Live Review

Sonisphere Full Review 2 – Knebworth House

• 13th Aug 2010

Sonisphere 2010

Day 1, Thursday

Having just finished a waking night shift as alter-ego, ‘Dan, Support Worker’, I don my cape as ‘Dan, Glasswerk Reviewer Extraordinaire and All Round General Rock and Roll Guru’ (a name that I personally think suits me and one that I could get used to!) No, despite the previous night being completely devoid of sleep, anticipation fuels both myself and the wife for the journey to Knebworth. We make a short stop along the way in order to pick up the other half of Team Glasswerk, completing our crack 4 man team.

Arriving at the Sonisphere setup, I was pleased to discover that basically the same setup from last year had prevailed. I was always very impressed with the layout of Sonisphere 2009; its stages in close enough proximity to each other to not give punters a heart attack running from one to the other but far enough away so that sounds don’t mingle and contaminate each other. This year, things are bigger, as we discovered when arriving at the media camping area to find already twice as many tents in situ as this time last year and thrice the number of showers and portaloos. I sensed an air of expectation that this year, Sonisphere was well and truly playing as one of the ‘big boys’ of this year’s rock/metal festivals and was ready to give his fatter, older rival, Download a run for its money and a bloody nose to boot.

After half of team Glasserk (not OUR half, I hasten to add) performed a supreme epic fail at putting up their brand spanking new tent, requiring the totality of the remaining daylight in order to complete their task, we decided to familiarise ourselves with the arena and more importantly, the range of beer that was on offer. I very much welcomed the availability of Hobgoblin ale without having to find a dedicated stall at the arse-end of the site. Whilst fairly quiet, it was apparent that the early attendees were getting off to a flying start and enjoying the atmosphere but why the organisers of Sonisphere 2010 decided to re-locate the first night DJs to the Bohemia tent and close it down at 11pm baffles me. One of the highlights of Sonisphere 2009 was the open air DJ booth and the massive crowd dancing along to classic rock and metal until the small hours.

With nothing left on offer other than more beer and fairground rides we had no choice but to take these distractions up. What resulted was a booze fuelled foray in how to drive dodgems and a sense numbed tumbling on a ride I might not have otherwise taken up. Once these
were exhausted, there was little choice but to take our now pickled carcasses back to the tents and recharge our batteries for the following first day of music.

Day 2, Friday

Waking up without the slightest hangover (not speaking for the wife as she was literally dying…) but thankful that we are awarded a late start to the day, the first thing I notice is that the camp site has exploded into life. People have literally pitched up on top of our tent! A plan was formed, barbeque ignited, meat was eaten in time for the gang to get arena-side for a spot of retail therapy before getting all professional like. Our first proper look at Sonisphere’s second stage, the Saturn Stage, gave me the impression that they’ve expanded on last year’s, with more lights and more scaffolding.

The first band to get my Glasswerk treatment were Dutch outfit, Delain. Pretty much kicking the whole festival off as far as the main stages go must be a tough prospect but one thing one can be assured of is a good crowd. Delain did their job professionally, if substantially they are a weak band. Symphonic rock by numbers with female vocals a la Nightwish is what was on offer here but it was enough to catch the attention of the crowd.

Turisas proved to be much more eye-catching. How couldn’t they be with their hide costumes and war paint? The band have become icons on their look alone. (There seemed to be a distinct, if unintentional symphonic/battle metal theme on Sonisphere’s second stage this weekend.) Turisas are basically a novelty band with fist pumpingly cheesy content that can’t help but make one smile. There are many more battle metal bands that take themselves way more seriously than Turisas do, but in this case it only adds to their charm. Songs are catchy and subject matter never really strays far from killing, maiming and then drinking ale afterwards but then again, who needs more?

Hanging around for Europe, while wifey goes to review Black Spiders, I notice to my surprise that the crowd has increased quite significantly for a band that we all know is on the bill for one song in particular. (Can you guess which one?). In actuality, Europe were much better than their one major hit suggests. Their new album ‘Last Look at Eden’ has been making a few heads turn since its release and the single that gives the album its name sounded great performed here and shows the album is possibly worth a listen. However, Europe’s tendency to bore the crap outta me reared its ugly head with a woefully unnecessary half cover of Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman No Cry’ and then some non-descript older material. The moment soon came though when at last ‘The Final Countdown’ began with the seminal 80’s keyboard intro. The crowd went nuts; every single one of us in one perfect nostalgic moment. An absolute delight to see and it seemed so for the band too.

