As  Sonisphere 2009 draws to a close the questions that everybody will be asking is, was it a success? Will there be a next year? Well in our opinion the answer to question one is yes, it was a fantastic success and the answer to question two is there better be!

Sonisphere 2009 was without a doubt the best festival that we have been to for quite some time, and believe me we have been to a lot of festivals, they just seemed to get everything right and it all went off without and major problems.

It’s also clear from the tickets sales, with Sonisphere selling more tickets in its inaugural year than the likes of Download and many other festivals, with an attendance of 80,000 over the weekend, that there is room for another large British summer festival and even in these tough times, people will find the money to attend.

The staggering of the stage times was a great success meaning that you did not have to decide which band to go and see and which bands you would miss and the distance between the stages was greatly reduced due to this which meant unlike many other festivals you did not have a 15 minute trek to get to the next stage.

Festival director Stuart Galbraith took some time out to squeeze in a press conference in the media area on the Sunday afternoon stating how pleased he was with the festivals achievements and how he is looking forward to keeping Sonisphere an annual event on the UK festival calendar.

The organisers made a great choice with this year’s bands, Soil were the first band of the festival who opened up the Saturn stage. The crowd enjoyed it and were soon getting into the feel of things, Mid way through the day the crowd were introduced to Bjorn Again, an unusual choice to play a rock/metal festival, but apparently they were invited along to play by James Hetfield from Metallica, which may explain why they chose to sing ‘Enter Sandman’ as a tribute to them.  Other bands who played on the Saturn stage on Saturday included Skindred , The Used, Airbourne and headliners Bullet for my valentine, who used their appearance as a showcase for some new material that went down really well with the fans.

In the Bohemia tent, a last minute time change saw Coheed & Cambria play a set to an overflowing tent. After missing their ferry, the band we forced to give up their slot on the Saturn stage to ‘Fact’ a rather unusual, but highly popular Japanese band. Bohemia also played host to The Telegraphs, Blakefish, Sylosis, Glamour of the kill, Failsafe, Fighting with wire, Twin Atlantic, Flood of red, Oceansize, Rolo Tomassi and Fucked Up. Then came the highlight of many fans day for this stage, the final ever appearance of Thunder . This was followed by the ever entertaining set from the Wildhearts.

The main Apollo stage was opened by Alien Ant Farm who were followed by Taking Back Sunday. A killer performance was given by Rock legends Anthrax and true British masters Heaven and Hell before tonights headline act Linkin Park took to the stage.  They played a blinding set and sounded the best we have ever heard them play live.

The parties carried on around the site until daybreak and beyond and there were many very excited and very tired fans wondering around Sonisphere on Sunday morning awaiting the start of the day’s entertainment.

The Apollo stage was opened by Buckcherry who played a great show that really got the crowds to forget their hangovers and start dancing around.

Paradise Lost opened the Saturn stage and were followed by old time British rockers Saxon. Next up were Mastodon and Feeder. The Saturn stage were graced with the presence of  the legendary Alice In Chains who played a flawless set to the crowds who were bathed in the glorious afternoon sunshine which hung around until tonight headliners Avenged Sevenfold appeared. They played a really enthusiastic set to the masses of adoring fans who had flocked in to watch the only 2009 UK festival performance from the band. A great choice of headliner, and a nice end to the festivities on this stage for the day.

Bohemia played host to Rise To Remain, Attack! Attack!, Dead By April, Lauren Harris, Corey Taylor, Little London, Cancer Bats, Architects, Pepper, Zebrahead and Hundred Reasons, unfortunately the planned headliners The Ataris, had to pull out due to suspected Swine Flu.

The Apollo stage had great performances from Killing Joke and Lamb Of God before the ‘Special Guests’ Machine Head took to the stage to chants of Machine F**king Head and a huge friendly bottle fight broke out in the crowd. They thundered through their set and gave 110% to their performance, a real crowd pleaser.  Limp Bizkit were next to play, and they thanked Machine Head and said what great fans they were of their music, a good move due to the controversy surrounding the placement of the two bands on the bill.  It turned out that their show was the real surprise set of the day and many people were genuinely impressed with their performance. Next up were Nine Inch Nails, this was rumoured to be their last ever show, however their choice of set list meant many fans were left feeling a little disappointed. They played brilliantly but the set list did not include many of the expected tracks.

Tonight’s headliners and festival closing act were the true gods of rock, Metallica, this band always play a well thought out set that pleases fans of all ages. They had fireworks, flame throwers and fantastic lighting throughout the show and showed that their title is truly deserved.  The night came to a close with James Hetfield being covered in silly string and cream pies and the crowd singing Happy Birthday to him, he was laughing throughout and seemed to take it very well indeed.  He then took his foam covered body to the mic to say thank you to the fans and to the organisers and said that it was his favourite of all the Sonisphere shows and closed with the line “Sonisphere baby - Metallica loves you”
With the rumor mill already turning as to who will headline next year’s show, it proves that the fans are more than up for this to be a mainstay in the British Festival calendar ….. and just to put in out suggestions for 2010, if you are reading this Mr Galbraith, we would like Rammstein please.
The whole weekend was well planned, well run, well executed and well…….just brilliant.