26 replies to this topic

[spwan-of-the-devil]

So I ache now with blisters and just sat here thinking I did go on me own and was a little scared about that with it being my first Soni as I dident know what to expect and not knowing where my front part of the train ticket was and then turns up at home on the sunday. I ended up having a great time meeting new people big thank you to people who I met in Brum station if they read this place and all then Thank you lads for taking me in and to the rest of you as well!

Now the music!

Friday - I saw - Diamond Head - Was only end of the set but enjoyable and did get am I evil 7/10

                 Anthrax - Not a fan 5/10
                
                 Firewind - Saw these and not bad being honest quite enjoyed them they are a bit of a Maiden sound alike though 7/10
                 Black Dahlia Murder - One of two bands I did want to see on the Friday and they were brilliant did some great tunes and while warming up as well was quite brilliant with the singer having banter with the crowd! Made them better being in a tent I think as well 10/10 for me!

                 Slayer - Not a big Slayer fan but did the hits and were impressive 7/10

                 Metalica - The band that I got a ticket for bar Slipknot and had been waiting to see them for a long time. Great setlist and just awsome plain awsome 10/10

Saturday -       No Americana - Really enjoyed them and another to keep mooching around for more of I hope! 7/10

                 You me and What Army - Local up and comming band and So I went to suport them but alot like Enter Shikari for me and im not a fan but did put on a good show! 7/10                

                 Bad Religion - Great and going have to get a few of there albums now after seeing them! 8/10

                 Sum 41 - Cant belive there was no Pieces but did do Fat lip and In to deep so really cant complain was great to see them for the first time but just to mutch newer stuff tbh. 7/10

                 All Time low - My guilty pleasure atm and I thought they would be poppy live but there not very plesently suprised! 8/10

                 The Mars Volta = Very Impressive and loved them alot, Did know some of the songs but did not relise how good they were another one for me to pick up a few albums for and one of my bands of the festival! 9/10 Just wished I had known more of the songs!

Sunday   -  In Flames - Great band and allways will enjoy them! 7/10

            Motorhead - Fair play on Lemmy for Turning up with the lads! 8/10

           Opeth - Great band great rifts and had wanted to see them for a while! 8/10

Limp Bizkit - Was rather good fun but not as good as Download 09 for me but still great fun and letting the crowd pick 8/10

            Slipknot - 10/10 Well worth getting crushed and bruised for at the front! If it the end which I think it is just thank you for the memories Did let a tear out at the end and they were hiding it at the end as well! Thank you for that setlist as well!

As its my First Soni! My thoughts on the place - Yeah I like it alot like the euro festies in the transport and organizational stuff, Plus point on all the security and police around and great amtmosphere! If I have the cash I will be back!

[the_hedge]

Had a fantastic weekend, one of the best festival experiences I have ever had. I will leave a more in depth review later.

[jump]

For the bands I strongly remember...

Japanese Voyeurs - 7 (might of given 8 but missed a few songs and got a crap position as the crowd took ages getting into arena)

Anthrax - 6

Slayer - 8

Metallica - 8

Killing Joke - 9

Richard Cheese - 8

Gallows - 8

Cheri Bomb - 7

Bad Religion - 7

Sum 41 - 4 (by far the worst band of the weekend imo)

Weezer - 9

Biffy Clyro - 8

Volbeat - 7

Motorhead - 8

Don Broco - 8 (this year's band I never heard of before the fest but are actually pretty good)

Sonic Boom 6 - 7 (took the crowd too long to get going otherwise great)

Bill Bailey - 8 (only catched the last half of the show)

Slipknot - 8

[Couchy]

Highlights of the weekend for me was Diamond Head, last 30mins of Metallica, Tek-One, Limp Bizkit & Slipknot.

Edit-
& moshing to A1 Bassline on Friday night.

Edited by Couchy, 12 July 2011 - 11:15 AM.

[dan666]

Only saw a handful of bands but they were all awesome.

Big 4
Weezer
Biffy
Limp Bizkit
Slipknot
Hayseed Dixie
Mars Volta
Opeth
Bill Bailey
Vintage Trouble
Sum 41
Mastodon

All amazing gigs. Festival it self was brilliant, personally a lot better than download.

Edited by dan666, 12 July 2011 - 11:34 AM.

