Simon Rushworth
Sonisphere Day Two, Knebworth, July 9 2011
Our wishes for extreme weather in excited pre-festival anticipation took that age-old cliche to another level. Be careful what you wish for? You really should.
Skin-searing heat and accelerated bursts of heavy showers turned the inevitable festival bog into a dangerous festival swamp. But through watery marshes and stifling humidity the masses found another array of top notch performances.
Sylosis delivered the perfect early morning wake-up call with a pulverising show of transcendental thrash. Calming things down for dinner, the black sheep (or should that be dark horses) of Sonishphere, Vintage Trouble, had even the most hardened of metallers shuffling along to their 30-minute set of soulful blues rock.
Back to the chaos and the Cavalera brothers, Max and Iggor, crushed Sonisphere with their devastating grooves before Bad Religion checked in with a distinctly modest performance. Bridging the divide between indie and heavy metal, Pulled Apart By Horses have made something of a stir in a very short space of time and Knebworth found out why.
Gojira’s performance in the Bohemia tent suffered from serious overcrowding issues and many fans simply burst through the security barriers to get close to this incredible performance. As the night rain set in to add another layer to the stagnant mire, Watain delivered their ritualistic satanic black metal on the claustrophobic Red Bull stage.
It was almost a day to rival the Big Four’s blistering opening to Sonisphere 2011. But Day Three would decide whether this was simply a great festival – or a stone cold classic.
Calum Robson