Sonisphere Knebworth 2010: Friday Review: Schools Out
On first entry to the arena the most noticable difference was the shift in the location of the Bohemia tent to a (in my opinion) more favourable location near the main entrance to the campsite, and also how much bigger the second stage was this year (in my estimation definitely bigger than the Ronnie James Dio stage from Download). In terms of musical action, the task of kicking off this year's Sonisphere Festival was down to Dutch metallers Delain, who I knew very little about. During their fairly short set they proved to be pretty entertaining, with some good songs, and seemed to have taken several pages from the book of their compatriots Within Temptation. Nevertheless, they were a good, fun way to start off the festival which promised better things to come. 6.
Delain: Good start of things to come
After enjoying Delain, my hopes were admittedly not high for Turisas, having not enjoyed them at all at Download several years previously. I can now happily say that I was proven very wrong, as they put on a great show and singer Mathias “Warlord” Nygård was very amusing with some of his banter with the crowd. The ever growing crowd was firmly on side with them (including my lovely wife, my wife likes battle metal, how f***ing cool is that?!) They also seemed to have built up a stronger repetoire of songs than when I saw them last which made good use of the unusual arrangement of instruments they have for a metal band, and closed with the familar strains of Battle Metal to thunderous applause from a very happy crowd. Great fun which gave me a totally new view on the band. 7.5
Turisas: Battle Metal!
The problem that I imagine a lot of people have with Europe is that apart from The Final Countdown, they don't know much of their extensive back catalogue. This does the band a disservice as they have some cracking power metal tunes and rock ballads in their arsenal and Sonisphere Knebworth was treated to a good selection of these songs, including an excerpt of a power metal cover of Bob Marleys No Woman No Cry (something different!). A few lines from Heaven and Hell were also thrown into one of the songs as the first tribute of the weekend (first of quite a few) to Ronnie James Dio. About 2/3 of the way through the rains threatened and being conscious of wanting a good spot for Sylosis in Bohemia, we all left early. Thats right, we did not see Europe play The Final Countdown. But they were still good anyway. 6.5
Europe: Its The Final Countdo...... Not For Us It Wasn't
We were so early arriving in Bohemia due to the weather (which never really materialised, oh well) that we caught the end of The Black Spiders. I personally found them to be a bit one dimensional, what I heard was quite samey and although they had a lot of energy, didn't necessarily put it to the best use. I'd give them a 5.
Sylosis have had a bit of a turbulent period lately, with singer Jamie Graham leaving the band and guitarist Josh Middleton taking on vocal duties so the band has downsized to a four piece. Myself and my friend Steve, being very big Sylosis fans were somewhat concerned about the impact this was going to have on the band and whether Josh was going to be able to pull off the old material. By showtime a large crowd had already been chanting "Sylosis, Sylosis" for a good couple of minutes before they appeared on stage and chaos broke loose within seconds of the band launching into Conclusion of an Age. Josh has a different vocal style to Jamies but it is not any less powerful as was more than capable of delivering the full range that Sylosis songs such as Conclusion and the following Reflections Through Fire required (especially when belting "Forced Into Fire" on Reflections).
Sylosis: Destroying Bohemia For The Second Year Running!
Thunderous Sylosis chants filled Bohemia (again) and the band all looked visibly chuffed. A new song followed that I cannot remember the title of which sounded enormously heavy with some delicious riffs offering the first glimpse of the new Sylosis album which "they will try to get out by the end of the year" according to Josh. A thumping rendition of Stained Humanity followed during which the band tried to get a repeat of their tent wide wall of death and circle pit from Sonisphere Knebworth 2009. They did not quite pull it off but there was bodies and limbs flying all over the place nevertheless. Another new song followed this which was similarly heavy and as fast as the first one but more complex, some of the guitar work seemed to be of rediculous quality and made everyone all the more anxious to get their hands on the new album.
They finished with the traditional Sylosis closer Teras which incited more moshpit craziness and after the band thanked everyone they left to a huge round of applause and more chanting. Having lost a singer has not seemingly affected the band at all, seemingly equally as happy with being a four piece, and if the new album is in the vein of the 2 songs they played it will be one of the albums of whatever year it is released in. All fears were totally unfounded. Sylosis are hear to stay and to bring serious metal wherever they play. 9.
Sylosis setlist was:
- Conclusion of an Age
- Reflections Through Fire
- New Song
- Stained Humanity
- New Song
- Teras
After that, for me personally anything was going to seem an anti-climax. I thought Alice Cooper complete with full stage show might come pretty close to making things not feel that way though so we got what we thought was a good spot at the Saturn Stage and settled in for Sonisphere Knebworth's Friday night headliner. That most of us only knew a handful of Alice Cooper songs was not really a big deal as we thought it would be more about his stage show anyway.
Things started promisingly enough with old Guitar Hero 3 favourite Schools Out but unfortunately things went swiftly downhill from there as the sound problems that plagued the Saturn Stage last year returned with an almighty vengeance. It had been slightly noticable in Europe earlier but not too bad, but from our position to just to the left of the sound stage and back a little, at times you could not hear anything and at best you were struggling to hear Alice even if you could hear the music.
Who the f*** is Alice? And What The F*** is he singing because we couldn't tell!
The stage show was still entertaining but even when songs such as Poison were played you could not hear him well enough to enjoy it properly. We gave up a bit before the end as the sound was seemingly getting worse ruining what could and should have been (and from peoples comments on Twitter probably was if you were stood in a different location) a very good overall show. For the stage show I would give 7/10, but overall due to the awful sound I am afraid poor old Alice only gets 3.
A slightly disappointing way to end the first night of the extended Sonisphere Knebworth but overall it was highly satisfactory topped off with an awesome performance from Sylosis who we thought were going to take some beating, even from the major headliners. Check back for the reports on Saturday and Sunday for more Knebworth related mayhem!
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Who the f*** is Alice??????
Not necessarily his fault
Will i be allowed