Another week and another substantial festival announcement has been brought upon us! For the second time in just over a week Team Sonisphere have produced some substantial additions to the line up for Sonisphere Knebworth 2014.
First and foremost they have announced the first Saturn Stage headliner and it’s a cracker in the shape of prog metal titans Dream Theater. Arguably at the peak of their popularity across their twenty five year career, Messrs Labrie, Mangini, Rudess, Myeung and Petrucci will be headlining the Saturn Stage on the Sunday night of Sonisphere – directly before Metallica’s By Request performance and after Alice In Chains – making it one hell of a conclusion to the return of Sonisphere at Knebworth.
Also heading to Knebworth this July will be new supergroup Devil You Know. Fronted by former Killswitch Engage singer Howard Jones and with members of All Shall Perish, Bleeding Through and Divine Heresy, Devil You Know are quite the potent force. Their début album The Beauty of Destruction will be out in plenty of time for fans to get familiar with it before they unleash it on the hordes at Knebworth. Here’s what the band had to say:
“We are beyond stoked to make Sonisphere our first UK festival! It’s an honour to be playing such a massive festival alongside some of the biggest names in hard rock and metal. What a way to play the UK for the first time. We can’t wait to get over and show everyone what Devil You Know is all about!”
Devil You Know will also be joined by their compatriots, southern rockers The Cadillac Three. As with the last Sonisphere announcement there are some notable British additions to the line up. Prominent amongst these are upstarts from north of the border Yashin (who’ll also be headlining at the upcoming Radstock Festival) as well as Yorkshire lads Glamour Of The Kill. Rock Sins’ hardcore favourites Palm Reader are also lined up to play Sonisphere this year, and they’re very excited about the prospect, especially their drummer Dan Olds:
“We Can’t wait to play Sonisphere… Bands such as Deftones and Mastodon have always been close to Palm Reader’s hearts. It’s the first festival I ever went to so it’s gonna be a special moment!”
The first metal band ever to play in the House Of Commons, Manchester’s Collibus are making it a double header this year after already being announced to play Download, and they’ll be joined by rockers Broken Hands, who’ve already shared the stage with The Rolling Stones, having supported them at Hyde Park last Summer so they are certainly one to watch out for. Then there is the aptly named Fort Hope, with members of the now deactivated My Passion along with the genre hopping London act The One Hundred.
All of these bands join the dozens already announced alongside headliners, the previously mentioned Metallica (“By Request”), along with Iron Maiden finishing off their Maiden England world tour in style and dance favourites The Prodigy. Tickets for Sonisphere Knebworth 2014 start from £170 (the awesome deposit scheme is also still available) and all information and purchases can be managed through going to the official festival website www.sonisphere.co.uk. Stay tuned to Rock Sins for further updates on Sonisphere, Download, Bloodstock and all the other major UK rock and metal festivals.