Next came my first trip to the Bohemia Tent, Sonisphere’s third stage. First impressions this year were that of a half-assed, even half-finished stage that would take a very good band in order to pull off a memorable performance in such surroundings. I distinctly remember a much better presented Bohemia stage last year. Oh well, this year it had a bar so not all was lost. Sylosis managed to pummel the crowd once again. They continue to be one of the few stand alone bands in a genre of frankly boring and overdone metalcore and thrash revival acts; the very genre so safe that it’s virtually impossible to be daring and dangerous. Sylosis’ Jamie Graham had been ousted from the band recently due to creative conflicts, leaving lead guitarist Josh Middleton taking the helm and oh, how he fills those shoes well, despite looking like a major geek. Sylosis’ musicianship is just so mind-blowing, one can’t fail to be impressed. Classics from ‘Conclusion of An Age’ were played and new material sounds great, heading in more of a progressive direction. If this catches on with the fans, Sylosis will grow to be a global powerhouse in metal, transcending their metalcore shackles. The only problem I can see being that metalcore fans also tend to like their music safe and generic. Let’s hope the fans will grow with the band.

With just enough time to grab a bite, a beer and head for a rapidly filling Saturn stage in readiness for Alice Cooper, a guy whom I’ve had major respect for over the years without actually paying too close attention to his back catalogue, or his ‘Theatre of Death’ stage show, other than knowing that it exists and supposed to be quite the spectacle, a spectacle of which it definitely turned out to be. I mean how could a theatre production in which domestic violence, hard drug taking, death and torture go wrong? (I especially liked the pearl necklaces being thrown out into the crowd, Alice!) Unfortunately the sound quality from where I was standing was poor. The instruments and power of such classic songs were just not hitting the mid to back sections of the crowd the way one would expect. ‘Poison’ sounded particularly lacklustre which was a huge disappointment, while older songs like ‘No more Mr Nice Guy’ and ‘Only Women Bleed’ sounded like they were coming from a bad quality stereo. One reliable source later told me that it sounded fine from the front so I’m gonna put the sound down to the fact that Alice and Co. play everything the way it was originally intended to be played, on classic amps, with classic instruments and without all the gadgetry and technology of a lot of today’s acts to modify and enhance the sound. Still, I couldn’t help but leave after a crowd pleasing reprisal of ‘School’s Out’ a little underwhelmed.

Spirits were lifted in the only way a band like Terrorvision can in their innocent, bouncy, sing-a-long manner before heading back to the campsite for a relatively early night.

Day 3, Saturday

Thankful for at least a few hours sleep (not helped by the all night party that just would NOT stop and the 16 year old rock chicks looking for someone to accuse of statutory rape), Team Glasswerk again headed off to the arena for our first look of the Apollo Stage and what it had to offer. On the walk down, Family Force Five could be heard – the first band of Sonisphere 2010 to warm the Apollo stage’s speaker stacks. Seemingly nothing to offer anyone over the age of 14 here, especially with a name that shit, but I was surprised that they didn’t sound as emo as I thought they were going to.

Splitting up again with wifey so that she could review Sabaton, another Scandinavian sounding battle metally band, I head to Bohemia for some thrash revival in the form of Evile, another of the few bands of today’s thrash revival that can cut it. Think all the best parts of songs from every classic thrash/death metal act in the universe: Kreator, early Sepultura, Sacred Reich, Exodus etc, it’s all there. Hugely enjoyable but unlike their compatriots, Sylosis, there’s not enough original sound here to see Evile making a bigger crater on planet metal than they have already. Great stuff for the car or club though.