[lharris92]

twas good, had the buzz factor but because i was working i couldn't get fully into it... guess thats the only downside.

anyway the only band i saw when in the crowd was sylosis and they blew me away as i wasn't expecting such a good start to the day.

enjoyed all the other mainstage bands too as i was working by the bar near it and had a good view - if a bit too far away

[JackieMoon]

Got day tickets for the Saturday and Sunday, and thought it was amazing!
Been to Reading previously, along with other small outdoor festivals etc, and for some reason didn't expect much from Sonisphere.  But the arena was great, sound was pretty spot-on, LOVED the timings between the Saturn and Apollo stages.  It was (to me) unbelievable that we could just stroll up before Weezer AND Biffy and get right up close to the front with ease.  
Another point, everyone seemed so pleasant, no dickheads (like at Reading) who just seem to turn up to piss people off.  Great crowd, great bands and we will DEFINITELY be back for the full weekend in 2012.

Highlights were Weezer, Biffy, Slipknot and maybe most of all, Bill Bailey.

[the_hedge]

JackieMoon, on 12 July 2011 - 12:09 PM, said:

Got day tickets for the Saturday and Sunday, and thought it was amazing!
Been to Reading previously, along with other small outdoor festivals etc, and for some reason didn't expect much from Sonisphere.  But the arena was great, sound was pretty spot-on, LOVED the timings between the Saturn and Apollo stages.  It was (to me) unbelievable that we could just stroll up before Weezer AND Biffy and get right up close to the front with ease.  
Another point, everyone seemed so pleasant, no dickheads (like at Reading) who just seem to turn up to piss people off.  Great crowd, great bands and we will DEFINITELY be back for the full weekend in 2012.

Highlights were Weezer, Biffy, Slipknot and maybe most of all, Bill Bailey.

Yep, the crowd were fantastic. I took my 10 year old and felt 100% safe all weekend. He was getting high 5's off random drunken strangers all weekend. The best festival crowd I have ever had had the pleasure of spending the weekend with.

The famaily camping was excellent. Right next to the car park and although furthest away from the Arena it was only a 15 minute walk. Really quiet at night which suited us down to the ground. We pitched right next to Fort Knebworth which he spent some time in and just around the corner was the playground with zip lines and slides which kept him entertained for hours as well as the train ride!!

The arena was reasonably well set out althought it felt a tad busy on Friday and the only complaint I had was the Q to get a beer on Friday, it was rammed all day. I'm not sure if it was down to more people being there on Friday or just the older metal heads drinking loads....

I'm not a massive fan of the heavy stuff and there wasn't a great deal to watch on the Saturday but most of who I saw were fantistic.

Friday

Hammer of the Gods 5/10
Diamond Head 8/10 Didn't know too much about them but spent the rest of the weekend singing 'Am I Evil'
Anthrax 6/10
Megadeath 7/10
Slayer 9/10 Not a huge fan but so impresssed with the effort and sheer speed they play at!
Metallica 10/10 Just superb

Saturday

Sum 41 6/10
You and me at six 6/10
Weezer 10/10 Paranoid F*ckin Android!!
Biffy 10/10 Let's hope they changed some peoples minds.


Sunday
Airbourne 8/10 never let you down
Mastadon 7/10 Never heard anything from them before but sounded great
Motorhead 5/10 Probably the biggest let down of the weekend
Limp Bizkit 8/10
Bill Baily - Only saw 10 minutes due to the rain and the sound quality was awful were we where
Fozzy - Again rain stopped play  
Slipknot 9/10 So entertaining and the reason we took the boy along.

Before the festival we thought we might go home Sunday night but due to the family campsite being so well organised we stayed until around 10-30 Monday morning. It took 15 minutes to get out the car park which is a god send compared to the nightmares I have had at other festivals.

Only real concern was the lack of pitches in family camping when we arrived Friday morning. We only just a got a pitch big enough for our tent. If this gets more popular I can see them having a problem with fitting everyone in.

Security and policing was spot on, never saw a problem all weekend and well done to everyone for creating a fantastic atmosphere. Roll on next year......

Edited by the_hedge, 12 July 2011 - 12:47 PM.

