Sonisphere Festival

Sonisphere Festival

Main Stage at Sonisphere Festival in Kirjurinluoto, Pori, Finland.
Genre
Dates June / July / August
Location(s) Europe
Years active 2009 – present
Website
www.sonispherefestivals.com

The Sonisphere Festival is a touring rock music festival which takes place across Europe between June and August. The festival is owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It is jointly promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live.[1] It has hosted heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Judas Priest and Megadeth.

Event history

The idea for Sonisphere was first conceived by John Jackson in the late 90s. John chose the name Sonisphere, from a combination of Sonic and Sphere. In 2008 Stuart Galbraith had formed business partnership with AEG Live called Kilimanjaro Live. John Jackson approached Stuart Galbraith with the idea of a Pan-World touring festival which fit in with plans Kilimanjaro Live had to launch a UK festival. John Jackson is the Creator and Director of Sonisphere and Galbriath the Producer.

The first run of festivals ran throughout the summer of 2009 at six venues, returning in 2010 and 2011 with 11 venues.

Plans for future festivals consist of increasing the number of festivals, making the event global rather than local to Europe, expanding the UK event into a 3-day festival, and increasing the UK capacity from 40,000 to 60,000 attendees.[2]

Sonisphere 2009

The 2009 Sonisphere festival tour was made up of six one-day festivals across Europe with a seventh festival in England spanning two days. The festival had a core group of bands that played each of the six dates with numerous extra bands added to each date individually. The locations for the 2009 festivals include Goffert Park, Nijmegen, Netherlands; Hockenheimring, Germany; The Forum, Barcelona, Spain; Folkets Park, Hultsfred, Sweden; Kirjurinluoto, Pori, Finland; and Knebworth House, Knebworth, England. Metallica were the main headliners for each of the 2009 Sonisphere Festivals.

Netherlands

The Dutch edition of the Sonisphere Festival took place on Saturday June 20, 2009 at Goffert Park, Nijmegen with headliners Metallica.

Mastodon could not make it to Sonisphere due to scheduling issues. This was announced at Sonisphere itself, although some heard the news whilst traveling.

The Sword cancelled their show a few days before Sonisphere began.

Germany

The German edition of the Sonisphere Festival took place on Saturday July 4, 2009 at Hockenheimring with Metallica as headliners.

Spain

The Spanish edition of the Sonisphere Festival took place on Saturday, July 11, 2009 at The Forum, Barcelona with headliners Metallica. The other bands performing on the main stage were: Slipknot, Machine Head, Lamb of God and Soziedad Alkoholika. Mastodon, Down, Gojira and The Eyes? played on a second stage, away from the main stage, facing the sea.

Sweden

Jimmie Strimmell performing at Sonisphere Festival, Hultsfred, Sweden 2009

The Swedish edition of the Sonisphere Festival took place on Saturday July 18, 2009 at Folkets Park, Hultsfred with Metallica as headliners.

Finland

Linkin Park performing at Sonisphere Festival in Kirjurinluoto, Pori, Finland.

The Finnish edition of the Sonisphere Festival took place on Saturday July 25, 2009 at Kirjurinluoto Arena, Pori with Metallica as headliners.

Machine Head were forced to cut their set short, due to lead guitarist Phil Demmel collapsing on stage.

England

The British edition of the Sonisphere Festival took place over two days on Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2, 2009, at Knebworth House, Knebworth with headliners Linkin Park (Saturday) and Metallica (Sunday). The festival featured four stages of music over the weekend, with the main two being staggered staging, the others being within the Bohemia village.[3] The Bohemia stage (the third of four stages) was an undercover stage and was able to continue past the sound curfews placed upon the main stages. This was The Rev's final live performance as Avenged Sevenfold's drummer before his death in December 2009. It was also the last European appearance of Ronnie James Dio before he died of stomach cancer in May 2010.

Sonisphere 2010

The Sonisphere 2010 tour visited eleven locations around Europe between June 16 and August 8, 2010. The locations for Sonisphere 2010 were Poland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Spain, United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland. Unlike in 2009, there was not a full touring headliner performing each date. The headliners for 2010 were Iron Maiden, Metallica and Rammstein.

