering pyrotechnics that you could feel on your face even far from the front row. The frontman of Rammstein- Till Lindemann, captivated the audience and his talent was obvious. The music was faultless and the show was entertaining to say the least.
Sunday:
Sunday began with me catching the last half of Karnivool's set. I hadn't heard them before, but I had heard many good things about their music, it turns out that the rumours were correct, they were pretty good. I also saw The Fab Beatles, a Beatles tribute as you might expect, they were pretty good, I quite liked it when they played I'm Fine and then changed into Run to the Hills half way through. Another band I saw on Sunday was Skindred, and they were utterly brilliant. Their frontman Benjy has such a stage presence and they are fantastic. I predict that they will make it big as a live act in the future. Later on it was time for the thrash gods Slayer, and they did not dissapoint, their set, while short, was brilliant. With Tom Araya delivering great vocals and Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, and Dave Lombardo playing to an excellent standard the gig was great. Later on that day I got to see Alice in Chains, one of my favourite bands, and they did not dissapoint. This was a band that I had been hoping would be announced for Sonisphere this year as they played last year when I wasn't there, so I was very pleased when they were announced. They played a fair bit from their latest album with songs like Check My Brain and Your Decision, all in all a really good performance. I saw many other bands that day that are worth a mention: Iggy and the Stooges, Pendulum and Converge as well as others. But now the matter of Sunday's headline act must be addressed. Yes, Iron Maiden played brought Sonisphere UK 2010 to a close. Their stageing was a futuristic space set with a starry background. They played a lot of tracks from their last few albums, so while a few of the classics were missed, for example Can I Play With Madness, The Trooper, Aces High, 2 Minutes to Midnight and Run to the Hills, they did play a lot of awesome tracks that they wouldn't normally play, for instance: These Colours Don't Run, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, Dance of Death, Ghost of The Navigator, Brave New World and many others. It was a fantastic gig, with all members playing to the best of their ability (including Eddie the eight foot tall mascot at one point), I throughly enjoyed it, but then they are my favourite band, so I'm a little biased.
So there you have it, my review of Sonisphere UK 2010. I have tried to mention most of the bands I saw, but I have only scratched the surface of what went on, I haven't mentioned any of the banter we had in our tent circle at all. But I leave you with a quote from Bruce Dickinson, which I think sums up the whole experience:
"SCREAM FOR ME KNEBWORTH!"
Cheers,
big_friendly_letters
Friday:
The first band I saw on the Friday was Delain, in fact this was the first act of the festival. The genre of this band was had a sort of symphonic rock/metal feel to it, similar to H.I.M., I thought they were ok, a couple of their songs were quite good. The next band I saw was Turisas, they are classified as battle metal, and perform dressed as war painted warriors. I really enjoyed their set, they got the crowd moving and their music was great, I loved the presence of an accordian in their band, I think I have a soft spot for rock and metal bands that have accordians, I'm not sure why. After Turisas was Europe. I was somewhat surprised by their set, as I didn't know their music very well. I quite enjoyed it, but the last track was the best, as it was the track I, and doubtlessly a lot of the crowd had been waiting for: The Final Countdown was awesome, it had the audience leaping into the air and was a great end to their set. The next act was Gary Numan. His set was just awesome, again I didn't know his music but I enjoyed it all the same. The final act I saw on the Friday was Alice Cooper, Friday's headline act. He put on a great show, he performed his Theatre of Death performance where he dies several times whilst delivering all the hits of his career. He started and finished with School's Out, it really was a great gig.
Saturday:
I saw many acts on the Saturday, so I shall only describe a few in detail. I thought Anthrax were brilliant, they were really tight musically and seemed on even better form than at the Big Four Show at a European Sonisphere that was broadcast in cinemas. Joey Belladonna showed his skill as a frontman once again. One of my favourite acts of the day was Skunk Anansie. This band were the first metal band I ever listened to and I never expected that I would see them live until they reformed last year. At Sonisphere they played for about 45 minutes, with Skin the lead singer performing with such skill and energy. It was a truly awesome performance. The headline act of the Saturday was Rammstein. Their stageing consisted of 200 tonnes of stuff that had to be hauled in several lorries. They put on a show of staggering pyrotechnics that you could feel on your face even far from the front row. The frontman of Rammstein- Till Lindemann, captivated the audience and his talent was obvious. The music was faultless and the show was entertaining to say the least.
Sunday:
Sunday began with me catching the last half of Karnivool's set. I hadn't heard them before, but I had heard many good things about their music, it turns out that the rumours were correct, they were pretty good. I also saw The Fab Beatles, a Beatles tribute as you might expect, they were pretty good, I quite liked it when they played I'm Fine and then changed into Run to the Hills half way through. Another band I saw on Sunday was Skindred, and they were utterly brilliant. Their frontman Benjy has such a stage presence and they are fantastic. I predict that they will make it big as a live act in the future. Later on it was time for the thrash gods Slayer, and they did not dissapoint, their set, while short, was brilliant. With Tom Araya delivering great vocals and Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, and Dave Lombardo playing to an excellent standard the gig was great. Later on that day I got to see Alice in Chains, one of my favourite bands, and they did not dissapoint. This was a band that I had been hoping would be announced for Sonisphere this year as they played last year when I wasn't there, so I was very pleased when they were announced. They played a fair bit from their latest album with songs like Check My Brain and Your Decision, all in all a really good performance. I saw many other bands that day that are worth a mention: Iggy and the Stooges, Pendulum and Converge as well as others. But now the matter of Sunday's headline act must be addressed. Yes, Iron Maiden played brought Sonisphere UK 2010 to a close. Their stageing was a futuristic space set with a starry background. They played a lot of tracks from their last few albums, so while a few of the classics were missed, for example Can I Play With Madness, The Trooper, Aces High, 2 Minutes to Midnight and Run to the Hills, they did play a lot of awesome tracks that they wouldn't normally play, for instance: These Colours Don't Run, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, Dance of Death, Ghost of The Navigator, Brave New World and many others. It was a fantastic gig, with all members playing to the best of their ability (including Eddie the eight foot tall mascot at one point), I throughly enjoyed it, but then they are my favourite band, so I'm a little biased.
