Sonisphere Festival boasts exclusive headline appearances from IRON MAIDEN and RAMMSTEIN, plus Friday night headliner ALICE COOPER, IGGY & THE STOOGES, SLAYER, ANTHRAX, PENDULUM and more – with over 140 bands set to play – many of whom you will only see at Knebworth this summer. With a wealth of musical, comedic and other entertaining talent on offer, plus free music downloads for every ticket holder, the £132.50 weekend ticket price – which unlike most festivals carries NO BOOKING FEE – is hands down the best value for money out there.

Team Sonisphere are getting ready to kick off the 2010 festival with an “eff”-ing brilliant start – a Friday night full of fun, frolics, fancy dress and face-melting rock!

Saturn Stage

This year the Saturn stage will be rocking from early evening with highlights expected from Europe, particularly when they kick into that riff, and from ALICE COOPER in the headliner spot with his full 90 minute Theatre of Death show. Once again proving that he is truly indestructible, expect an ausio-visual treat as Alice dishes out torture and fights off death by hanging, impaling, strangulation and all manner of gruesome visuals, while delivering classic such as “Hey Stoopid”, “Schools Out” and “Poison”. It would be understandable to think that this was enough heroic rock for one evening but you would be wrong. We will be announcing yet another legend next Wednesday who will complete the Friday night line up in their own unique way.

Fancy Dress

The theme for Friday night dress-up this year is Rocky Horror and if you haven’t seen that classic film yet, now is the time to watch it and get some ideas about what to wear. Spot prizes will be given to people who we think have made a special effort. This might include anything from a Sonisphere T-shirt to a trip backstage for a tour.

The Time Warp World Record Attempt

Going along with the Rocky Horror theme, Sonisphere will be making an attempt to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records by having the most people doing the Time Warp. The record currently stands at 4446 which was achieved in Birmingham in June 2000. This will take place at the front of Saturn stage at 6pm. A video showing you how to do the Time Warp will be posted on the Sonisphere website soon so you have plenty of time to practice. There will also be people leading it from the stage. Dress up in style and it could be you!

Bizarre Bohemia

As previously announced, Bizarre – the world’s biggest alternative lifestyle and culture magazine -will be curators of the Bohemia tent on Friday night. Taking over the inside of the big top they will be throwing visual treats onto the walls, roof and screens. Freaky, amazing and jaw-dropping performances will take place overhead, on the stage and in the middle of the crowd. Bands will include TERRORVISON, 65DAYSOFSTATIC, FASTWAY, SYLOSIS, BIGELF and BLACK SPIDERS. The night ends with outrageous Bizarre DJs pumping out the sort of tunes that make you want you to throw yourself around. Come Saturday morning it will all be just a memory so make sure you spend some time in there before it vanishes before your eyes.

Strongbow Bowtime Bar

With bands playing from early evening till 11pm and then prepare to drop to your knees and reach for the sky as Ultimate Power DJs bring their unstoppable juggernaut of power ballads. Bring your air guitar and a single fingerless glove and embrace MEATLOAF, BONNIE TYLER, JENNIFER RUSH and BON JOVI like you never thought possible. There is also a bar. Need we say more?

Jagermeister Stage and Ice Bar

The Jagermeister stage has had a makeover and will be testing out its new sound system with bands playing on till 11pm. Jagermeister also have a new funky Ice Bar which we will tell you more about in future weeks. It is pretty swanky stuff though!

Red Bull Bedroom Jam

The Red Bull Bedroom Jam will be another big top stage and will have bands playing till 11pm. Plans are still being drawn up for the late night slot but we are looking at getting some familiar faces in to do DJ sets. More news on this to follow!

What’s more, Sonisphere is also offering some great deals on travel, including this great news for early arrivals – you can now save money and go greener by rocking up to Knebworth on the Thursday by coach. If you want to make your Sonisphere last as long as possible, an early entry pass will let you set-up camp and enjoy an extra night of festival frivolity before the real noise kicks off on Friday.

Both Big Green Coaches and See are running coach services that will drop you off on the Thursday and pick you up on Monday.

Big Green Coaches are running their early-bird service across all 45 of their pick-up locations, including:

Birkenhead, Birmingham, Bradford, Bridgend, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Chester, Chesterfield, Colchester, Coventry, Crawley, Edinburgh, Exeter, Fareham, Glasgow, Hamilton, Ipswich, Lancaster, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London Victoria, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Newport, Norwich, Nottingham, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton, Stockport, Stoke on Trent, Sunderland, Swansea, Swindon, Taunton and Wolverhampton. What’s more they will plant a tree for every full coach they take to Sonisphere!

See are running early entry coaches from Bristol, London, Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham.

Both operators are offering coach-only passes as well as coach & ticket packages.

More information: (How to get there)

Sonisphere takes place at Knebworth House July 30th – August 1st 2010

Tickets for Sonisphere Knebworth are on sale now at (Sonisphere Festival 2010) – with a full weekend ticket going for just £132.50, no booking fee and a host of exclusive performances there is no better value for UK Festival Fans this summer!

Band Line up so far:

IRON MAIDEN **
RAMMSTEIN *
65DAYSOFSTATIC
AFTER THE ORDEAL
ALICE COOPER *
ALICE IN CHAINS **
ALL FORGOTTEN
AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR
ANTHRAX *
APOCALYPTICA *
AUDREY HORNE
THE BENDAL INTERLUDE
BIGELF
BLACK SPIDERS
BLITZ KIDS
BOYS WITH X RAY EYES
BOW AND ARROW
BRING ME THE HORIZON *
BURY TOMORROW
CARS ON FIRE
THE CASINO BRAWL
CHICKENHAWK
CKY *
THE CULT *
DEAF HAVANA
DELAIN *
DIR EN GREY *
THE EIGHTIES MATCHBOX B-LINE DISASTER
EUROPE
EVILE
FAILSAFE
FAMILY FORCE 5
FASTWAY
FEAR FACTORY
FEI COMODO
FIGHTSTAR
FIREBUG
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND
GALLOWS
THE GHOST OF A THOUSAND
HEAVEN’S BASEMENT
HENRY ROLLINS (SPOKEN WORD) *
IGGY & THE STOOGES *
INME
KARNIVOOL *
KATATONIA
KELLERMENSCH
LACUNA COIL *
LITTLE FISH
LOWER THAN ATLANTIS
MADINA LAKE
MARCH OF THE RAPTORS
ME VS HERO
MÖTLEY CRÜE **
MUNICIPAL WASTE
PAPA ROACH *
PENDULUM
PLACEBO *
POLAR BEAR CLUB
RENEGADES
RINOA
RISE TO REMAIN
SABATON *
SICK OF IT ALL
SKUNK ANANSIE
SLAVES TO GRAVITY
SLAYER *
SOULFLY
SYLOSIS
TEK ONE
TERRORVISION
THERAPY? **
THROATS
TURISAS
THE UNION
WHILE SHE SLEEPS
THEWORLDONFIRE
THE XCERTS
** Only UK performance of 2010
* Exclusive UK Festival Performance

Comedy Line Up So Far:

ANDREW O’NEILL
JARRED CHRISTMAS
SEAN HUGHES
TIM MINCHIN