Poland

Warsaw, Poland was the host city for the first of the 2010 festivals; that was first announced on December 9, 2009. The 2010 Sonisphere in Poland took place on June 16, 2010. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, bands which make up the big four of thrash metal, played together for the first time.[6]

Switzerland

Switzerland was the second nation to host the Sonisphere festival in 2010 with the event taking place at Degenaupark in Jonschwil on June 18, 2010.[7]

Czech Republic

Czech Republic hosted the festival in Milovice on June 19, 2010; this was also a one-day festival. Metallica headlined this event.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria held its first Sonisphere over two days in Sofia on June 22 and 23, 2010. The venue was the Vasil Levski National Stadium.[8]

This concert was also broadcast live around the world in movie theaters as part of the Big Four Tour. This was the first time in their history that all four bands played together on one stage, performing the Diamond Head song "Am I Evil?".[9]

Greece

The Sonisphere festival in Greece was held on June 24, 2010 at Terra Vibe Park in Athens in front of 30,000 people.[10]

Romania

Romania held the Sonisphere festival from June 25 to 27, 2010 in Bucharest at Romexpo.

Turkey

Turkey held the Sonisphere festival at the same time as Romania: June 25 through 27, 2010. This part of Sonisphere was at the BJK İnönü Stadium in Istanbul. Akbank sponsored the event.

The Big Four were on the stage one after another, but did not play altogether.

This was the first time Rammstein and Anthrax came to Turkey.

The bass player of Manowar, Joey DeMaio, made a speech to the audience in Turkish.

Spain

Spain hosted Sonisphere on July 9 and 10, 2010, at Getafe Open Air in Madrid.

United Kingdom

Sonisphere arrived in the UK for a three-day festival, taking place at Knebworth House between Friday 30 July - Sunday 1 August. Music included a 'Rocky Horror Show theme with Alice Cooper, and headliners Iron Maiden and Rammstein.

Band dropouts

Sweden

Slayer performing at Sonisphere Festival, Stockholm, Sweden 2010.

Sweden hosted Sonisphere in Stockholm on August 7, 2010 for a one-day festival. Iron Maiden announced via their official website that the band would headline the Swedish event. The following bands performed at the event.[11] Heaven & Hell cancelled due to Ronnie James Dio's illness and later death.[12]

Finland

Sonisphere finished its tour in Finland, where tickets sold out in 2009. It was held on August 7 and 8, 2010, at Kirjurinluoto Arena Pori. Iron Maiden and HIM headlined the event.

A freak storm hit Sonisphere in Finland on Sunday, August 8, 2010, causing severe damage to the second stage, rendering the stage unsafe and unusable. Two people were seriously injured and one died in the hospital.[13] The Heaven & Hell show was cancelled before the beginning of the festival due to Ronnie James Dio's health issues. He died on May 16, 2010.

Sonisphere 2011

Sonisphere returned in 2011 with new venues in India, France and Italy but did not return to Romania. It also marked the first time that Metallica played in India. The first headliner announced for Knebworth, England was Slipknot.

UK

Sonisphere Knebworth took place from July 8 to July 10, 2011.[14] On December 3, 2010, it was announced that the American band Slipknot would headline Sonisphere 2011.[15] Soon afterward, on December 6, it was announced that Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro would be headlining the Saturday night, in the band's first major festival headlining performance.[16] On December 13, 2010, it was announced that Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax would headline the Friday of the Knebworth event. This will be the first time that The Big Four perform together in the UK.[17] On January 17, 2011, it was announced that Motörhead, Mastodon, In Flames and Parkway Drive will be playing the UK leg of Sonisphere.[18] On January 31, 2011, it was announced that Weezer, Airbourne, Architects and Diamond Head will be playing Sonisphere.[19] On February 28, You Me at Six, All Time Low, Sum 41, House of Pain, Arch Enemy, Grinspoon, Fozzy and Periphery were added to the lineup.[20] On March 28, Bill Bailey, Jarred Christmas, Jason John Whitehead, Jim Breuer, and Steve-O were added to the lineup.[21] According to the official site, during all three days of event, nearly 190,000 people were present. Cancer Bats performed a Black Sabbath tribute show. Motörhead dedicated their set to their former guitarist Würzel who died just the day before.

Sweden

Sonisphere in Sweden returned to Stockholm, but it was held at "Globen Open Air" on Saturday, July 9, 2011. Slipknot headlined the event, with In Flames, Mastodon, Mustasch and Dead by April also playing at the festival. Only 16,000 fans came to see the bands this time.

