Sonisphere returned in 2011 with new venues in India, France and Italy but did not return to Romania. It also marked the first time that Metallica played in India. The first headliner announced for Knebworth, England was Slipknot.
UK Sonisphere Knebworth took place from 8 to 10 July 2011. On 3 December 2010, it was announced that the American band
Slipknot would headline Sonisphere 2011. Soon afterward, on 6 December it was announced that Scottish rock band
Biffy Clyro would be headlining the Saturday night, in the band's first major festival headlining performance. On 13 December 2010, it was announced that
Metallica,
Megadeth,
Slayer and
Anthrax would headline the Friday of the Knebworth event. This will be the first time that The Big Four perform together in the UK. On 17 January 2011, it was announced that
Motörhead,
Mastodon, In Flames and Parkway Drive will be playing the UK leg of Sonisphere. On 31 January 2011, it was announced that
Weezer,
Airbourne,
Architects and
Diamond Head will be playing Sonisphere. On 28 February You Me at Six, All Time Low, Sum 41, House of Pain, Arch Enemy, Grinspoon, Fozzy and Periphery were added to the lineup. On 28 March
Bill Bailey,
Jarred Christmas,
Jason John Whitehead,
Jim Breuer, and
Steve-O were added to the lineup. According to the official site, during all three days of event, nearly 190,000 people were present. Cancer Bats performed a
Black Sabbath tribute show.
Motörhead dedicated their set to their former guitarist
Würzel who died just the day before. The Saturday 9 July show opened at 11:30AM with a performance by
Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine.
Sweden Sonisphere in Sweden returned to
Stockholm, but it was held at "Globen Open Air" on Saturday 9 July 2011.
Slipknot headlined the event, with
In Flames,
Mastodon,
Mustasch and
Dead by April also playing at the festival. Only 16,000 fans came to see the bands this time. •
Airbourne •
Arch Enemy •
Dead by April •
Graveyard •
In Flames •
Kvelertak •
Mastodon •
Mustasch • Seventribe •
Slipknot Finland Sonisphere in Finland took place at
Kalasatama, Helsinki on 2 July 2011.
Slipknot headlined the bill with the other bands performing included:
In Flames,
Opeth,
Sonata Arctica,
HammerFall,
Mastodon and more. As opposed to the previous two years, the 2011 Sonisphere was less well attended, with attendance of only 12,000 fans. •
Battle Beast •
HammerFall •
In Flames •
Mastodon •
Norther •
Opeth •
Poisonblack •
Slipknot •
Sonata Arctica •
Stam1na Poland Sonisphere Poland returned to Bemowo Airport,
Warsaw on Friday 10 June 2011.
Iron Maiden announced on their website that they would headline the event in Poland in 2011. Motörhead was confirmed as the second headliner of the festival. Other bands announced were
Mastodon,
Volbeat,
Killing Joke,
Devin Townsend,
Hunter and
Made of Hate.
Iron Maiden played to the crowd of over 40,000 people who attended the event. • Corruption •
Devin Townsend Project •
Hunter •
Iron Maiden •
Killing Joke •
Made of Hate •
Mastodon •
Motörhead •
Volbeat Greece Sonisphere in Greece returned to
Athens and it took place in
Terra Vibe Park, Malakassa on Friday 17 June 2011.
Iron Maiden headlined the event, and
Slipknot were special guests, playing live for the first time since
Paul Gray's death.
Mastodon,
Gojira and
Virus were the supporting acts. On 6 May it was announced that
Nightfall,
Moonspell, Need and Total Riot would play on 17 June 2011.
Rotting Christ were the headliners of the second stage of the Greek leg of Sonisphere Festival. More than 25,000 fans attended the event.
Italy Sonisphere 2011 took place on Italian soil for the first time. More than 40,000 people were present during two days of festival. The two-day event was booked at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, on 25 and 26 June 2011.
Iron Maiden were the headliners on the first evening, and the band performed to nearly 30,000 fans. Next day's headliners were
Linkin Park with 13,000 in attendance. The other bands on the bill were:
Slipknot,
My Chemical Romance,
Sum 41,
Alter Bridge,
The Cult,
Mastodon,
Motörhead,
Guano Apes,
Funeral for a Friend,
Papa Roach,
Rob Zombie,
Apocalyptica and others.
France Slipknot and
The Big Four confirmed that they would be headlining the French Sonisphere event, which took place on 8 and 9 July 2011. Other bands announced were
Dream Theater,
Airbourne,
Mastodon,
Gojira,
Loudblast,
Tarja,
Volbeat, Diamond Head,
Mass Hysteria,
Rise To Remain,
Symfonia,
Bring Me the Horizon and
Papa Roach. The two nights attracted 76,000 people. Metallica performed Helpless from Diamond Head, with Diamond Head and Anthrax members on stage, but without Slayer and Megadeth
India On 1 May 2011, Metallica confirmed on their official website that they would headline the Indian edition of Sonisphere, which took place in
Bangalore on 30 October at the Palace Grounds.
Spain The third Spanish Sonisphere Festival took place on 15 and 16 July 2011, at Getafe Open Air in
Madrid. The main headliner was
Iron Maiden with
The Darkness and
Slash headlining the night before. Sonsphere Spain included around 70,000 attendees.
Iron Maiden played to a full house venue with nearly 45,000 fans.
Turkey Iron Maiden headlined the second Turkish Sonisphere show, which took place on 19 June 2011, at Maçka Küçükçiftlik Park,
Istanbul. Other bands that played included
Slipknot,
Alice Cooper,
Mastodon and
In Flames. Tickets were sold to approximately 25,000 people.
Bulgaria A Sonisphere event was scheduled to happen this year in Bulgaria but according to local promoter Marcel Avram and Balkan Entertainment the event was cancelled due to logistical and other problems that could not be rectified. The promoters also said that these problems were out of their control and that full refunds for tickets would begin on 15 June and continue to 15 July.
Switzerland Sonisphere returned to Switzerland for the second time. The event took place at
St. Jakob on 23 and 24 June in
Basel. Over two evenings more than 35,000 people attended the headlining shows. 23 June headliner was
Judas Priest with the
Epitaph World Tour at the
St. Jakobshalle; the next evening's headliner was
Iron Maiden, who performed to almost 25,000 fans gathered at Leichtathletik Stadion. The other bands were:
Whitesnake,
Alice Cooper,
Slipknot,
Limp Bizkit,
In Extremo,
In Flames,
Papa Roach,
Kreator,
Mr. Big,
Hatebreed,
HammerFall,
Alter Bridge,
Gojira,
Gwar,
Skindred and more.
Czech Republic For the second time, Sonisphere took place in Czech Republic. The 2011 event was originally scheduled for Milovice Airport, but after a few months was changed to Praha's Výstaviště Park. Nearly 30,000 people from Czech Republic and multiple other countries (Poland, Germany, Austria) attended the headlining gig of
Iron Maiden on 11 June 2011. Other bands on the bill included
The Sisters of Mercy,
Kreator,
Korn,
Mastodon,
Cavalera Conspiracy and others. ==Sonisphere 2012==