Sonisphere Festival Sunday, the 2nd of August, 2009

We woke up in the morning feeling a little bit better than the night before, but even so, my body was aching and complaining about having to get up.

After a good shower, we left the room and went down to have breakfast at the hotel. Our 3 Israeli mates were already there and already complaining about the food. Breakfast was a disappointment. We were hoping to have a Full English Breakfast so that we would have our bellies really full for this 2nd day of festival, but there were no scrambled eggs, sausages or anything like that. Not even croissants!!! We have only managed to eat some shitty bread with butter, some milk and cereals and the awful English bucket of coffee.

Since we weren’t able to fill up our bellies, we took from the hotel some supplies for the day (several cheese bars, cereal boxes, bread with butter, etc.), so that we had something to eat during the day without having to spend a lot of money on the festival area.

After breakfast, we took a taxi to the Festival, once again with our new occasional friends.

When we arrived, we noticed some things never change, whether you are in Portugal or in the UK. This 2nd day of concerts was going to be much heavier than the previous day, so there were security personnel doing searches at the Festival entrance. The day before there was nothing like that. Why do these people think that headbangers and all sorts of metal fans are dangerous??? It’s silly, indeed.

We’ve arrived at the Festival just in time to see Paradise Lost on the Saturn Stage. It’s sad to see this band opening one of the stages and playing only 30 minutes.

Paradise Lost at Sonisphere ©Torpes2009

I didn’t refer to this before but there’s a big difference between the festivals in the UK and in Portugal. In the UK they sign so many bands to play in a 2 day festival that almost every band just plays between 30 minutes to 1 hour. In my opinion, this makes no sense at all and I’ll be back to this theme (next post) just to add a few more thoughts on it.

Let’s get back to Paradise Lost again. It was nice to see this band once again but they are not the same as before. These guys still have good songs but not the same energy. The best moment of this short set was when they played some stuff from the album “Draconian Times”.

Paradise Lost Setlist: The Enemy, Pity the Sadness, Requiem, Hallowed Land, One Second, Say Just Words

After Paradise Lost, we moved on to the Apollo Stage to see some rock legends. The industrial pioneers Killing Joke are old but Jaz Coleman (singer) is still rocking like before. Although not knowing very much of their work, I really enjoyed the concert.

Killing Joke Setlist: Requiem, Wardance, Love Like Blood, Eighties, The Wait, Pssyche

We went back to the Saturn Stage for one of the worst performances of this festival. Saxon delivered a poor concert with an awful sound and with no energy whatsoever. For the curriculum these guys have, they are supposed to deliver a lot more. They should have seen the Thunder gig on the previous night.

Saxon Setlist: Battalions of Steel, Heavy Metal Thunder, Strangers In The Night, Let Me Feel Your Power, Princess Of The Night,Denim And Leather

On the main stage, Lamb of God were about to start so we went there to check it out. I heard them before on digital media and I wanted to see them live. Great musicians and a very brutal concert but for me they should get rid of their singer. No voice at all, just screaming without any intelligible words coming out of his mouth. I lost interest and we went back to the Saturn Stage to see one of the concerts I’d been waiting for.

Lamb of God setlist: The Passing, In Your Words, Set To Fail, Walk With Me In Hell, Now You've Got Something To Die For,Dead Seeds,Laid to Rest, Redneck, Black Label

Mastodon started their concert with the amazing song “Oblivion” from the masterpiece “Crack the Skye”. Very competent musicians and great singers (yes, all of them sing). Going through the new album and some of the old stuff, they gave us a short but one of the best concerts of this festival. Their performance of “The Czar” was just out of this world.

Mastodon at Sonisphere ©Torpes2009

How is it possible that Mastodon only had 45 minutes to play??? I’m eager to see them in a proper concert. Just them, nobody else. If you never listened to the album “Crack the Skye”, you’re missing one of the masterpieces of this century.

