LN Gets Slice Of Sonisphere

Although funded by AEG, London-based promoter Kilimanjaro Live worked with Live Nation last year to stage some of its Sonisphere festival dates throughout Europe. Now Sweden is being added to the list.

AEG Sweden promoted the Swedish leg of last year’s inaugural festival on the Hultsfred site, but Live Nation’s Swedish office is involved in the 2010 edition of the burgeoning pan-European rock bash. The event is also moving to the Stockholm site where LN promotes its annual Where The Action Is festival.

Kilimanjaro started Sonisphere last year with John Jackson’s K2 Agency.

Kilimanjaro head Stuart Galbraith says last year’s Swedish Sonisphere did well but he feels it will benefit from the move to Stockholm.

One of the most successful Sonisphere dates of 2009 was the co-promotion by AEG Sweden and Live Nation’s Finnish office, which sold out the 50,000-capacity Pori Jazz Festival site in an hour.

The Dutch version, another AEG and Live Nation co-promotion, did only 20,000 at the Goffert Park in Nijmegen, and so far there’s been no announcement about a Dutch Sonisphere happening in 2010. Nor does Sonisphere appear to be returning to Germany.

The traveling festival will go back to Spain where last year Itxaso Hernández of Last Tour International, which produces major Spanish festivals including Bilbao BBK Live and Azkena Rock, sold about 30,000 tickets in the 50,000-capacity Barcelona Forum.

Live Nation Sweden chief Thomas Johansson said he received a call asking if he would like to be involved in Sonisphere 2010 and was delighted to say yes.

AEG purchased Supreme Royal Deluxe, the Hultsfred booking company co-owned by Janne Kleman and Gothenburg-based artist manager Petri Lunden, but the festival has since decided to end the exclusivity.

Part of Hultsfred’s problem, which led to the local municipality controversially bailing it out to the tune of $3.5 million in December, was the competition created when Live Nation started Where The Action is on the same weekend.

Kleman, who moved to AEG as part of the Hultsfred booking agency purchase, will continue to book the event but he’s had to move back into the Hultsfred fold to do it. It’s believed Hultsfred is already talking to LN about supplying some of the acts.

Galbraith told Pollstar the Sonispheres have already shifted 100,000 tickets, which is “streets ahead” of this point last year.

The number of Sonispheres has risen from six to 11, with some of the new ones – including Poland, Czech Republic and Switzerland – boasting a heavy-hitting lineup that includes Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, the “Big Four.” It’s the first time they’ve all played on the same bill.

So far the full summer lineup includes Poland, Switzerland, Czech Republic June 16-19, followed by what look to be twinned or semi-twinned events in The Balkans.

Bulgaria is June 22-23, Greece is the next day, while Romania and Turkey are both June 25-27. Spain is July 10, the UK leg is Aug. 1, followed by Sweden and Finland Aug. 7-8.