(Scroll down for gallery)
'Anyone here grow up on The Young Ones? The Comic Strip?...Airborne (below) enquire before paying tribute to Rik Mayall, the departed comic genius.
And when they play?
Well, then the Aussie mob sound like AC/DC of course...and everyone loves a bit of AC/DC!
Gallows are taking no prisoners in the mid-afternoon set, spewing out hard fury, including new single Chains.
Some time later this fan makes it into the tent and down the front to see the tail end of
Kerbdog's (Cormac Battle, below) set.
It's the best part of 20 years since we've seen these chaps at play and they sound awesome, with Sally and JJs Song as smart now as they were back in the day.
Quite why they remained a commercial disaster, one only knows - Biffy Clyro have managed to break through in recent years, so why this noise machine fell by the way is a puzzle.
Things could be, to coin an album title, On The Turn for the Irish players. Here's hoping, 'cause they are too smart to remain unheard.
Alice in Chains (below) play a 'hit' heavy set, rolling out classics including Them Bones, Dam That River, Check My Brain and No Excuses, with its 'trade for warm sunshine' lyric.
It airs while the sun beats down and a soft breeze tickles, and it is the perfect track for the moment.
It's also one of AICs finest ever moments, but then the Seattle stalwarts were always able to write a tune, and they are sounding really good today.
William Duvall has been ensconced in the AIC ranks for years now, and he couldn't sing a better role if he tried, but these songs really belong to the late, great Layne Staley.
A random light aircraft circles above the crowd as the band finishes We Die Young, prompting the question: 'Is Bruce still flying around today?'
But Iron Maiden's frontman is long-gone...and probably giving a verbal to whoever messed up last night's pyro cue!
And, in a tent far away
Raging Speedhorn are heading back to work after a lengthy split.
Before Corby's reunited extreme metallers take the stage its not looking like the hottest of re-introductions.
But as fast as Speedhorn are, their fans flock inside quicker when they hear them go live. The band plays like the ferocious machine they always were, and Frank and John are the magnificent frontmen, surveying their metal hungry subjects, with a swagger and zest you don't get just anywhere.
"We go away for six years and mosh pits disintegrate?' they ask and state, simultaneously, before putting that to rights, with hair - and grass dust - filling the air as the pit returns.
Listening to the self-confessed 'saviours of British metal' playing Ragweed again is a festival highlight, but we can't stop -
Therapy? (above)
are running through their 1995 Infernal Love release over the other side of the Sonisphere site.
We reach them in time to hear blinding live cuts of Misery and Bad Mother, which Andy Cairns dedicates to 'The Bronx, Gallows and Kerbdog,' other players sharing the same stage today.
Not too far away, but far from the prying eyes of the devoted who have waited all weekend to see the masters,
Metallica (below) are doing their obligatory warm-up pre-show.
It's a 'blink and you'll miss 'em' situation, as one by one Kirk, Lars, James and Robert disappear into their converted truck, and Battery gets a run through.
Then the well-oiled machine moves to stage front in a couple of mini-vans and Sonisphere gets a good seeing to from the returning Bay Area monsters.
"Man, it smells interesting out here," James addresses the crowd.
And he isn't standing close to overworked toilets that have filled the air with the stench of exited bodily fluids...
Interesting ain't quite the word. Foul is.
'By Request' is a set picked by the fans, and so there are no surprises to be had as such: A career encompassing set taking you from Battery to Unforgiven, from Master of Puppets to the newbie Lords of Summer.
That track proves to be a gigantic slice of the riffs, choruses and delivery that Metallica fans want. If this is the sound of things to come on the long-awaited follow on from Death Magnetic, hurry it along, boys!
Unlike the preceding weekend's Glastonbury appearance, there was no controversy to be had here at Knebworth.
This was simply a return visit from rock royalty playing to their converted.
And this show seemed all the more edgy and decisive than that Glasto date.
'Kate from London' appears on stage to introduce Sad But True in a bizarre audience moment, but she does a swell job: 'Are you ready? ' she asks to a mammoth cheer in reply..."Are you f***in' ready?' she screams in true rawk n roll pitch.
"I can't stop smilin' right now," she tells James, and in front of her, 50,000 'tallica fans are doing the same.
Words: Sammy Jones and Al Hunter
[gallery link="file" ids="2713,2715,2716,2717,2718,2719,2720,2721,2722,2723,2724,2725,2726,2727"]
And when they play?
Well, then the Aussie mob sound like AC/DC of course...and everyone loves a bit of AC/DC!
Gallows are taking no prisoners in the mid-afternoon set, spewing out hard fury, including new single Chains.
Some time later this fan makes it into the tent and down the front to see the tail end of Kerbdog's (Cormac Battle, below) set.
It's the best part of 20 years since we've seen these chaps at play and they sound awesome, with Sally and JJs Song as smart now as they were back in the day.
Quite why they remained a commercial disaster, one only knows - Biffy Clyro have managed to break through in recent years, so why this noise machine fell by the way is a puzzle.
Things could be, to coin an album title, On The Turn for the Irish players. Here's hoping, 'cause they are too smart to remain unheard.
Alice in Chains (below) play a 'hit' heavy set, rolling out classics including Them Bones, Dam That River, Check My Brain and No Excuses, with its 'trade for warm sunshine' lyric.
Listening to the self-confessed 'saviours of British metal' playing Ragweed again is a festival highlight, but we can't stop - Therapy? (above) are running through their 1995 Infernal Love release over the other side of the Sonisphere site.
We reach them in time to hear blinding live cuts of Misery and Bad Mother, which Andy Cairns dedicates to 'The Bronx, Gallows and Kerbdog,' other players sharing the same stage today.
Not too far away, but far from the prying eyes of the devoted who have waited all weekend to see the masters, Metallica (below) are doing their obligatory warm-up pre-show.
It's a 'blink and you'll miss 'em' situation, as one by one Kirk, Lars, James and Robert disappear into their converted truck, and Battery gets a run through.
Then the well-oiled machine moves to stage front in a couple of mini-vans and Sonisphere gets a good seeing to from the returning Bay Area monsters.
"Man, it smells interesting out here," James addresses the crowd.
And he isn't standing close to overworked toilets that have filled the air with the stench of exited bodily fluids...
Interesting ain't quite the word. Foul is.
'By Request' is a set picked by the fans, and so there are no surprises to be had as such: A career encompassing set taking you from Battery to Unforgiven, from Master of Puppets to the newbie Lords of Summer.
That track proves to be a gigantic slice of the riffs, choruses and delivery that Metallica fans want. If this is the sound of things to come on the long-awaited follow on from Death Magnetic, hurry it along, boys!
Unlike the preceding weekend's Glastonbury appearance, there was no controversy to be had here at Knebworth.
This was simply a return visit from rock royalty playing to their converted.
And this show seemed all the more edgy and decisive than that Glasto date.
'Kate from London' appears on stage to introduce Sad But True in a bizarre audience moment, but she does a swell job: 'Are you ready? ' she asks to a mammoth cheer in reply..."Are you f***in' ready?' she screams in true rawk n roll pitch.
"I can't stop smilin' right now," she tells James, and in front of her, 50,000 'tallica fans are doing the same.
Words: Sammy Jones and Al Hunter
[gallery link="file" ids="2713,2715,2716,2717,2718,2719,2720,2721,2722,2723,2724,2725,2726,2727"]
