Sonisphere Sells A Million

At some point over the July 30 to Aug. 1 weekend the 2-year-old Sonisphere sold its millionth ticket as the traveling festival paid its second visit to Knebworth Park in the UK.

Created in 2009 by Stuart Galbraith of Kilimanjaro Live and John Jackson from K2 Agency, and with the financial backing of AEG, Sonisphere has been staged in the UK, Holland, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Turkey in the last two years.

It’s also outstripped Galbraith’s expectations. After the Balkan leg that wrapped in Turkey at the end of June, he was quoted as saying he hoped it would sell 700,000 tickets by the end of this festival summer.

The acts that have helped to establish the brand in two years include Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Rammstein, Manowar, Megadeth, Alice In Chains, Anthrax, Stone Sour and Volbeat.

The UK leg at Knebworth attracted 130,000 over three days but doesn’t yet have the pulling power of the Download Festival Galbraith helped create when he was with Live Nation. However, The Guardian says Sonisphere has already elbowed the Donington Park event aside to become “the UK’s premier metal festival.”

Plans for the 2011 Sonispheres are already on the drawing board, with French promoter Salomon Hazot saying he will help Galbraith and Jackson bring the event to his country.