Sonisphere festival 2011 with Metallica, Biffy Clyro and Slipknot

Below, one man stood bolt upright on his friend’s shoulders - arms outstretched into the shape of a cross. He towered above 60,000 other people across Knebworth Park who were equally silent. Equally still.

Most had gathered to face the Sonisphere festival’s Saturn stage on which, front and centre, was the bright red boiler suit and costume mask of the late Paul Gray, bassist with metal band and festival headliners Slipknot. He had died just over a year earlier, aged 38, from an accidental drug overdose.

Given the general state of the crowd and the varying levels of intoxication at 2pm on Sunday, day three of the festival, the fact that the two-minute silence was almost perfectly observed was a minor miracle. It was broken by a simple “thank you” from Radio One’s Daniel P Carter from the stage, and the deafening roar of thousands of people instantly filled the air. It was a sight to behold.

Sonisphere kicked off on Friday with just one of the two main stages in action. You would expect the launch of a rock and metal festival to be full throttle from the very beginning, hitting maximum speed as quickly and as noisily as possible, but although the Apollo stage played host to the ‘Big Four’ on the opening day there was nothing at all on the Saturn stage, which seemed to be a bit of a wasted opportunity. Still, neither stage was in action on Friday last year, with only the peripheral stages offering entertainment, so I guess it’s a step in the right direction.

Now I’m not going to lie to you… I’m not a fan of all the bands in the Big Four. In fact I can take or leave three of them – Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer – so I didn’t see any of them (I’ve seen them before anyway). Besides we didn’t get our tent set up until Anthrax were on so it would have been too much of a rush.

But Metallica were awesome. Metallica are always awesome.

I’ve reviewed the band before so suffice to say that Hetfield, Hammett, Trujillo and Ulrich were once again on terrific form and delivered an energy-driven 18-song set including One, Hit the Lights, Blackened, Battery, All Nightmare Long and Creeping Death, which closed the set. The absolute highlight, though, was their version of Am I Evil? which was somehow performed alongside other members of the Big Four as well as Diamond Head guitarist Brian Tatler – whose band first performed the track back in 1980. That’s *counts fingers*... far too many people playing on stage at once. Despite seeing Metallica many times over the years this is the first time I’ve seen them perform Am I Evil? in its entirety, and despite being a cover I reckon it’s the best track they’ve ever done. The crowd lapped it up.

Saturday began with what turned out to be the festival’s highlight. Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine.

Meandering onto the stage with a mug of tea and dressed in a dapper lounge suit and dickie bow, Cheese’s first words to the thin-but-enthusiastic crowd were “Good evening Middle Earth”. It was 11.30am.

He and his band then set about covering songs from Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Disturbed, AC/DC and others into beautifully chilled – and absolutely hilarious – Sinatra-esque numbers, complete with the original explicit lyrics. The crowd, which swelled significantly in size while the band was on, clicked their fingers, swung their pants and laughed their socks off for the allocated 35 paltry minutes. An hour would have been ideal. I’ve heard quite a bit of Richard Cheese on CD and YouTube and although the recorded stuff can get a little tedious after a few listens, the live act is certainly something to behold.

Later on Saturday, after a few hours’ kip back at the tent (it had been a long and noisy night around the campsite) came the next treat. But whereas I’d been ready for Mr Cheese to be brilliant, I was totally caught out by Innerpartysystem.

I’ve got, and quite like, their 2008 self-titled debut album but their set in the bedroomjam.com tent was nothing like that at all. Wikipedia describes Innerpartysystem as an American electronica/alternative rock band but Saturday’s gig was total dance, ‘phat beats’ and strobes. Not. My. Thing. At. All. Except for reasons I’ll never be able to explain I absolutely loved this. I think it was more about the energy than the music and these three nerdy-looking fellas, dancing around in front of their laptops, were masters at building that energy up.

I knew none of the stuff they played, other than a few samples here and there – Prodigy, Fat Boy Slim, Underworld etc – but I enjoyed it so much that I was disappointed when it ended.

Then followed a lot of wandering aimlessly around the stalls, sitting on the grass, a tub of noodles and a drink in the guest bar, followed by more sleep back at base. In fact we were so knackered – the weather was throwing occasional thundery showers at us too - that we ended up listening to headliners Biffy Clyro at the tent. This was a decision we were to regret because not only did they sound superb but Twitter was alive with praise for them. Never mind – there’s always next time.

American hip-hop outfit House of Pain was our first Sunday band, and they drew a surprisingly large crowd for such an early slot on day three. Of course it wasn’t until half-way through the set that I realised I knew none of their songs, save for Jump Around which they saved for last. Of course. Nevertheless they were an interesting act to watch if only for the novelty factor of seeing the legends in action.

The Paul Gray tribute, during which time his fellow band members sat sombrely at the side of the Saturn stage, was followed later by Limp Bizkit back on the Apollo stage who churned out all of their best-known numbers with typical precision. Singer Fred Durst built up his usual rapport with the heaving crowd, going on walkabout for a while at the front, and led thousands of appreciative fans through My Generation, Take a Look Around, Faith and crowd favourite Douchebag from the new album Gold Cobra, before ending with Rollin.

Throughout, Durst built up the anticipation in advance of Slipknot’s long-awaited appearance and announced at the end that he was going to sit back with a beer to watch them play.

While the main act’s roadies set the stage, comedian and musician Bill Bailey took to the Saturn stage with his trademark surrealism, nonsense and comedy videos on the big screens. Appearing from behind a bank of speakers wearing a flowing black cape, Bill Bailey latex mask and clutching an electric guitar, he and his band launched straight into the hilarious Insect Nation. Later he had the enormous crowd chanting ‘Hey, Asda! I ain’t gonna be your bitch!” before he covered various songs in the style of Rammstein, Chas and Dave, a West Country yokel and others. He ended with a great version of Metallica’s Enter Sandman played on a row of old fashioned horns, which was genius.

Slipknot closed the festival – and their first tour without Gray – with their usual brutal, show-stopping energy. Led by singer Corey Taylor (namedropping: who I’ve met – he’s tiny) they walked on to an extended intro while the eight members ran and jumped around the stage, threw themselves into the crowd and generally messed around, all the while dressed in the aforementioned red boiler suits and nightmarish masks. Grey’s outfit stood watch at the back of the stage beside the main drumkit and was later hugged by Taylor as the set came to an end. An emotional moment for everyone.

Now although I like Slipknot I always seem to think of them as a band for angsty teenagers, but it’s impossible not to be awestruck by their live shows. Not one of the band stays still for more than a few seconds at a time. They deliver every song with raw, manic power which is channelled straight into the crowd and driven straight back to the stage for more. It’s incredible.

Wait and Bleed, Liberate, Purity and Phsycosocial all made an appearance before the 17-song setlist closed with Surfacing.

All that was left for the crowd to do after that was to trudge through the mud (the rain had started while it was still light and continued throughout the evening), hit the fairground rides, dance to the DJ sets and drink until the sun came up when reality beckoned once more.

I’ll end this review by saying that Sonisphere is superb. If you can only make one festival next summer make sure it’s this one. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Foo Fighters are already rumoured for 2012 and tickets go on sale on Wednesday, so there’s no time to waste - uk.sonispherefestivals.com

• This review is dedicated to my air bed pump which was borrowed at 2am on Saturday, never to be seen again. I hope the girl who asked for it – who insisted she had an “honest face” – gets an irreparable 2am puncture in every air bed she owns from this point on.

It is also dedicated to the extremely drunk bare-chested bloke who, during the Paul Gray silence, was desperately – and noisily - hunting for a Fanta bottle so he could pee. I hope he found one.