After three years of silence the mighty Knebworth has reopened its gates to the United Kingdom and with it one of the most memorable three nights for any Metal / Rock fan, this is Sonisphere Festival 2014.

Let's start with the arrival, as I arrived to the site of the festival I saw an ocean of music fans awaiting for the magic moment when the gates would open, what did not help was the heat, one of the hottest days I have encountered in a long time, yet in some way it was a sign that the weekend was going to be a nice dry one at best. Although the weather was great at best, the heat soon became one of those many problems you face when going to a music festival, as the weekend started we all became victims of high heat and dehydration, this would remain for the following fist two days of my stay, luckily there were in fact water taps located at the toilet areas of the festival, crying tears of joy is one of many ways to express how I felt when we found them.

Friday:

As the first day of music kicked off I took it upon myself to explore the grounds of the arena and see what had changed and what had remained the same, many memories came rushing back to when I first travelled to Knebworth back in two thousand and ten, many happy memories indeed, as I walked on I found some very interesting stalls such as the Goddess tent located near the entrance of the arena, by far this is here I spent a lot of my time and cash when not watching bands, through looking through what they had on sale and what they had in terms of pins and pates I found rarities and very unique patches to which are now sewn onto my jacket, needless to say I enjoyed my time with this tent and I would like to also point out how helpful and awesome the Goddess team were in helping me find what I needed, I would defiantly suggest them to anyone looking for rarities in Black of Death Metal.

As the day progressed I witnessed a rare show of ANTHRAX playing Among the Living in its entirety, the power and prowess that ANTHRAX blasted reminded the audience that they are still growing stronger by the day as they have shown any nay Sayers that they are still Metal thrashing mad!!

After Anthrax had finished up bringing the stage to its knees I finally got a chance to witness Doom legends ELECTRIC WIZARD, this had been a show that I had been excited for since the day the announcement came about, and by far I was not at all disappointed as they brought the Doom down on Knebworth with everything that they had, as well it has been an ambition for me to see these as it has been a show that has escaped me three times, and damned if I would let this be the fourth, all in all I was amazed and stunned by the raw energy the band brought with them, I would hope to see them again very soon.

As the first day settles down the partying begins, and when it comes to a party, Knebworth knows how to do it and do it right, sounds of chanting echo through the air as more than three thousand music fans howl in the air with energy to spare, along the way I ran into some very old acquaintances to whom I have not seen in a long time, as well as friends I've never met before, the skyline glimmers as the sun goes down and the fun keeps on going as this ladies and gentleman is what it is all about, bonding with people and having one hell of a good time.

Saturday:

For many including myself this was the biggest day for Thrash, Death Metal fans alike. I started the day off by watching the Vatican's dark child GHOST, as the first track "Year Zero" begins to play the audience begins to prepare for hat shall be the mornings true mass, as thousands of GHOST fans join together to sing the opening, just by hearing the opening to the track brings the excitement and the tension up as they appear onstage dressed in their dark apparel, as soon as Papa Emeritus II appears on stage the sermon begins, the entire show presented what ghost are all about occult Rock and roll at its finest.

As the day progressed we finally got some showers our way, nothing to heavy, just light enough to cool us all down, funny enough to say but this had to be one of the best parts to my day as I felt I could have boiled an egg on my forehead, and would have tried if there was an egg presented to me. Through the day I anticipated one band which has never failed to bring the grind, the mighty CARCASS, through the entire set I was lined in the front of the barrier going crazy as they blasted a huge chunk of the brand new album "Surgical Steel" to the crowd as well as classic like "Heartwork", and who better to introduce such a song then the man himself Mr. Ken Owen, witnessing that one moment made the day more incredible as they not only brought the Death, but as well the energy which gave the audience what they needed after enduring the heat, nobody gave a damn anymore if they got burned or not everyone was having an awesome time, by the time the show ended I was lucky enough to catch Bill Steers pick completing the CARCASS experience once more.

To continue on we now go to SLAYER's set, by far one of the sets I had been looking forward to all weekend, after watching their powerful return to the UK at last year's Bloodstock Open Air we have seen the band return with a blaze of new life since the loss of Jeff Hanneman we have all had our doubts over whether the band would be able to maintain, but from watching them take the stage and bring their classic dose of Thrash wrath.

To end the day what could be better than sitting back with a cold one to the mighty IRON MAIDEN, as it was announced the band would be wrapping up their "Maiden England" run with Sonisphere Festival, as such prior to the show Bruce Dickinson had announced that there would be a special recreation of a classic World War I dogfight, the show had been witnessed by everyone through the camps as all of the planes crossed through each section displaying a very unique and entertaining sight, as well for myself and many others it was a great distraction from the heat.