Finland

Sonisphere in Finland took place at Kalasatama, Helsinki on 2 July 2011. Slipknot headlined the bill with the other bands performing included: In Flames, Opeth, Sonata Arctica, Hammerfall, Mastodon and more. As opposed to past two years, the 2011 Sonisphere was less well attended, with attendance of only 12,000 fans.

Poland

Sonisphere Poland returned to Bemowo Airport, Warsaw on Friday June 10, 2011. Iron Maiden announced on their website that they would headline the event in Poland in 2011. Motörhead was confirmed as the second headliner of the festival.[22][23] Other bands announced were Mastodon, Volbeat, Killing Joke,Devin Townsend, Hunter and Made of Hate. Iron Maiden played to the crowd of over 40,000 people who attended the event.[24]

Greece

Sonisphere in Greece returned to Athens and it took place in Terra Vibe Park, Malakassa on Friday, June 17, 2011. Iron Maiden headlined the event, and Slipknot were special guests, playing live for the first time since Paul Gray's death. Mastodon, Gojira and Virus were the supporting acts.[25] On May 6, it was announced that Nightfall, Moonspell, Need and Total Riot would play on June 17, 2011. Rotting Christ were the headliners of the second stage of the Greek leg of Sonisphere Festival. More than 25,000 fans attended the event.

Italy

Sonisphere 2011 took place on Italian soil for the first time. More than 40,000 people were present during two days of festival. The two-day event was booked at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, on 25 and 26 June 2011. Iron Maiden were the headliners on the first evening, and the band performed to nearly 30,000 fans. Next day's headliners were Linkin Park with 13,000 in attendance. The other bands on the bill were: Slipknot, My Chemical Romance, Sum 41, Alter Bridge, The Cult, Mastodon, Motörhead, Guano Apes, Funeral for a Friend, Papa Roach, Rob Zombie, Apocalyptica and many others.

France

Slipknot and The Big Four confirmed that they would be headlining the French Sonisphere event, which took place on July 8 and 9, 2011. Other bands announced were Dream Theater, Airbourne, Mastodon, Gojira, Loudblast, Tarja, Volbeat, Diamond Head, Mass Hysteria, Rise To Remain, Symphonia, Bring Me the Horizon and Papa Roach. The two nights attracted 76,000 people. Metallica performed Helpless from Diamond Head, with Diamond Head and Anhrax members on stage, but without Slayer and Megadeth [26]

India

On May 1, 2011, Metallica confirmed on their official website that they would headline the Indian edition of Sonisphere, which took place in Bangalore on October 30 at the Palace Grounds.[27]

Spain

The third Spanish Sonisphere Festival took place on July 15 and 16, 2011, at Getafe Open Air in Madrid. The main headliner was Iron Maiden with The Darkness and Slash headlining the night before. Sonsphere Spain included around 70,000 attendees. Iron Maiden played to a full house venue with nearly 45,000 fans.

Turkey

Iron Maiden headlined the second Turkish Sonisphere show, which took place on June 19, 2011, at Maçka Küçükçiftlik Park, Istanbul. Other bands that played included Slipknot, Alice Cooper, Mastodon and In Flames. Tickets were sold to approximately 25,000 people.

Bulgaria

A Sonisphere event was scheduled to happen this year in Bulgaria but according to local promoter Marcel Avram and Balkan Entertainment the event was cancelled due to logistical and other problems that could not be rectified. The promoters also said that these problems were out of their control and that full refunds for tickets would begin on June 15 and continue to July 15.[28]

Switzerland

Sonisphere returned to Switzerland for the second time. The event took place at St. Jakob on 23 and 24 June in Basel. Over two evenings more than 35,000 people attended the headlining shows. The 23 June headliner was Judas Priest with the Epitaph World Tour at the St. Jakobshalle; the next evening's headliner was Iron Maiden, who performed to almost 25,000 fans gathered on Lichtatletik Stadion. The other bands were: Whitesnake, Alice Cooper, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, In Extremo, In Flames, Papa Roach, Kreator, Mr. Big, Hatebreed, Hammerfall, Alter Bridge, Gojira, Gwar, Skindred and many more.