From thrash wannabies, to thrash icon, I make my way to Saturn for Soulfly and one of my all time heroes, Max Cavalera, who graces the stage to a warm welcome. ‘Boy, has Max got fat’ was the main thought on people’s minds, including mine, along with ‘Eww, exactly how many species of exotic and rare birds are nesting in his manky single dreadlock?’ Despite this, Max still looks great on-stage and really is the only guitarist who can get away with playing a four string guitar. I’m not the biggest Soulfly fan but there was some power in the samba influenced metal on display and I was chuffed with the ‘Refuse/Resist’ Sepultura cover.

How excited was I to see Anthrax? Quite a bit I can tell you. Last year, they played a solid set with John Bush fronting, playing mostly the later back catalogue, especially the cream of ‘Sound of White Noise’ and ‘We’ve Come For You All’. This year, however it was a treat to see original vocalist, Joey Belladonna, and to hear them play material from Anthrax’s first era, up to ‘Persistence of Time’. The sound was perfect for a band playing early on the bill and all the greats battered the grateful crowd. For starters, we got ‘Caught in a Mosh’, quickly followed by ‘Got the Time’. Basically there was no filler and they even managed to fit in a cover for Ronnie James Dio, who Belladonna captured in eerie authenticity. A triumph.

Katatonia proved to be this year’s Mastodon from last year for me – Great band, bad sound, misunderstood by the crowd. The Bohemia tent was half full for starters, showing that the Sonisphere faithful by and large tend to be listening to the more commercial side of metal. Still, I expected a few more people to be there and sympathised with the band for a poor showing. The sound guy had a nightmare despite a consistent festival so far but I was noticing that when the Bohemia tent was not full to the brim, the sound would echo pretty badly. Katatonia mainly went through songs from their ‘Great Cold Distance’ album and to be fair, there were some faithful followers in the crowd who appreciated them, me being one of them.

Apocolyptica made for a pleasant distraction (reviewed by wifey) while Lunch was gorged. Then for some well needed time off, I went to mingle in the media area and catch up with some friends both old and brand new before it was time to see Sick of it All, in Bohemia. These guys really tore things up, again, to a less than partisan crowd. This didn’t seem to affect the band however, who churned out a hugely enjoyable set, thus turning the majority of the crowd happening to chance what SOIA are all about into a foot stomping, head nodding collective.

I’ll leave the finer details of reviewing Motley Crue to my better half suffice to say, they were awesome as could be expected, working up the crowd both male and female alike into a frenzy.

Saturday Apollo stage headliners, Rammestein were somewhat of a talking point right up until the minute they got on stage. They were reputed to be bringing eight lorry loads of stuff with them to blow up at Sonisphere, spending in the region of £10,000 in the process. As soon as they came on with their industrial styled stage set up, they looked every bit the arena rock act they seemed destined to become. In fact, Rammstein’s songs are so made for the big stage, it’s virtually impossible to think of them at a time where they would be playing the club circuit. Sound wise, Rammstein were nothing short of immense. Songs like ‘Feuer Frei’ and ‘Sonne’ sounding every bit as it should. It could be said that the sound was a little too polished at times, another sign that they are so out of reach from the normal experience of going to see a band, even as headliners of a festival. Nevertheless, it’s difficult not to stand open mouthed at such a visual spectacle. Things did indeed blow up; torrents of fire and flame throwers aplenty but strangely I thought that the level of fire didn’t match up to the £10,000 price tag. Still, petrol is expensive these days isn’t it? Even the familiar phallus made an appearance; the front few rows looking rather too pleased with themselves that they’d been mock ejaculated on. Overall, whatever the personal taste, Rammestein, visually speaking, would leave any self-respecting metal fan agog in their wake.

After the all out assault on our senses, we still had one more treat in store for us back in the Bohemia tent in the form of Therapy?. Playing the entirety of their seminal and most popular album ‘Troublegum’, Therapy? transform Bohemia into the perfect intimate venue for the first time during the festival. They almost never even got going however, making three false starts due to technical problems much to their frustration. As soon as the initial relief that the first song, entitled ‘Knives’ could actually get into full sway without fear of something else blowing up, the crowd were treated to an absolutely rousing rendition of the album. Singer and guitarist Andy Cairns and Co. were relishing the positivity emanating from the crowd; each song classics in their own right. This was the perfect tonic to the previous 2 hours of over the top antics. Therapy are still capable of making an almighty racket for a mere trio of performers, but what a racket they make. Yep, they don’t make them like that anymore.

