2015 Wishlist

[Yellow_Fellow]

To go from Iron Maiden, Metallica and The Prodigy to Skrillex, Jack White and Muse on the main and Slayer and Dreamtheater to Manic Street Preachers and Knife Party on the 2nd doesn't seem right

A little progression would be just what Sonisphere needs.

[rawaudioinput]

System of a Down are playing KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas so are likely to be on the festival circuit again

[Gucci Piggy]

Info is false then; KISS headlining Download. Back to thinking that Soni won't be on.

[lightning1000]

Yup, faith no more won't be playing either.

[5co77ie]

also coming to the conclusion Soni ain't happenin'

[lightning1000]

Unless they've gone all out and got something like:

AC/DC

Ozzy Osbourne

Rammstein

[mrtourette]

What are Metallica doing next year?

[dentalplan]

They're doing European festivals run by Soni's new owners.

[devilman]

Let's face it, it's fucked. It's not coming back.

[dentalplan]

Seems Sonisphere's brand may not be completely dead. INTERESTING name in the middle there though - shows they might be opening things up a little across the continent. Edit: it's from Muse's website by the way.

I'd like them to wash their hands of the Sonisphere brand in the UK and introduce a festival with a bit more diversity. Not that Sonisphere doesn't diversify but they couldn't book (for example) Kasabian under the current banner.

Edited December 10, 2014 by dentalplan

[foolee]

Oooo maybe a glimpse of hope of a different sort of festival which would be nice!

[kaosmark2]

I think a lot of us have been saying for years that Soni would have been far better aiming to reach a fanbase between what Reading currently is and DL is. Problem is, they can't book a festival without Metallica.

[dentalplan]

I think a lot of us have been saying for years that Soni would have been far better aiming to reach a fanbase between what Reading currently is and DL is. Problem is, they can't book a festival without Metallica.

I wasn't calling it or anything, I was just pointing out that I'd said they wouldn't book Kasabian under the Sonisphere name and they did.

But yeah, I can't see it coming back next year as they've even said recently on Twitter that they don't know if it's going on but if they have a year off then come back with a little more range then that should be good.

[kaosmark2]

I wasn't calling it or anything, I was just pointing out that I'd said they wouldn't book Kasabian under the Sonisphere name and they did.

But yeah, I can't see it coming back next year as they've even said recently on Twitter that they don't know if it's going on but if they have a year off then come back with a little more range then that should be good.

Oh yeah, I get that. Bit amusing that they booked the specific name you gave as an example.

[kipper64]

I wasn't calling it or anything, I was just pointing out that I'd said they wouldn't book Kasabian under the Sonisphere name and they did.

But yeah, I can't see it coming back next year as they've even said recently on Twitter that they don't know if it's going on but if they have a year off then come back with a little more range then that should be good.

The dude who does their twitter said he's not very hopeful at this stage, but did say the higher ups are a bit more positive. They did have something in the works that was going to happen on the 3rd-5th of July, but something changed and that isn't happening anymore, dunno if a band or bands dropped out, or were snatched by another festival but it happened quite recently (in the last few weeks), so that seems to be the set back. Currently they are still in talks with a few bands, and are considering a different weekend too but they need to wait and see what the bands they are still in talks with say.

[kaosmark2]

They did have something in the works that was going to happen on the 3rd-5th of July, but something changed and that isn't happening anymore

Metallica got booked by Reading.

[kipper64]

Haha, my understanding is that it wasn't Metallica...but you never know

[luckysalt]

I think a lot of us have been saying for years that Soni would have been far better aiming to reach a fanbase between what Reading currently is and DL is. Problem is, they can't book a festival without Metallica.

They should go for a festival line up like Phoenix had in the 90's

4 days, book varied line ups

Bjork and Massive Attack

Smashing Pumpkins and Pixies

Depeche Mode and Placebo

Kasabian and The Strokes

whack double combos like that in with their normal rock days, dont pigeon hole yourself as many customers don't either, Reading and V were popular in the 90's booking like this also.