We now enter the arena for the last night of the "Maiden England" tour, as the stage dimmed down the anticipation rose for what would be one of the most important nights in IRON MAIDEN history, with the sounds of chanting wailing throughout the entire front and back you could feel the anticipation building faster and faster, when the time came for the band to take stage a storm of roars pierced through the very ground and shook the minds of everyone waiting for the metal legends to appear, as it is said in the title "Maiden England", the show was based around some of the bands greatest and rarely heard classics, most importantly the set was based around the bands classic album "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son". The entire stage was set up like a Swiss army knife as with every song something new would appear ready and sharp on time, as it is the entire show held many different types of eddies from different generations of the bands history from the general to the clairvoyant, the excitement kept on rising as new maiden fans witnessed what would be the very definition of an IRON MAIDEN show, not since the somewhere back in time tour has there been a show of this magnitude and in my personal opinion I don't think anything could ever top what was seen and what was witnessed through that night of chants and praise.

Sunday:

And now we come to the Sunday, the last and final day of what has been one hell of a weekend; before we go on let me just say that through the experiences I have faced through this festival I can safely say that any person wanting to experience this gem of a festival should do so for the year to come.

I started my day off with the mighty French Metal giants GOJIRA, one of those bands that you really need to see once in your life, then if you like what you see and hear then go back for another helping, as laws the band brought their incredible energy to the playing field as they always do, meaning leaving the audience ready for the day ahead, if anything they were the perfect choice to open the day as the energy they have becomes the audiences energy and gives everyone a reason to wake up.

To follow up we now enter the world of heavy Devy, the Devin Townsend project ladies and gentlemen , as always the mad man of Progressive Metal brings his power and insanity to the stage, Devin is one of many musicians that his this uncanny energy to make very body dance and sing to whatever he  has going on, his madness is a shine of joy to everyone that see's what he is capable of and what he is capable of is bringing the show to a whole new level, and this time was no different I tell you now.

For grunge fans of all ages e have the mighty ALICE IN CHAINS bringing a set of classics and new material to the stand, as always he mighty ALICE IN CHAINS bring a set for all ages to groove to, one of many bands that bring the life back into the crowd, even during a dry and annoying heat, as long as you can groove to it there is noting that can stop you from having one hell of a time, starting their set off with them bones was quite the surprise for me s they normally start with something more mellow to give a bit more caution to the audience, even so I feel that it was a very good start to their set and it didn't stop there I assure you now it did not stop there, as the band progressed on with the set you could feel the energy and the sweat just fading as if the sun was finally giving us some comfort from being scorched.

We now come to the final bands of the day METALLICA and DREAM THEATER.

Now as many will know the stages of course were scheduled differently meaning that no bands would purposely clash, this meant getting both of everything that you would want in one go, as such I was able to catch one of my favourite Progressive Metal bands the mighty DREAM THEATER, as always the band played some of their stronger songs as well as new material from their recently released self titled album, one of the cool things I found from this show though was the opening being played on the screens, how they were able to merge all of their album arts into one little movie as if every one of these albums were one whole story of the bands carrier, I find that when watching DREAM THEATER that I am indeed being placed through a journey of different physical and mental themes to which bring the idea of the band's music together into one whole, and as always the band gave that in every one of their songs, when the band plays pull me under they play something that is beautifully powerful and still holds its own to this day.

We now come to the final act of the weekend, the mighty METALLICA doing their "By Request" show featuring fan voted songs by the fans for the fans, before the show started we saw that the band had set up on the screens a voting chart for a final special song, the voted songs to be chosen from we're "The Four Horsemen", "Wherever I May Roam" and "And Justice For All", by the time the votes came in the song chosen was in fact "And Justice For All".

As the set began we saw METALLICA bring their classic Thrash power to the stage, and although the set contained many of the bands already known songs there was the show of many that have not been played in years, this included the THIN LIZZY song "Whisky In The Jar", many fans found pride that night I'm sure just because they saw the band in a rare moment where we saw a classic based set of songs being done with the force and the fire that METALLICA are known for, whatever the new album has in store for us only time will tell, but as for the new song the lords of summer I think we may be looking at a true beast and whatever that beast holds we might as well prepare ourselves for the coming storm that it brings.

To conclude my time spent at Knebworth was well spent, some trips and tip's along the way but all in all still a great time, I would like to personally thank the ladies at the burger truck down at Blue camp for their generosity as well as a good ol chat here and there, as well as HOUNDS for being truly nice gentlemen for my first on site festival interview, as for the rest I thank everyone who made my time worth every minute and hope we can all do it again sometime.