Live Review

Sonisphere Day 2 (Part One) – Knebworth

• 4th Aug 2009

With little to no time to waste we are up and out there for day two. Day one set the bar quite high, but there is a confidence level about the second day, purely down to the fact that the calibre of acts appearing today are so huge that they can’t fail to make impression son the crowd.

Buckcherry start off the Apollo crowd and it’s quite a good band to hear first in the day. They bring the energy back despite how uncomfortable a sleep you may have had. Plus today we have the sun on our side all day long.

Killing Joke fills in for some of the more of the alternative crowd to adore and they don’t disappoint. It seems that each band really want to work for their money this weekend. And it continues through Lamb of God and then special guests Machine Head. You soon get wrapped up in a metal heaven that they have created here.

The bohemia tent makes room for something missing badly from the main areas and that is female artists. This comes in the face of Lauren Harris who is followed by Slipknot’s Corey Taylor (here to do an amiable enough acoustic set) (Again: Queues to get in the tent are tough for the general population).

Meanwhile on the Saturn stage, Feeder plays their set. They are probably the most commercial indie/rock band on the bill. Perhaps more at home at festivals such as V or Reading they still play to a large alternative crowd and even manage to get through a Nirvana cover (which makes sense considering their own brand of punk rock medicine).

Taking a break for food, drink and a getting a bit lost in the back areas in order to be ready for Alice in Chains; Limp Bizkit play familiar tunes in the background. The nice thing about both the Apollo and Saturn stages is that there is no cross over with the acts on stage. And you literally rarely go more than 5 minutes before a band is on stage. So grabbing food while you can is very important.

Alice in Chains have a new album out soon and a new front man to promote. The big question is, no matter how much they down play it; can William DuVall fill Layne Stayley’s Shoes? Well… with pretty much all the ‘Dirt’ tunes and a rousing ‘Man in the Box’ from the ‘Facelift’ album it’s safe to report that this guy has the goods. He sings the songs they way Stayley presented them, but he also has his own presence and isn’t merely aping the past. DuVall has a truly magnificent voice that combined with Cantrell’s (on top form here) music writing skills will make for a very interesting new album later this year.

The biggest surprise comes in the shape of Nine Inch Nails stripped and toned down appearance. Trent Reznor doesn’t waste time, literally walking on stage and playing the music right away that the crowd barely notice he’s come on. The likes of ‘Wish’ and ‘We’re in this Together Now’ make up the whole of the hard industrial tracks in this hour set. The rest is a collage of sombre pieces of music that Reznor rarely puts to stage. There is also the inclusion of fan favourites ‘Something I Can never Have’ and he ends as ever with Hurt.
There was news that he was going to be playing some rare tracks here that he doesn’t usually perform live. The prospect of then maybe hearing ‘Happiness in Slavery’ or even ‘Ringfinger’ were wishful thoughts as it became all too clear early on that this was going to be largely a quiet affair. But as this is potentially his farewell to Nine Inch Nails (and therefore the last gig to play in the UK) it seemed very befitting that it be a passionate performance for a man who has given so much of his time into producing and shaping a large part of what is the industrial music scene today.
It is a sad farewell, made even sadder by the fact that some audience members didn’t seem to get why he was playing such a low key set of songs. For the rest of us it was blatantly obvious that he wasn’t doing it for them, he was doing it for him.

Feeling a bit morbidly sad at the fact that we may never see Nine Inch Nails live again ever we take a time out to recuperate. Smiles do come across our faces when we spot Gary Numan in the NIN crowd. Having seen him recently onstage with Trent at the NIN O2 gig, it is sweet that he has shown up in the main crowd to show is love and respect for Trent. Avenged Sevenfold close proceedings on the Saturn stage, but we are fuelling ourselves ready for the big bad monster that is Metallica’s two hour set

Metallica are late! Legs start to get sore, but when the western music blazes up the crowd start to come back to euphoric life. And it is euphoria that you can expect from a Metallica concert. They are simply just the biggest rock band that has graced the planet and they can play. They can play so well it defies belief. And it is also impressive the back catalogue of hits and well written tracks they have under their belt from way back over 25 years of rock.
And it can become quite tiring after 2 hours. That’s 2 hours after two long ass days of mind blowing metal. But these guys are used to holding the bag and carry it with ease. If you have heard talk of Metallica being this good before, we can confirm right here that it is all true. James Hetfield celebrated his birthday onstage (He’s only mid 40’s!) at the end of the show and addressed the crowd after they finished on “Seek and Destroy”.

And it is truly great that Sonisphere managed to book them as the headlining act. So in a way they have kind of outdone themselves already.
When this all closes down we sit in our own rock utopia with talk and memories full to the brim to take home with us. Next year we’ll have to up our game even further as this site deserves the attention.

Sonisphere is an undoubted success and one that is bound to grow over the years. But an 80,000 attendee list is a good start. Pondering the likelihood of acts that they could get for next years show is just far too exciting to think about now. But when the time comes it is all going to be worth it.