Sonisphere Festival 2010 Report

Alright, it took me a little while to translate my report into english, but here it goes!

Sonisphere in Stockholm 2010 could be described with one single word: wow. But that doesn't tell the reader that much so I figured I'd tell you about it in detail. ;)

I went to Stora Skuggan about 11am - which was the time for the admission. But I had already got my festival band the day before during the preparty. This meant I didn't have to queue up in the enormous queue. The admission was delayed for about half an hour though and so I entered the festival area about a quarter before Warrior Soul started to play. Aaand during that time I got myself some merchandise before the queues became huge.

WARRIOR SOUL
And so Sonisphere Festival 2010 started with Warrior Soul as the first band to play. They play old classical heavy metal, but they didn't really catch my attention. Although they were quite okay to be the first band to play.
Moreover, during their show the goddamn rain started. And it kept raining for the whole day...

IMPERIAL STATE ELECTRIC
When Warrior Soul stopped playing, quite a lot of people had entered the festival area and it was time for Imperial State Electric to play - a quite odd and interesting band fronted by Nicke Andersson. They played some sort of swingy metal. I liked it, although it became quite repetitive after a while. Lord Knows I Know It Ain't Right and Deja Vu were two memorable songs.

ANTHRAX
I might as well just spit it out - I'm not a big fan of thrash metal in general and I have no interest in The Big Four, but the performance of Anthax quite changed that.
The band started off with Caught in a Mosh and captured me instantly. I will, without doubt, explore this band more in the future - they totally got the festival feeling going. It was a great show with songs such as Antisocial and Indians. Since I'm not a specialist on the band in question I can't really say much more about them than that it showed they really made an effort and held a great contact with the audience.

HAMMERFALL
When Anthrax had got me going I went to the other stage to see the swedish band Hammerfall which I believe most swedes, at least, know. Joacim Cans and the rest of the band were full of energy and raised the spirit during the goddamn rain. The show held songs such as Any Means Necessary, Let the Hammer Fall and, of course, Hearts on Fire. Even though I know this band isn't that appreciated by a lot of metalfans I'd say they did a good show and personally I've always wanted to sing along to Hearts on Fire live... ;)

SLAYER
As I mentioned, thrash isn't really my thing and therefore I didn't really feel the urge to listen to Slayer. (oh man, people are going to hate me for this, haha.)
I decided to get something to eat during their performance and find a place to get away from the rain (and I did! it was great).

IGGY & THE STOOGES
When Slayer stopped playing it was time for Iggy & The Stooges, but I felt like I wouldn't be able to see mr. Cooper that well if I went to have a look at Iggy and his guys. So I decided to skip his show and squeeze myself into the third row to Cooper instead. Quite a pity, but sometimes one has to prioritize.


ALICE COOPER
I've always liked artists who do something different on stage except jumping around and headbanging so Alice Cooper is a natural choice. Both music and visual effects impress me a lot since it somehow shows that the artist not only is interested in creating good music but also a show which is a true pleasure for both the ears and the eyes.
The fact that I stood over an hour squeezed inbetween wet and sweaty people with the feet in at least 10 cm's of water while the rain poured down on us made me wish like hell that this wasn't something I did in vain. And when the show started I know this wasn't the case...
The 62 year old Cooper started off with the classical School's Out and presented his impressive Theatre of Death during the upcoming hour. Cooper's stage prescence is fantastic and the show totally showed what he's made of. He was beheaded, forced to wear a straightjacket, killed with a huge injection during Poison and by every stunt I wondered how the hell they made it happen. It was impressive.


Setlist:
01 - School's Out
02 - No More Mr Nice Guy
03 - I'm Eighteen
04 - Wicked Young Man
05 - Ballad Of Dwight Fry
06 - Go To Hell
07 - Guilty
08 - Cold Ethyl
09 - Poison
10 - Black Widow Jam
11 - Vengeance Is Mine
12 - Dirty Diamonds
13 - Billion Dollar Babies
14 - Killer
15 - I Love The Dead
16 - Feed My Frankenstein
17 - Under My Wheels
18 - Elected
19 - School's Out

The show of Alice Cooper gave me such a thirst for more! It was the show at the festival in which I enjoyed myself the most I think and I really, really hope I get the chance to see Cooper live again!


MÖTLEY CRÜE
The moment Alice Cooper stopped playing I ran as fast as I could to the other stage - but unfortunately I didn't get that close at all. If I stood on my tiptoes I could see the band on the stage, so I had to make do with watching the widescreen instead. And that wasn't too bad either.
When Mötley Crüe entered the stage it felt really weird. I've dreamt about seeing these guys live for I don't know how long and my dream finally came true. They even started off with Kickstart my Heart and I was so damn happy. But I also noticed the band is quite battered (which isn't that much of a surprise considering the life they've lived). Vince has gained weight and can't really sing those high pitched parts and Mick's disease is more and more visible. It makes me quite sad because he's my favourite in the band and I get to think of what he wrote in The Dirt about it. But regardless he managed to do all the solos and they impressed me a lot - creds to the man!
The spirit was in the top and the band looked really happy and exuberant, especially Nikki who is 52 years old but looks like, and moves like he'd still be 30 years old... Crazy! Moreover, it stopped raining during the show and the evening suddenly felt much better.


Setlist:
01 - Kickstart My Heart
02 - Wild Side
03 - Shout At The Devil
04 - Saints Of Los Angeles
05 - Live Wire
06 - Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
07 - Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)
08 - Mutherfucker of the Year
09 - Primal Scream
10 - Dr. Feelgood
11 - Girls, Girls, Girls

The only thing I can complain about is that the show was too short! Eleven songs are not that much and it felt like the concert was over as fast as it started.

IRON MAIDEN
And so it was time for the biggest band at Sonisphere to play. I've never really been a huge Maiden fan but I really think they're a cozy band and I looked forward to see them live. And I wasn't disappointed. Bruce Dickinson bounced onto the stage and entertained us from the very beginning to the very end. They treated us to both old and new songs and part of me shivered as the band played Fear of the Dark when the darkness had fallen over Stora Skuggan. The band's lightning show helped the ambience to become completely magical. It was impossible to draw attention to anything but the band's show, because it all felt so huge. 47 000 people in the audience made me all shaky and the feeling that replenished me was both grandeur and fellowship. Speaking of fellowship I got a little kiss on my cheek by some unknown bloke who thought it was important for us all to feel the fellowship, haha :P

Sonisphere Festival finished off with a huge thunderstorm directly after Maiden got off the stage and on the subway on the way back to my hotel I could barely grasp what I actually saw during the day. The happiness was total.

(Disclaimer: None of these pictures were taken by me! Found them in the Sonisphere group at Facebook.)

Kommentarer
Philippa

Love the blog- more please!!! (only.... in English so I can read, kay? :P)

2010-08-17 @ 22:12:19
Katsu

Haha, thank you!

Well, it seems like I'll keep blogging in english, so... ;)

2010-08-20 @ 14:06:37
URL: http://katsus.blogg.se/

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Katsu Jag går under pseudonymen Katsu, är 20 år gammal och kommer från Skåne men bor för närvarande i Uppsala där jag pluggar. Mina intressen involverar bland annat metal (och lite andra musikaliska genrer), fotografi, språk och spel. Detta lär dyka upp här och var i bloggen.
Det bästa sättet att känna igen mig är på min frisyr. Stort och spretigt - och svart, förstås.


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