Live Review

Sonisphere Day 1 Review – Knebworth

• 3rd Aug 2010

After the rock paroxysm of last year’s Sonisphere, by the time Friday 30th July finally rolls around it is difficult to contain the excitement. The site this year is bigger and better, with a much more satisfying array of quirky stalls and some plain silly fairground rides which promise to prove useful after a few tipples from the Bohemia Bar.

Friday’s line up alone is enough to make you pass out with anticipation. The Bohemia tent kicks it all off with a somewhat subdued cabaret act which sounds worryingly like Julie Andrews (and in fact probably was) but before we know it, we’re skipping over to the Saturn stage, the site of tonight’s action, for a bit of Delain, who make an impressive mark on the crowd with their European brand of floating, feminine yet forceful music, and their melodic riffs really get everyone in the mood for the weekend of musical prowess to come.

Before you know it, Turisas storm on stage with a definite change of tone which hints at the diversity of the weekend’s line-up. They effortlessly blow the crowd away with their rip-roaring, mercenary set of pure Viking strength. Their command of the stage and the crowd alike is mind-blowing, and it is difficult to resist a good stomping. To top off what is fast turning into an EU Rock Convention, everyone’s favourite Scandinavian hair-rock band strut onto the stage, looking a shade different from the permed rockers of the ‘80s we know and love. Slick and leather-clad, Europe captivated the audience with a soulful set, climaxing with the inevitable ‘Final Countdown’ which no doubt ticked a high ranking box on many a rocker’s “to see live” list.

Following his incognito crowd appearance during Nine Inch Nails’ harrowing set last year, it was great to see a stage performance from Gary Numan, a real crowd pleaser at Sonisphere. His heavy industrial rock sound spread throughout the crowd like a metal cloak and took the atmosphere to infinity and beyond in preparation for the highly anticipated ‘Theatre of Death’ just around the corner.

Alice Cooper’s performance, whilst certainly not lacking in effort and imagination, was a bit of a eyebrow raiser. More ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ than ‘Theatre of Death’, the set and design was incredibly pantomime-esque, with feather-light corpses being flung around the stage willy-nilly and oversized needles being brutally rammed into torsos, and Cooper himself was far from being in good voice. Classics like ‘Poison’ and ‘School’s Out’ which should have brought the crowd to their knees were lightweight and fell disappointingly flat. Although I will say that never before have I seen a man perform to his own decapitated head; so in a very slapstick way Alice Cooper was a highlight, only perhaps not how we all expected him to be.

Nonetheless, the first night of this year’s Sonisphere was anything but disappointing, and overall did a fine job of working the crowd into a rock frenzy. It was almost like a tray of luxury o’dourves, tantalising the taste buds and working up an appetite for the musical banquet which was on the menu for the next two days.