[tohellweride]

That was easily one of the best festival experiences I have attended to date. I have previously been to Reading, Leeds, Download and Rock am Ring and Sonisphere was way up there in terms of layout, atmosphere, camping, general behaviour and entertainment. Saw a heck of a lot of awesome bands to boot! Highlights included Metallica, Biffy, Slipknot, Parkway Drive, Weezer, Limp Bizkit and Gallows.

Would definitely go back next year if the line up is decent but saying that there is nothing wrong with Download at the moment either. We're spoilt for choice!

[gjammer]

I agree.... best festival I have been to in a long time.  Camping was perfect for me as I was by the car parks so plenty of space.  I enjoyed every minute off it and met some great people throughout the weekend.  I have returned home feeling exhausted but I saw so many great bands in such a short amount of time that I almost can't believe it happened and will definitely be going next year. Highlight for me was that after seeing Slipknot, my girlfriend (who doesn't like metal generally and wore ear plugs some of the time) finally got it and was raving about them all the way back to the tent!

[t8yman]

only went for the Sunday. £90 was painful. camped in our mates camp (they were there from thursday) my mates tent got robbed at 4am friday, police caught them apparently. the campsite was frankly shit, nowhere near enough room, you can't treat people who have paid best part of £200 like that. and the drop from the arena down that muddy slope was dangerous, should have had walking boards all over it.

however, the sunday music wise was great, saw some great stuff, special mention to feed the rhino and amplifier, great sets from both of them. mastodon were a bit dull (and I like mastodon) and the sound on 2nd was awful, especially for in flames.

all in all, I think we will be there next year, and giving download a miss unless copping can really pull something special out of the bag. but we will be going vip, because that standard camping was ridiculous.

but yes, I enjoyed it.

[the_hedge]

t8yman, on 12 July 2011 - 05:35 PM, said:

only went for the Sunday. £90 was painful. camped in our mates camp (they were there from thursday) my mates tent got robbed at 4am friday, police caught them apparently. the campsite was frankly shit, nowhere near enough room, you can't treat people who have paid best part of £200 like that. and the drop from the arena down that muddy slope was dangerous, should have had walking boards all over it.

however, the sunday music wise was great, saw some great stuff, special mention to feed the rhino and amplifier, great sets from both of them. mastodon were a bit dull (and I like mastodon) and the sound on 2nd was awful, especially for in flames.

all in all, I think we will be there next year, and giving download a miss unless copping can really pull something special out of the bag. but we will be going vip, because that standard camping was ridiculous.

but yes, I enjoyed it.

The standard camapites looked ok. You have spent too long in RIP T8yman  

[Couchy]

Anyone else really enjoy the late night entertainment & the rides? Much much better than the bigger Reading (which is the only fest I can compare it too).

[moz4pm]

the late night entertainment was miles ahead of anything i've seen at leeds festival. Metal karaoke is a stroke of genius, loved that bar. I got to do Misfits Last Caress infront of 500 people on the saturday night, fully off my head, that was best moment of the festival for me

[moz4pm]

and another point, the sonisphere organizers have used their facebook page very well to create a community among the soni goers abnd to get the buzz going, i dont see anything like as much effort going into the more established festivals

[Stalemate]

I had an amazing weekend, got my stuff singed by Wes and Bizkit were amazing.  As were Slipknot the big 4 Sum41 and others cant wait till next year.

[Couchy]

I loved going into the Bohemia stage at around 2am & people were just standing by the bar not really knowing what to do.

A1 Bassline was an extremely odd booking!

[dan666]

I thought the camping was a lot better than Download and Reading. Felt a lot more safer as well. No problems with fires or violence at all.

The crowd was great, we camped right near the arena so took 5 mins from our tent to the main stage!

All in all, was brilliant and deffo a contender against Download. Just needed more water points around.

[t8yman]

Stalemate, on 13 July 2011 - 02:20 PM, said:

I had an amazing weekend, got my stuff singed by Wes and Bizkit were amazing.  As were Slipknot the big 4 Sum41 and others cant wait till next year.

Damn that Wes Borland and his wayward lighter!!

[The60ftOctopus]

Brilliant time as always. Possibly my favourite festival.
Highlights were: Slipknot, The Mars Volta, Weezer, Limp Bizkit, Biffy.

Roll on 2012.