Czech Republic

For the second time, Sonisphere took place in Czech Republic. The 2011 event was originally scheduled for Milovice Airport, but after a few months was changed to Praha's Výstaviště Park. Nearly 30,000 people from Czech Republic and many other countries (Poland, Germany, Austria) attended the headlining gig of Iron Maiden on 11 June 2011. Other bands on the bill included The Sisters of Mercy, Kreator, Korn, Mastodon, Cavalera Conspiracy and many others.

Sonisphere 2012

UK

Sonisphere Knebworth was scheduled to take place from July 6 to July 8, 2012. On February 20, 2012, the headliners were announced as Kiss (Friday), Queen + Adam Lambert (Saturday) and Faith No More (Sunday). Several bands were set to play an album in its entirety, including Mastodon performing The Hunter, Glassjaw performing Worship and Tribute and Hundred Reasons performing Ideas Above Our Station. On March 29, the festival was cancelled with the organisers stating that co-ordinating the festival to an appropriate standard this year had proved more difficult than expected.[29]

Poland

Poland hosted Sonisphere on May 10, 2012, at Bemowo Airport.

Spain

Spain hosted Sonisphere on May 25 and 26, 2012, at Getafe Open Air.

Switzerland

Switzerland held Sonisphere on May 30, 2012, at Yverdon-les-Bains.

Finland

Finland held Sonisphere on June 4, 2012, at Kalasatama.

France

France held Sonisphere on July 7 and 8, 2012, at Amneville.

Sonisphere 2013

UK

In December 2012, organisers announced the festival would make a return after cancelling that year's edition in Knebworth. However, on December 21, it was confirmed the event would be cancelled for the second year in succession. Citing a struggle to secure a strong lineup for the festival.[30]

Sonisphere 2014

UK

It was announced on November 12, 2013, that Sonisphere would return to Knebworth, UK, from July 4 to July 6, 2014. The festival would celebrate 40 years of Rock Music at Knebworth Park. Sonisphere would come to Hamburg, Germany at June 4, 2014.

On 2 December Iron Maiden (Saturday) and Metallica (Sunday) were announced as the first two headliners of the UK edition of Sonisphere. This would be Iron Maiden's final show of their highly successful Maiden England World Tour. It was also revealed when Metallica were announced, that fans booking weekend tickets would be eligible to vote for 17 of the 18 songs in Metallica's setlist (The 18th to be one of their new songs). On the 11th December The Prodigy were announced to be headlining the Friday slot. On 6 January, Slayer, Mastodon, Alice in Chains, Ghost, Karnivool, Gojira and Airbourne were added to the lineup as undercard bookings. Then on 21 January, Limp Bizkit were revealed to be the special guests for The Prodigy on the Friday, with Dropkick Murphys, The Sisters Of Mercy, Anthrax, Chas & Dave, The Devin Townsend Project, Carniflex, Silverstein, The Virgin Marys & Voodoo Six also appearing across the weekend.

For the first time at a UK festival, the pro wrestling company Progress Wrestling held three shows at The Satellite Stage on all three days. The shows were well received and considered on many music sites "Best at Sonisphere 2014", especially after a "Lego Deathmatch" was held on the final night.

Sonisphere also later revealed on their official Facebook page, that they plan to continue their tradition of having no stage clashes between the two main stages (Apollo & Saturn stages), but the other stages would run as normal. Babymetal would make their first ever UK appearance on the Apollo Stage on Saturday July 5, 2014.[31][32][33][34]

Sonisphere 2015

UK

Sonisphere UK 2015 was cancelled in January 2015 after the organisers stated they couldn't get a line-up together they deemed suitable for the event.[35]

Sonisphere 2016

UK

On January the 8th, the official Sonisphere Facebook page replied to a user, on a picture that they shared, stating: "We don't have a festival that I am aware of." .[36] Sonisphere did not take place in Knebworth despite organisers stating a desire to return. As of September 2016, no explanation has been given as to why it didn't take place.

