Sonisphere 2010
Friday
We arrived around 2ish; luckily some friends had arrived the night before and reserved some space in the campsite, so we were able to pitch in a nice flat spot near enough to the arena to be able to wander back and forth between the tent and the main arena where all the stages and marketplace stalls were set up. We saw a few of the acts (Bigelf are definitely as weird as they sound) but were more interested in getting some rest before Saturday.
Saturday
Woke up feeling surprisingly fresh - earplugs are a definite must at festivals, especially when you're camping right next to a tent full of teenagers who spent the entire night singing 'IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN NA NA NA NAA, NA NA NA NA NAAAAAA...' and arguing over whose stash to smoke their way through next. Did get woken up once when the police horses went by on patrol, but only because they stopped to find out if the guy trying to get into one of the tents the other side of ours was supposed to be there (he wasn't).
Matt walked up to the onsite supermarket and picked up bacon, sausages and eggs and made us all breakfast. Taking the plastic cafetiere and a bag of decent coffee was a masterful idea on his part.
We missed the opening act on the main stage (Family Force 5) on purpose, but got in to the arena in plenty of time to watch Sabaton's set, one of the best surprises of the weekend. I hadn't heard any of their stuff before the festival, but we'll be going to see them play again. Lacuna Coil were on next, but sadly their set fell a bit flat. No real energy to it, no effort to get the crowd going, lots of people drifting off part way through because they really didn't seem to be that interested in their own act, let alone expect anyone else to. Anthrax were just as good as last year though; bouncy, energetic, good songs, and excellent rapport with the crowd.
We took a break after Anthrax and went for a bit of a rest at the tent. And tea! Ye gods, the necessity of tea at a festival. We were back in the arena to see Tim Minchin, but unfortunately he'd been put on stage in the Bohemia marquee and it was packed to capacity with people 10-deep standing outside the doors. We gave up and went for a wander around the tradestands, watched Skunk Anansie, then managed to get a good spot for Placebo. Their live act is fab and the atmosphere in the crowd was brilliant. Motley Crue on the other hand fell a bit flat. That said, the crowd were mostly waiting for the headline act - Rammstein.
Ye gods, they stole the show. Till Lindemann's voice is phenomenal. The pyros, costumes and other gimmicks are in no way an attempt to cover up any shortcomings in the music - there just aren't any. We were lucky enough to find a spot just to the left of the soundstack and had a great view of the entire set, including Flake (the keyboard player) going crowdsurfing in the pit in a semi-rigid dinghy.
We got some food, went to bed, and eventually the screams of 'Alan! ALAN! ALLAAAANNN!!' died down enough for us to get to sleep. I got woken up briefly by the lads camping behind us, but listening to someone so stoned they can't see straight searching desperately for salad in their tent at 2am is actually quite funny, so I didn't mind that too much...
Sunday
Sunday started well - we got up, made tea, and made our way up to the arena to listen to Madina Lake while pootling around the nearby market stalls, then watch Skindred - their music might not be something I'd listen to regularly, but Benji is such a good entertainer that they're well worth seeing live. We listened to a bit of Dir En Grey, but weren't that impressed, so again we spent some time back at the campsite just chilling out and resting (and drinking tea!) before going back up for Alice in Chains. We took some time out after their set to pick up some merchandise t-shirts, a late lunch, and a new top for Matt from Vortex, then sadly ended up skipping Iggy and the Stooges in order to get a good spot to watch Iron Maiden's set from. We were glad we had - despite the usual squish and the inordinate number of tall people and twits with flags, I could see the stage and both screens for the entire set.
We ate, wandered back to the tent, had a last beer or two, and settled down all ready to get up around 7 or 8, pack up, and get to Stevenage to get the bus home.
That was when it all went wrong. As in, 'there was a riot' wrong.
Tents were stolen and set on fire, the fences were pushed over, portaloos were pushed over with people in them, family camping got invaded, the lighting poles got pulled down.
The first we knew of the chaos was at 1am when we woke up to screaming, explosions and flames a few feet from the tent.
It didn't help that when the 50 or so morons who started the tent fire were running around finding aerosols and cans to throw into it, the security staff who were down there just stood and watched them. When we suggested to them that the rest of us would prefer not to be burned out of our tents their exact words were 'well, do you want to try and stop them?'
Were they being paid or were they just there for decoration? The best protection we had that night was my ex-squaddie other half, and the tent full of Geordies camped behind us. We resorted to phoning the fire brigade eventually, when boiling hot aerosol shrapnel started flying through the campsite and we still hadn't seen any sign of competent security or police.
No-one got any sleep that night; one of the girls with us was at her first festival and now doesn't want to go to any more, the German couple next to us who had been really impressed all weekend with the atmosphere and friendliness of the festival did the same as us; packed up as soon as it got light and left feeling absolutely disgusted.
A real shame, as it could have been pretty much the perfect festival experience for most of the people there if it hadn't been for those arseholes.