With nothing left to do and feeling very much like I’d seen the dog’s proverbials, we decided to celebrate heavily in the media area before the familiar alcohol related haziness reared its head and subconsciously transports our weary bodies back to the tent, our bodies almost crying out ‘Enough already!’ Nope, one more day left people. Stay frosty!

Day 4, Sunday

Cussing myself heavily for failing to be up in time to catch Rollins and his rantings, we make the most of our free time in order to get ourselves properly organised and into the arena in good time for Skindred. Frontman and general all round ragga-metal stalwart, Benji takes to the stage, waving a Union flag and parading up and down the stage in a silver suit. This guy pretty much wins the prize for ‘Most Entertaining Banter’ hands down. The guy’s just so likeable. Benji’s voice is pretty something too with his delicate melodies, followed by rough edged ragga bridges, to shouty, anthemic choruses. Not the kind of band I’d ever buy an album of, (although I was a fan of Dub War back in the day.) but I had to hand it to Skindred, they were fun and good value for their time on stage. Stand out songs for me: ‘Stand For Something’ and ‘Roots Rock Riot’.

Dir En Grey I had been looking forward to since early on in the line up selecting process. I have recently reviewed their recent live album release and if you’ve never heard them before, you won’t ever hear anything like them without giving them a listen. I simply cannot describe what this J-Rock quintet sound like without doing them a disservice. It’s just frankly mental and very Japanese. Dir En Grey are rock royalty in Japan, idolised by thousands of followers in their homeland and judging by the front few rows of the crowd, they haven’t gone completely unnoticed in the UK either; lots of young girlies screaming for the drummer, and apparent hottie, Shinya. Dir En Grey finally take to the stage after a long intro and proceed to either blow away or bemuse the crowd simultaneously, depending on your outlook. From Japanese operatic pop, to guttural death metal, to prog rock, all in one song, this is how the gospel according to Dir En Grey goes and blow me if the front row don’t even know the lyrics too! (all in Japanese.) A great credit should be given to the Sonisphere promoters for them taking a punt on this band and putting them on the Saturn stage and not in Bohemia, where they would’ve more likely flopped. They are like Japanese Marmite. Love ‘em to death or hate them intensely – you’ll only go one way or the other. I think they’re fantastic.

It only seems fitting that it starts to rain a little during Slayer. In fact, I’ve seen Slayer many times and I think it’s rained in various degrees every time. Coming on stage to ‘South of Heaven’ things sound definitely Slayerish and what follows is mainly a set of classics, paying only slight attention to newer albums. I’m not sure but I was wondering about whether Tom Araya was fully involved in today’s performance; he hardly moved and looked a little like he couldn’t be arsed. Slayer could pull off a good show in their sleep though and it mattered not by the time ‘Angel of Death’ was over, i was well and truly happy.

Having seen Alice in Chains at last year’s Sonisphere and being blown away by how new boy, William DuVall has fit into the band without stepping directly on Layne Stayley’s toes, I was wondering if with this year’s performance, the novelty would wear off. Not so, this year AIC play a lot more off of their newest album, which has received wide acclaimation since its release, along with old classics to boot. Alice in Chains are well and truly back.

Converge are a late addition to the Sonisphere 2010 line up and a welcome one at that. Their recently released album ‘Axe To Fall’ was for me, one of the best albums of the year so far and is a masterpiece in melding metal and hardcore elements seamlessly. Converge grace the stage in their customary ‘not giving a fuck’ attitude and send out a silent message that whether the three quarters full crowd are ready or not, they’re gonna tear all of us new ones. Axe To Fall was prominent in the setlist; they began with ‘Dark Horse’ and played virtually half the album, no time was spared for much of anything else. Singer, Jacob Bannon verbally echoed my thoughts of the shitty Bohemia setup and the band as a whole are the epitome of hardcore mayhem. I NEED to see this band on their own headlining tour.