Sonisphere 2017

UK

On January 4th, 2017, the official Sonisphere Twitter account tweeted that the festival will not take place in the UK in 2017.[37]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Foster, Patrick (2009-02-09). "British leg of rolling tour sees Knebworth ready to rock again, just like the Seventies". The Times. London. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  2. ↑ "Interview with Stuart Galbraith, pages 14 and 15".
  3. ↑ "Sonisphere UK announce 3 stages".
  4. ↑ "Lamb of God's Morton to miss Sonisphere".
  5. ↑ "Bohemia Stage Headliners pull out".
  6. ↑ "Blabbermouth.Net". Roadrunnerrecords.com. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  7. ↑ "Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax were confirmed for Sonisphere in Switzerland".
  8. ↑ "Sonisphere Bulgaria 2010". Sonisphere Bulgaria 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  9. ↑ 'The Big Four: Live From Sofia, Bulgaria': New DVD Trailer Released blabbermouth.net. 2010-09-21. Retrieved on 2010-10-01.
  10. ↑ "Concerts - Sonisphere Festival: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Bullet For My Valentine, Stone Sour, Suicidal Angels - Terra Vibe, Malakasa, Greece". Rockpages.gr. 2010-06-24. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  11. ↑ "Sonisphere Festival med Iron Maiden till Stockholm 2010 | Sonisphere Festival Sweden, Stockholm". Se.sonispherefestival.net. 2009-12-09. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  12. ↑ Heaven, .; Hell (2010), "2010 Tour Cancellation", Official Blog, archived from the original on June 23, 2010, retrieved 2010-06-19
  13. ↑ "Storm Victim Dies of Injuries | News | YLE Uutiset". yle.fi. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  14. ↑ Official promo of Sonisphere Festival UK 2011
  15. ↑ Bhamra, Satvir. Sonisphere 2011 Knebworth dates announced amplified.tv. 2010-11-18. Retrieved on 2010-11-18.
  16. ↑ "Page Not Found". Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  17. ↑ Bharma, Satvir. The Big 4 to headline Sonisphere Knebworth amplified.tv. 2010-12-13. Retrieved on 2010-12-14.
  18. ↑ Sonisphere Festival UK Sonispherefestivals.com 2011-01-17. Retrieved on 2011-01-17.
  19. ↑ "4 more bands added to Sonisphere lineup".
  20. ↑ Davies, Alan. Eight more added to Sonisphere 2011 Festival at Knebworth whtimes.co.uk. 2011-02-28. Retrieved on 2011-03-08.
  21. ↑ Bhamra, Satvir. Bill Bailey to headline Sonisphere amplified.tv. 2011-03-28. Retrieved on 2011-03.29.
  22. ↑ "IRON MAIDEN TO HEADLINE SONISPHERE FESTIVAL IN POLAND". Iron Maiden official website. 14 December 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
  23. ↑ "Iron Maiden to headline! Motörhead the second star of Sonisphere Festival 2011". Sonisphere Poland official website. 20 December 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  24. ↑ "IRON MAIDEN TO START SONISPHERE FESTIVAL IN POLAND". Iron Maiden FC. 14 June 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  25. ↑ http://gr.sonispherefestivals.com/
  26. ↑ Metal Traveller Metallica at Sonisphere France comcert review MetalTraveller.com 2014-01-20. Retrieved on 2011-07-25.
  27. ↑ "Page Not Found - Metallica - Page Not Found - Metallica". www.metallica.com. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  28. ↑ Sonisphere Bulgaria 2011 Cancelled bg.sonispherefestivals.com. 2011-06-14. Retrieved on 2011-06-14.
  29. ↑ "Sonisphere festival cancelled". sonisphere. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
  30. ↑ "Sonisphere UK rock festival is cancelled for 2013 - BBC Newsbeat". 21 December 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  31. ↑ "LINE UP POSTER". Sonisphere Festival UK. 2014-05-07. Retrieved 2014-05-09.
  32. ↑ "BABYMETAL World Tour 2014 Live Schedule". BABYMETAL.jp. BABYMETAL. Retrieved 2014-05-09.
  33. ↑ "BABYMETAL Tour Dates". BABYMETAL Official. 2014-05-07. Retrieved 2014-04-09.
  34. ↑ "UK Brace for BABYMETAL". Sonisphere Festival UK. 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2014-04-09.
  35. ↑ "No Sonisphere Knewborth in 2015 « Sonisphere Festival UK". Sonisphere Festival UK. 2015-01-16. Retrieved 2015-01-18.
  36. ↑ "Sonisphere Festival". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  37. ↑ "Sonisphere Festival: ‘No UK Soni in 2017’". Welwyn Hatfield Times. December 15, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
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