Mastodon setlist: Oblivion, Megalodon, Blood and Thunder, The Czar, Crack The Skye, Iron Tusk, March Of The Fire Ants

It was time to check out who were the Special Guests announced for this festival. It was not much of a surprise because it was Machine Head. Of course they were welcomed, but everyone was already more or less expecting them. They had cancelled their participation on this festival after some bickering with Sonisphere organization and with Limp Bizkit. It seems that there was some sort of agreement and here they were, ready to rock and rumble. And what a rumble!!! We were offered a brutal, powerful and energetic set were anything was possible in the mosh pit, besides taking eyes. Robb Flynn thanked the fans, telling us that we were the reason for this Machine Head at the Sonisphere Festival, not the f***ing organization or Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit).

Machine Head at Sonisphere ©Torpes2009

Machine Head setlist: Imperium, Ten Ton Hammer, Beautiful Morning, Old, Bulldozer, Struck A Nerve, Halo, Davidian

After Machine Head, and since we were not interested in seeing Feeder, we went to the Bohemia Stage to see Corey Taylor from Slipknot on his solo acoustic act. It wasn’t great. His solo songs do not betray his birthplace. On the 30 minutes he had available he played some songs with a strong country influence but without any flame to it. His set had a good moment: when he played the song “Bother” from his band Stone Sour. It was just a pity that the drummer seemed like he had never played or rehearsed this song before. But it was a good moment with the audience singing along.

We went back to the main stage to see Limp Bizkit. I have to say that I didn’t have many expectations about this return to the stages and my fears were confirmed. Limp Bizkit had retired a few years ago and one thing is certain: this should have remained that way. The big Limp Bizkit fans were enjoying it but for me there was something missing. Those Limp Bizkit songs that were great some years ago now seemed dated and old fashioned. Basically it was nothing new, just the same old crap. Hearing “Nookie” once again after all these years made me think why I liked these guys back in the day and I have to say that I don’t have the faintest idea. I don’t know what Fred Durst intends to do with his band in the future but if this is it I only have one thing to say: Good luck, all the best.

Limp Bizkit setlist: My Generation, Livin' It Up, Show Me What You Got, Hot Dog, Eat You Alive, Rollin', Break Stuff, My Way, Nookie, Faith, Take A Look Around

After that disappointment, we had the chance to see one of the best concerts of the day, and of the entire festival. Thank God Alice in Chains found this guy called William DuVall to replace the deceased Layne Staley. DuVall is without any doubt an excellent singer and performer. It would always be risky for Alice in Chains to get a new singer to replace the charismatic voice of Layne Staley, but they found someone with the same voice tone who doesn’t stay in the shadow of the former singer. DuVall has earned his place in this band and with a lot of merit. I saw Alice in Chains some years ago in Portugal and I was amazed with this guy. Now, after some years of playing together with the rest of the band, he is even more confident and well tuned. Really amazing. I can’t wait to hear their new album.

Alice in Chains gave us a 45 minute set list mixing old tunes with some of the new ones. The old classics sounded powerful and very good on the voice of DuVall, making justice to the work of Layne Staley. It seems like they’ve reviewed their songs and brought them to the 21st Century.
Successful themes like “Man in the Box”, “Would?” or “Rooster”, to name a few, just grew in shape, precision and powerfulness throughout the concert. For sure, it was one of the most enjoyable concerts at Sonisphere.

Alice in Chains setlist: Angry Chair, Man in the Box, Again, A Looking in View, Them Bones, Dam That River, Check My Brain, Would?, Rooster

After the amazing Alice in Chains concert, we went back to the Apollo Stage to see the reason why I went to this festival. Almost certainly, the last Nine Inch Nails gig in the UK, and their most likely last tour.

Trent Reznor (NIN) at Sonisphere ©Torpes2009

Trent Reznor has previously made public that this will be the last UK show from the band he uses as a platform for his distinct take on music. Without any doubt, Nine Inch Nails make a powerful, passionate noise that can compete in the heaviest of company, but what they certainly are not is a heavy metal band, and on this evening they stand up to the audience at Knebworth and make that quite clear. Nine Inch Nails could have come onto the stage and blown the crowd away with a set of heavy classics such as “Head Like A Hole”, “The Hand That Feeds” or “Closer”, but they didn't... they did something else - something very special instead.