So there you have it, my review of Sonisphere UK 2010. I have tried to mention most of the bands I saw, but I have only scratched the surface of what went on, I haven't mentioned any of the banter we had in our tent circle at all. But I leave you with a quote from Bruce Dickinson, which I think sums up the whole experience:
"SCREAM FOR ME KNEBWORTH!"
Cheers,
big_friendly_letters
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Sonisphere: Before
Gosh, it's been forever since I last posted. Apologies, I've been very busy. Anyway, on with the post.
This post is the first of a two part series about Sonisphere festival which I will be attending next week. It runs from the Friday to the Monday morning and is being headlined by Rammstein and Iron Maiden. I write this article before the final announcement of the last few bands so I won't be able to talk about any of them.
As you may well know, my favourite band is Iron Maiden, so already I'm excited about going to Sonisphere, I get to see my favourite band live that I've never seen before. Yes, it's safe to say I'm looking forward to it. I'm also quite interested to see what they'll play, because during their latest tour they have played a lot of rare tracks, I have no problem with this as I love a lot of their lesser known tracks. However, I wonder whether they'll keep these rarities for the Sonisphere gig, or whether they'll go back to their usual set of mostly classics. The problem is that at a normal Iron Maiden concert it's safe to play lots of rarities because the crowd will be mostly die-hard Maiden fans, but this won't be the case at festivals, so it'll be interesting to see what they do. Their recent concerts have included tracks like Dance of Death and These Colours Don't Run which are some of my favourite tracks of theirs, but on the other hand they haven't been playing classics like Aces High, Two Minutes To Midnight, and Powerslave. I don't mind much either way, but I can imagine that some people would.
Another band I'm really pleased about seeing at Sonisphere UK is Skunk Anansie. Skunk Anansie were the first metal band I ever listened to, and I grew up listening to their music. So when they reformed last year I was very pleased as I never thought I would get a chance to see them. The song Twisted from the album Stoosh is my favourite track of theirs.
I'm also looking forward to lots of other bands, including: Alice in Chains, Slayer, Iggy and the Stooges, Pendulum, Anthrax, Papa Roach, Skindred, Apocalyptica, Alice Cooper, Polar Bear Club, Gallows, and so many more. In short, it is going to be an awesome three days of music.
Also, this is my first proper festival, so I am very much looking forward to the atmosphere of it all, and the excitement and atmosphere.
I'll be back sometime after the festival with a review of it, where I'll talk about the various bands and the general feel of the festival. Anyway, thanks for reading and your comments are welcome as usual.
Thanks,
big_friendly_letters
This post is the first of a two part series about Sonisphere festival which I will be attending next week. It runs from the Friday to the Monday morning and is being headlined by Rammstein and Iron Maiden. I write this article before the final announcement of the last few bands so I won't be able to talk about any of them.
As you may well know, my favourite band is Iron Maiden, so already I'm excited about going to Sonisphere, I get to see my favourite band live that I've never seen before. Yes, it's safe to say I'm looking forward to it. I'm also quite interested to see what they'll play, because during their latest tour they have played a lot of rare tracks, I have no problem with this as I love a lot of their lesser known tracks. However, I wonder whether they'll keep these rarities for the Sonisphere gig, or whether they'll go back to their usual set of mostly classics. The problem is that at a normal Iron Maiden concert it's safe to play lots of rarities because the crowd will be mostly die-hard Maiden fans, but this won't be the case at festivals, so it'll be interesting to see what they do. Their recent concerts have included tracks like Dance of Death and These Colours Don't Run which are some of my favourite tracks of theirs, but on the other hand they haven't been playing classics like Aces High, Two Minutes To Midnight, and Powerslave. I don't mind much either way, but I can imagine that some people would.
Another band I'm really pleased about seeing at Sonisphere UK is Skunk Anansie. Skunk Anansie were the first metal band I ever listened to, and I grew up listening to their music. So when they reformed last year I was very pleased as I never thought I would get a chance to see them. The song Twisted from the album Stoosh is my favourite track of theirs.
I'm also looking forward to lots of other bands, including: Alice in Chains, Slayer, Iggy and the Stooges, Pendulum, Anthrax, Papa Roach, Skindred, Apocalyptica, Alice Cooper, Polar Bear Club, Gallows, and so many more. In short, it is going to be an awesome three days of music.
Also, this is my first proper festival, so I am very much looking forward to the atmosphere of it all, and the excitement and atmosphere.
I'll be back sometime after the festival with a review of it, where I'll talk about the various bands and the general feel of the festival. Anyway, thanks for reading and your comments are welcome as usual.
Thanks,
big_friendly_letters
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
