Two years after it last graced these shores, the prodigal son of Britain’s festival calendar is set to come bursting back into life. July has felt a little empty without the annual Sonisphere Festival to kick it off, and an event that had seemed well on its way to becoming a real summer staple has wrestled with years of uncertainty about its future since the cancellation of its 2012 instalment. Not an organisation to tempt fate, Kililive have put together the strongest lineup they could have possibly put together to ensure consumer faiths are restored. Despite competition from an aggressively booked British Summer Time and retaining its place on one of the busiest weekends in the European festival calendar, all signs point to 2014 being the year of Sonisphere once again.
When Iron Maiden and Metallica were first announced, it was said that Sonisphere were playing it safe in their comeback year. The metal giants already have three headline slots between them at the Knebworth festival, but it still remains noteworthy for somehow being the first time the bands have shared a festival bill anywhere in the world. Throw in the added draws of Metallica’s all-request set and the finale to Iron Maiden’s “Maiden England” saga, and the bill-topping names for this year’s event will pull in the punters whatever way you look at it. The pair are set in stone ticket-shifters, and a valuable asset in a year where competing festivals have arguably taken a gamble with some of their leading names. The duo are joined by The Prodigy as the opening night headliner, tried and tested with a superb showing at 2012’s Download Festival and set to start Sonisphere off with a bang, Limp Bizkit in tow as Friday subheadliners. Alice In Chains and Slayer also make their returns to the festival after previous successes at Knebworth house; with this year’s festival acting as a celebration of the site’s history as a music venue Sonisphere have spared no expense in providing big names both old and new.
Among the Knebworth newcomers are prog legends Dream Theater and alt-metal stalwarts Deftones set to tear into the British festival crowd. Also drawing attention is the UK debut of Babymetal, set to rock the main stage with a show that will certainly have to be seen to be believed. Joining them amongst the festival’s Saturday offering are Alestorm, Frank Turner and Chas & Dave, making for a crazy collision of genres and sounds on Sonisphere’s two main stages. And despite the likes of Gary Numan, Dropkick Murphys and Gojira filling out the festival’s other days, things only get better as we move further down the lineup. Anthrax take things up a notch after appearing at every UK Sonisphere to date with two appearances at this year’s instalment, the first of which will see a playthrough of seminal record Amongst the Living as they head up a day in Bohemia that also includes the likes of Hounds, Electric Wizard, 65daysofstatic and… Bam Margera’s Fuckface Unstoppable? Well, okay then. Bohemia continues its heavyweight offering throught the weekend by serving up former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach, as well as The Sisters of Mercy, Bo Ningen, The Bronx and dozens more. Finally the festival will see a return of its Jagermeister Stage, with the new Satellite Stage taking the place of the Red Bull Bedroom Jam from previous years. These stages will be graced by The Hell, Max Raptor and Itch amongst plenty more of Britain’s best and brightest emerging acts. Wherever your wanderings through Sonisphere’s arena take you next weekend, you can be sure of finding quality acts doing what they do best.
There’s far more to Sonisphere than just the music of course, but the lineup has become something of a statement of intent in the festival’s comeback year. There’s no reason not to be confident of the festival’s future when looking at what they’ve managed to put together for this year’s event, and you can bet that Knebworth will be the site of a real festival of the year contender in just under two weeks. It’s time to start getting seriously excited, this is going to be a good one.
Sonisphere takes place from July 4-6. Day and weekend tickets are still available from the festival’s official website.
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