I admit that playing all the classics would have been a great way to go out - and that's what I was expecting. But what we got instead was a very heartfelt goodbye. A restrained and experimental set focusing on the kind of heaviness that comes from within. It was a profound and cathartic performance that divided the crowd. This kind of show is usually done in a small, indoor venue, with an intimate atmosphere between artist and fan. To attempt the same at a rock festival this big, is extraordinarily audacious. “Something I Can Never Have” is achingly beautiful as is “The Downward Spiral”. To hear an entire audience singing along the masterpiece “Hurt” was more than special, it was just something else...

Me at the NIN concert in Sonisphere ©Torpes2009

Trent Reznor provided a set list for the fans rather than the festival crowd, but in my opinion there was no need to be a fan... it was just either for you, or it wasn't. For me the only problem with the Nine Inch Nails concert was that I wanted more, much more than just 1 hour concert. But thank God I’ve been there.

Nine Inch Nails setlist: The Way Out is Through, Wish, I Do Not Want This, Something I Can Never Have, Gone, Still, The Frail, The Wretched, Non Entity, Lights in the Sky, The Downward Spiral, Hurt

After that amazing moment it was time to eat something and just wait for Metallica. My interest for Avenged Seven Fold was near to nothing. It is just inflated hard rock without any substance.

It was noticeable that this was the moment that Knebworth was waiting for.

As Metallica take the stage to a video clip from “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” even the most hardened sceptic would surely understand the attraction... Metallica are enormous. ENORMOUS. They are raw, crazy and loud.

Metallica at Sonisphere ©Torpes2009

James Hetfield continues to have that special ability to work the crowd in a way that no one else is able too. He is an expert in the field, delivering a speech that brings back flashes from the time he was in rehab (documented in the “Some Kind of Monster” film), and announces that he wants Metallica and the audience to "work together", to make "everything good".

Metallica can convince us of anything when they're this tight, this good.

Opening with “Blackened” and raising the bar with “Creeping Death”, Metallica has done what Metallica does best: grabbing you by the balls right from the beginning. After that, all the audience was on the palm of their hands. They delivered “Fuel”, “Of Wolf and Man” and “Fade to Black” in one go. Brutal, the frenzy was set.

Metallica were professional as always and delivered what we expect from them.

A Metallica concert is a pantomime at its best, a show in full speed and on flames, much different from Trent Reznor’s more introspective concert earlier in the evening - but they do it with style and they do it for you, the Metallica fan, to make your experience the best possible one... that's what this was all about. And what an evening it was... new songs (“Broken, Beat and Scarred”, “Cyanide”, etc.) mixed with the old classics (“Sad But True”, “One”, “Master Of Puppets”, “Nothing Else Matters”, “Enter Sandman”, “Hit The Lights”, “Seek & Destroy”), a full menu with everything we were entitled to.

We even had the joy of singing Happy Birthday to James Hetfield at the end of the show, while a kid (probably his son) was throwing custard pies at his face. Just one of the several traditions in a Metallica show that make us feel as part of the Metallica family.

Metallica setlist: Blackened, Creeping Death, Fuel, Of Wolf And Man, Fade To Black, Broken, Beat And Scarred, Cyanide, Sad But True, One, All Nightmare Long, The Day That Never Comes, Master Of Puppets, Dyers Eve, Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman Encore: Stone Cold Crazy, Hit The Lights, Seek & Destroy.

It was great, we were tired, and it was time to say goodbye to our first experience in an UK festival.

We’ve exchanged some phone messages with our taxi pals, but they were going to stay a little bit longer to see The Ataris on the Bohemia Stage at midnight (later on they told us the band didn’t show up).

With no taxi mates to share the fare, we decided to get the free bus to Stevenage and then try to find someone to share the taxi back to Luton.

We shared the taxi with two Luton residents who were completely gobsmacked with the fares the taxi drivers were asking at the Stevenage rail station (from £50 to £80 pounds or more). F***ing thieves!
While waiting for the taxi, we agreed with one of the taxi drivers (English, middle-age, seemingly more honest) who was waiting for clients, on a set price for him to take us to Luton Airport with a little stop at Luton town centre to drop the 2 Luton boys.
40 quid! Not bad compared to the others. We took it.
After leaving our taxi companions at the city centre, we finally arrived at the hotel, tired as hell.

End of day: a revitalizing shower and off to bed. Back home on the following morning.