First time visitor to Sonisphere!

[gooner1990]

HI all

Heading to Sonisphere this year, first time visitor although done plenty of other festivals (see sig) in the past...is the layout and what not good?

Any tips to pass on beforehand, that you might not know if you've not been before??...I know Download got moved about last year and lots of complaints...would you all rate it good as a festival?, camping, prices etc.

A mate of mine who works at the festival has got me two guest area tickets...not sure if that's seperate camping or just use of more bars/toilets. Never had anything but normal punter admission tickets before.

Looking forward to Metallica especially!

cheers!

[bekimo]

First of all, the complaints Download got last year were due to the fact they bent over and were royally buggered by AC/DC. Which ended up a complete farce. Thankfully this year, Download will be AC/DC free and back to normal awesome service.

As your sig suggests you are obviously a frequent Reading festival goer. You odd and quite mad person you. I went once. NEVER again. Anyhoo, in comparison to Reading and Glasto, you will find Sonisphere really quiet!

As a festival, Soni is redonkulously laid back. The only trouble I saw all weekend was thieving on the Thursday (first) night. You will be used to the 24/7 party that happens at Reading and Glasto, this just isn't the case with Soni. I found it quite family friendly - so you don't yet all the terrible little 15 year old knobs that frequent Reading!! People were chilled out. It's not like it's a graveyard. People were definitely enjoying themselves - My friend got a black eye and concussion in one mosh pit and I broke a rib in a crush on the Friday night, so it can be quite mental where and when you expect it to be!!!

As a personal note, I love the fact the car park is right next to the campsite and the campsite is right next to the arena. No boats like at Reading. No epic walk like at Download. Perfecto!!

You'll pay at least £4 for a burger. So usual festival prices but on the upside there is a free shuttle into the town and you can go to Tesco there so that's an option if you really have an issue with paying lots of pennies for crappy food!!! Ooh and you can't BBQ just anywhere. There are special BBQ zones. You have to take your BBQ to, cook your food, then bring it back. I really hate that bit! They are really strict on fires too. Everyone who started one around us got them put out straight away. And gazebos are banned.

As for guest entry. No idea.

[gooner1990]

Reading Festival is great! - I just camp up the back in Orange and it's fairly quiet and sensible up that area.

My days of jumping round in mosh pits are well and truly over....I prefer standing at the back with a pint headbanging!

I found out from my friend that guest camping is on the way out of the arena on the righthand side behind one of the bars...wherever that is!

I'll probably take a lot of snacks with me and load up on one meal per day as well! - Sounds a bit OTT with gazebos, we had ours ripped down by security at 3am at Reading last year for having a very small fire underneath it. health and safety gone even madder if you ask me!

Looking forward to it already!!

[thejimbola]

No Gooners please

[gooner1990]

[spwan-of-the-devil]

Ill be taking my Stoke top with me