Galbraith Shrugs Off Lost Sonisphere

Kilimanjaro chief Stuart Galbraith shrugged off the late cancellation of the Bulgarian leg of his Sonisphere Festival, saying it’s part and parcel of developing the event in new markets.

At the beginning of the month, local partner Marcel Avram said ticket sales were slow due to the depressed economy and a rise in VAT. It was decided not to go ahead with the show scheduled for Sofia June 21.

“Two years ago we started out with far less shows than we have now and this year didn’t return to Romania as it wasn’t so good last year, but this year we’ve added new Sonsipheres in Italy and France,” Galbraith told Pollstar.

He said the secret of developing the new touring festival is to explore new markets and return to those that are successful. This year there will be a new high of 12 Sonispheres.

The 2011 Sonisphere season opened in Warsaw June 10, where Iron Maiden, Motorhead, and Mastodon headed a bill that attracted 35,000 to a private airport in the capital’s Bemowo district.

The following day the heavy metal bandwagon rolled on to the Czech Republic, where it pulled 25,000 to Prague Expo.

Last year the Czech Sonisphere shifted from Mimon Airport to Milovice Airport, which are about 150 miles apart and on opposite sides of Prague, because the local mayor at Mimon wanted a lot more money when he realised how many people were coming.

It was such a success that this year the Milovice mayor also wanted to up the ante, which prompted another move to central Prague.

Galbraith believes the Expo site in central Prague is the perfect venue for Sonisphere and next year hopes to incorporate some of the indoor venues surrounding it.