Metallica - By Andy Squire
A weekend that was described by festival director Stuart Galbraith as having "the best atmosphere I've experienced in 25 years of putting on festivals" saw a plethora of the biggest names in rock set against an awesome festival backdrop with rock karaoke, discos, fairground rides, breathtaking stunt shows, eye catching, fire breathing bikini-clad models and other non-musical alternative entertainment.
After a storming set from Limp Bizkit, Nine Inch Nails’ final UK performance and a captivating display from Avenged Sevenfold, the mighty Metallica's statement of intent was unleashed with set opener Blackened, kicking off a relentless set of 'Tallica faves old and new.
With a setlist featuring rarely performed tracks such as Hit The Lights, Duers Eve and Fade To Black, as well as familiar faves like Nothing Else Matters, Cyanide and Enter Sandman, the Sonisphere crowd were truly treated over the course of the two hour performance.
But the highlight of the set, and possibly the whole festival, came during set closer Seek And Destroy. Frontman James Hetfield chose to celebrate his birthday at Sonisphere Knewborth by ditching his guitar to get up close and personal with the crowd, and sing the rest of the song with his fans.
Having witnessed all the Metallica shows over the course of the Sonisphere tour, as well as countless before then, this was truly a memorable experience for fans, who are rarely afforded the opportunity to get so close to their heroes. After ending the song, James returned to the stage to be bombarded with cream pies by family and friends.
He remained on stage while bandmates Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich reversed the role of crowd and band by requesting the legions of fans to sing Happy Birthday to the iconic frontman - a task they were all too happy to fulfill. James showed his appreciation by talking to the crowd for a long while afterwards, stating "Sonisphere baby - Metallica loves you".
of the 80,000 total attendees over the weekend, one would be hard pushed to find one who would not agree the feeling is mutual, nor one who is not looking forward to the already confirmed return of the worlds hottest new festival to Knebworth in 2010.
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