Now, I’ve never been a Pendulum fan. I wasn’t won over particularly by their set either. It’s all a bit not in-keeping with a metal festival. I can see Download maybe benefiting from having a band like this on the bill, what with their younger crowd but I really hope Sonisphere don’t do the same thing next year. That’s my personal taste and problem is, I don’t think many people are going to agree with me judging by how Pendulum got the crowd going. I have to admit they did get that majority in a party mood. The inclusion of In Flames’ frontman Anders Friden went some way in making Pendulum’s set more appropriate but not by much.

I’ve always admired Iggy Pop for his energy and contribution to rock n’ roll but there’s only a few Iggy and the Stooges songs that I actually like. Still I was pleased to see Iggy on the bill this year and he sure is entertaining to watch slinking around the stage. By
The looks of him, he’ll be continuing for a good few more years yet too and good luck to him. I was genuinely pleased to hear ‘Raw Power’ and ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’. It’s also nice to see the kids reacting well to him too. I hope it’s because of the music and not those god-awful TV ads.

It was now time for a quick pee, brought on by the excitement of the main event that was hurtling fast towards us. We find ourselves a good spot to witness the Mother of all festival closers, Iron Maiden as their warm up music sounds off to the symphony of Holst’s ‘Mars, Bringer of War’, an intro piece that would’ve been redundant, given how excited and electric the crowd were, except that this particular piece is damn cool on its own. Accompanying the growing crescendo, we are treated to visuals on the screens of galaxies and other cosmic images, really giving me the impression that something out of this world is going to happen. I was strangely taken aback when Maiden take to the stage and launch not into ‘The Trooper’ or some other icon of classic material but instead ‘The Wicker Man’. Not that I was unimpressed, I just wasn’t expecting it. I actually love this song and so did everyone else, singing along with passion and gusto but along with me, I know that a majority of the crowd were expecting something a little more vintage. Bruce was sounding right on form from the off, as does the rest of the band and in front of my eyes a dream I’ve had since being a teenager was unfolding right before my eyes. ‘I am actually seeing Maiden for the first time and I can’t quite believe it!’ was the thought running round my head, almost distracting me from the music. Up next was ‘Ghost of the Navigator’, another relatively recent song and then a breath of relief for some fans as ‘Wrathchild’ rings out. Bruce actually perfectly justified what would have been a little bit of a culture shock for some of the Iron Maiden faithful by saying that the Final Frontier tour is focusing on playing material from the last 10 years and why not? All these songs are great and are future vintage classics that will join the stuff everyone already knows. Besides, if Bruce et al just stuck to playing the obvious crowd pleasers, they’d end up being their own tribute act. More songs from Maiden’s recent past are played and I am just in awe that Maiden really are as good as people have always told me and that one really does have to be there to witness it, it’s not a cliché to say. In total contrast to Rammstein, Maiden look like a band that could still play the local pub and have just as good a time doing it as on a huge festival stage. That’s where Iron Maiden’s power lies. Two thirds and an hour or so into the set and now we’re treated to the likes of ‘Fear of the Dark and ‘Iron Maiden’ itself. The inevitable encore brings us ‘Number of the Beast’, ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ and last but not least, ‘Running Free’. Then before you know it, it’s all over and it’s time to go home. Two and a half hours over, just like that. Simply put, Iron Maiden are astonishing.

In total awe and 100% inspired, Team Glasswerk say our goodbyes to Sonisphere with a few beers, disappointed that there seems to be dodgy drum n’ bass coming from the DJ booth in the Strongbow tent. A bad play when we were looking for a bit of dancing to finish the festival off with. We head to the media area where thankfully the DJ there seemed to have a bit more sense. Iron Maiden are having an after show party of their own but unfortunately we’re not worthy enough to be admitted. We finish our beers and head back to the campsite with end of festival blues but completely satisfied with the weekend’s offerings.

In my opinion, Sonisphere beats Download hands down. It’s more compact. Stages and campsites are easier to get through. The security there aren’t the fascists that are present at Download. It’s altogether friendlier and more amenable. I only hope that Sonisphere doesn’t grow too big for its boots. It’s fine being a 50,000 capacity festival. Let Download continue to be the big boy and keep Sonisphere the triumph it was last year and this year. Roll on Sonisphere 2011!