IRON MAIDEN
SONISPHERE FESTIVAL
Stora Skuggan - Stockholm, Sweden
August 7, 2010

Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.

That was the Sonisphere Stockholm! Even if the Rime Of The Ancient Mariner was not played that night, these verses would fit perfectly to the festival!

It rained all day long and the organization of the Sonisphere Festival was terrible!
Rain is not their fault, that's right. But:
- There was not one single place or space to escape from the rain, not a single common tent or something like this.
- There was not a single chair, bank, seat... absolutely nothing to seat down.... except the wet grass
- There were two stages, quite far from each other, and not face to face. You had to go through a bar and some trees, which took a lot of time.

I wonder how can this be possible!? This wanna be festival was a "I want to be a big metal event" thing, but they know nothing about making the audience feel good.

At Sonisphere they know how to bring good bands, they know how to have a good sound engineers, good stages and good lights.

But at Sonisphere they know nothing about making the crowds feel comfortable. Sonisphere is all about money and... besides the bands, can you expect quality a quality festival? No! Do you know why? Because it's a "festival chain"!

There are Sonisphere Festivals in a lot of places, and it happens the same than for food.

Tell me, what is better?
- A good restaurant with good receipes, where the owner supervises the coocking?
- Or a fast food chain like McDonalds which you find everywhere but it's totally unpersonnal and they care about your money, not what you eat?

I think all of you would agree that the 1st option is far better.
Well, this first option is Sweden Rock, Wacken, Hellfest or Bang Your Head.
The fast food option is the Sonisphere!

But like the fast food chains, they're difficult to avoid.
I went to a Sonisphere in Germany in 2009 and to the Big Four in Bucharest in 2010, and will probably return the next year i they keep coming with good bands. I hope they'll improve!

Well, despite playing on a crappy day in a crappy place in a crappy festival, Iron Maiden did a great show from every point of view.
We were all very lucky that the rein stopped just before Maiden, and it continued afterwards. It was the only band during which it didn't rain.

The setlist was concentrated on the most recent songs from 2000. Risky? Maybe. But I loved it, and it was worth!

Bruce Dickinson was celebrating his 52nd Birthday on stage that night!
But it seems that not many people knew about it. It was not like in Poland in 2008 for Bruce's birthday, where people sang "happy birthday" 3 times.
Nor like in Bogotá in 2008 where so many people was sang Happy Birthday to Adrian Smith for about 5 minutes.
In Stockholm only a few of us began to sing Happy Birthday, but we were not enough people so Bruce didn't hear us and they continue playing.

Well, that day I witnessed a good Maiden show, but also the worst festival I've ever been to.

I didn't really enjoyed the day, and when you think about it, it could have been easy to provide better conditions to the attendees.
Sonisphere shouldn't grow up so fast, they still have a lot of improvements to do, and a lot to learn from established festivals. The higher you climb, the further you fall...

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Setlist Iron Maiden – Sonisphere Festival - Stockholm, Sweden – August 7, 2010

01. Intro: Mars, Bringer Of War
02. The Wicker Man
03. Ghost Of The Navigator
04. Wratchild
05. El Dorado
06. Dance Of Death
07. The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg
08. These Colours Don't Run
09. Blood Brothers
10. Wildest Dreams
11. No More Lies
12. Brave New World
13. Fear Of The Dark
14. Iron Maiden
————————————
15. The Number Of The Beast
16. Hallowed Be Thy Name
17. Running Free

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