They did it right years ago with Biffy subbed by Weezer, it was a step in the right direction

Download does what it does very well, Soni need to appeal as something more than Download, they could do it and do it very well, it just needs to take a chance

[kaosmark2]

They should go for a festival line up like Phoenix had in the 90's

4 days, book varied line ups

Bjork and Massive Attack

Smashing Pumpkins and Pixies

Depeche Mode and Placebo

Kasabian and The Strokes

whack double combos like that in with their normal rock days, dont pigeon hole yourself as many customers don't either, Reading and V were popular in the 90's booking like this also.

They did it right years ago with Biffy subbed by Weezer, it was a step in the right direction

Download does what it does very well, Soni need to appeal as something more than Download, they could do it and do it very well, it just needs to take a chance

That'd be fucking ace. They've booked Placebo before but I'd be far more excited about a festival going out down this route than another "sort of metal fest".

[dentalplan]

They should go for a festival line up like Phoenix had in the 90's

4 days, book varied line ups

Bjork and Massive Attack

Smashing Pumpkins and Pixies

Depeche Mode and Placebo

Kasabian and The Strokes

whack double combos like that in with their normal rock days, dont pigeon hole yourself as many customers don't either, Reading and V were popular in the 90's booking like this also.

They did it right years ago with Biffy subbed by Weezer, it was a step in the right direction

Download does what it does very well, Soni need to appeal as something more than Download, they could do it and do it very well, it just needs to take a chance

I think they'd have to make it a little less 90's than those acts though to survive in the long run.

I always figured that the easiest possible step Soni could make would be to do something like Rock am Ring which is awash with acts that'd be at home at Sonisphere but with some indie rock and stuff mixed in too. A shift to a festival with as much variety as Phoenix would be ace but a big leap.

[kipper64]

I think it's easier said than done. A lot of those acts are already heavily contested by more mainstream festivals (for lack of a better word), which offer more exposure in TV/radio coverage, heavier on the sponsorship so can throw more money and all that jazz. You also overestimate the rock market and how divided it is. People whinged like fuck when Biffy/Weezer/All Time Low/YM@6 were announced for the saturday at 2011, and Biffy whilst put on an amazing performance, had a fairly tiny crowd, as did most of those bands.

I'd love a festival who booked acts like Phoenix did though, it appeals to me personally, but I think the assumption that it'd be a big success or much better market to pursue isn't strictly the case. Festivals like Reading or V that used to feature a lot more rock or alternative music have moved more and more away from this, do you not wonder why? Though maybe I'm wrong, it is only a 60k festival afterall so maybe they could pull something like that off.

[kaosmark2]

Though maybe I'm wrong, it is only a 60k festival afterall so maybe they could pull something like that off.

That's the main thing, it's smaller than a lot of its competitors, yet it's trying to get the biggest rock bands that they all want every year on exclusives. That's nowhere near as sustainable as going for acts that are a bit smaller and do a bit more.

[kipper64]

Aye, but again it's getting compared to the bigger festivals, and if they don't book big bands, it'll fold. Look at 2012 for example. If they wanted to go down that route, they'd need to scale the pricing back a fair bit too, but I don't know if running a lower priced event would work in that location (guess it depends on costs?), and if they booked smaller bands it wouldn't really work with the touring festival idea would it? Not to mention if they were only booking smaller bands, and had to scale price down, budget would go down on what they can spend on bands, this would make it easier for competing festivals to just throw a bit more money to get a band that might headline sonisphere, to sub their festival etc... there are plenty of reasons again why that might not work as well as it sounds, or while it fix some of the issues they've had over the years, it'd present a whole new bunch of issues which could be just as bad - if not worse.

Edited December 10, 2014 by kipper64

[kaosmark2]

Lots of smaller festivals still charge similar prices for tickets as R+L/DL/V/Glasto/etc.

[kipper64]

So you think if they charged the same for ticket prices, but booked smaller bands, it'd be more likely to be a success? I think that's unlikely.