We arrived around 2ish; luckily some friends had arrived the night before and reserved some space in the campsite, so we were able to pitch in a nice flat spot near enough to the arena to be able to wander back and forth between the tent and the main arena where all the stages and marketplace stalls were set up. We saw a few of the acts (Bigelf are definitely as weird as they sound) but were more interested in getting some rest before Saturday.
Saturday
Woke up feeling surprisingly fresh - earplugs are a definite must at festivals, especially when you're camping right next to a tent full of teenagers who spent the entire night singing 'IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN NA NA NA NAA, NA NA NA NA NAAAAAA...' and arguing over whose stash to smoke their way through next. Did get woken up once when the police horses went by on patrol, but only because they stopped to find out if the guy trying to get into one of the tents the other side of ours was supposed to be there (he wasn't).
Matt walked up to the onsite supermarket and picked up bacon, sausages and eggs and made us all breakfast. Taking the plastic cafetiere and a bag of decent coffee was a masterful idea on his part.
We missed the opening act on the main stage (Family Force 5) on purpose, but got in to the arena in plenty of time to watch Sabaton's set, one of the best surprises of the weekend. I hadn't heard any of their stuff before the festival, but we'll be going to see them play again. Lacuna Coil were on next, but sadly their set fell a bit flat. No real energy to it, no effort to get the crowd going, lots of people drifting off part way through because they really didn't seem to be that interested in their own act, let alone expect anyone else to. Anthrax were just as good as last year though; bouncy, energetic, good songs, and excellent rapport with the crowd.
We took a break after Anthrax and went for a bit of a rest at the tent. And tea! Ye gods, the necessity of tea at a festival. We were back in the arena to see Tim Minchin, but unfortunately he'd been put on stage in the Bohemia marquee and it was packed to capacity with people 10-deep standing outside the doors. We gave up and went for a wander around the tradestands, watched Skunk Anansie, then managed to get a good spot for Placebo. Their live act is fab and the atmosphere in the crowd was brilliant. Motley Crue on the other hand fell a bit flat. That said, the crowd were mostly waiting for the headline act - Rammstein.
Ye gods, they stole the show. Till Lindemann's voice is phenomenal. The pyros, costumes and other gimmicks are in no way an attempt to cover up any shortcomings in the music - there just aren't any. We were lucky enough to find a spot just to the left of the soundstack and had a great view of the entire set, including Flake (the keyboard player) going crowdsurfing in the pit in a semi-rigid dinghy.
We got some food, went to bed, and eventually the screams of 'Alan! ALAN! ALLAAAANNN!!' died down enough for us to get to sleep. I got woken up briefly by the lads camping behind us, but listening to someone so stoned they can't see straight searching desperately for salad in their tent at 2am is actually quite funny, so I didn't mind that too much...
Sunday
Sunday started well - we got up, made tea, and made our way up to the arena to listen to Madina Lake while pootling around the nearby market stalls, then watch Skindred - their music might not be something I'd listen to regularly, but Benji is such a good entertainer that they're well worth seeing live. We listened to a bit of Dir En Grey, but weren't that impressed, so again we spent some time back at the campsite just chilling out and resting (and drinking tea!) before going back up for Alice in Chains. We took some time out after their set to pick up some merchandise t-shirts, a late lunch, and a new top for Matt from Vortex, then sadly ended up skipping Iggy and the Stooges in order to get a good spot to watch Iron Maiden's set from. We were glad we had - despite the usual squish and the inordinate number of tall people and twits with flags, I could see the stage and both screens for the entire set.
We ate, wandered back to the tent, had a last beer or two, and settled down all ready to get up around 7 or 8, pack up, and get to Stevenage to get the bus home.
That was when it all went wrong. As in, 'there was a riot' wrong.
Tents were stolen and set on fire, the fences were pushed over, portaloos were pushed over with people in them, family camping got invaded, the lighting poles got pulled down.
The first we knew of the chaos was at 1am when we woke up to screaming, explosions and flames a few feet from the tent.
It didn't help that when the 50 or so morons who started the tent fire were running around finding aerosols and cans to throw into it, the security staff who were down there just stood and watched them. When we suggested to them that the rest of us would prefer not to be burned out of our tents their exact words were 'well, do you want to try and stop them?'
Were they being paid or were they just there for decoration? The best protection we had that night was my ex-squaddie other half, and the tent full of Geordies camped behind us. We resorted to phoning the fire brigade eventually, when boiling hot aerosol shrapnel started flying through the campsite and we still hadn't seen any sign of competent security or police.
No-one got any sleep that night; one of the girls with us was at her first festival and now doesn't want to go to any more, the German couple next to us who had been really impressed all weekend with the atmosphere and friendliness of the festival did the same as us; packed up as soon as it got light and left feeling absolutely disgusted.
A real shame, as it could have been pretty much the perfect festival experience for most of the people there if it hadn't been for those arseholes.