A little background:

Obviously Sonisphere UK was cancelled this year, and from the outside looking in, it seemed squarely down to greed. To change the format from a two day event with a fair number of decent bands to a three day event with lots of garbage was doomed from the start. Although Donington gets away with the same feat year after year, who the hell would have enough money to go to one three day nightmare after another? The knock-on effect of UK Sonisphere’s cancellation was that some logistic changes were made to the French edition, running the same weekend. At first it was a few bands; then a total re-scale of the festival from a capacity similar to last year’s inaugural Big Four show, to around a 15,000 capacity event (if I’m not mistaken). Whichever way, a bill similar to that of the monstrous UK edition wasn’t enough to convince 50,000 people to part with their hard-earned Euros. Unsurprisingly.

Headlining Saturday was Faith No More, and Sunday, Evanescence. Neither, I would assume, carrying the same drawing power as Metallica or Slipknot from last year. Things went from bad to worse though as it was announced on the Friday leading up to the festival that Sunday’s headliners were cancelling. Not much of a problem for me as the only band I wanted to see anyway was FNM, but none of this can bode well for future editions of French Sonisphere being held at the industrial northern French town ofAmnéville. I hope I’m wrong, but almost everything leading up to this event pointed to ‘major fuck-up’. As it turns out, the down-sized show proved far more pleasant than last year’s proper festival in a number of ways: getting to the venue, parking, finding something to eat and drink etc. All in all, there was a good atmosphere around the place and plenty of locations to escape to (including a Guinness Pub, and rather strangely considering the bill, a few underground metal stands).

Some bands:

By the time of my arrival on site, Machine Head were already doing their thing in front of a packed venue (the main stage bands were all playing indoors). Although not quite the unbearable catastrophe that I witnessed supporting Metallica on the ‘Death Magnetic’ tour, MH were once again all kick drums and very little else. Okay, maybe during these last two experiences of mine, uncharacteristic mixing errors were to blame – though somehow I doubt it. Rather, it seems as if MH are actually intent on bludgeoning crowds with McClain’s pedals at the expense of all else. Compared to the immense first two times I saw them in 1995 and 1997, this latest performance did very little to reverse my disinterest towards these modern-day “kings of metal”. The throngs inside, seemed to have a great time though. Personally, the industrial-tinged sounds of Combichrist were far more appealing on the second stage, outside, once the Bay-Area metal merchants had finished inside. Being unfamiliar with this band, their mix of Ministry and Rammstein-style sounds proved a nice distraction, and the perfect warm-up for all the oddities who had come here specifically to see Marilyn Manson.

By the time the erudite superstar had arrived on stage, I was stuck in a queue waiting for chips. The dedicated fan that I am, chips obviously took precedence in this situation. After five minutes, it was possible to wander upstairs and find a good seat for the set. From the little familiarity I have with Manson’s music, some tracks from ‘Mechanical Animals’ appeared – including the rousing ‘Rock is Dead’ – and a couple of tunes from ‘Antichrist Superstar’, with ‘Beautiful People’ proving the logical climax of the set. As well as wielding a cake knife microphone at one point, the main-man also took it upon himself to provide some atonal shrieks on guitar during one song. Evidently touring with Slayer has had some influence here, although not enough to alter his reliance on 80s synth-pop covers (Depeche Mode, Eurythmics). Above all, I was thankful that there was no evidence of Manson’s hairy arse, as on the previous occasion I saw him live. As with MH the main hall was packed, and Manson, proving the consummate showman, pleased the expectant masses very much indeed.

Following outside was Meshuggah. Having seen just one song before heading back indoors before the main event, it’s hard to say how good they were – my sole observation being that initially at least, their sound was dampened a little by ‘outdoor stage syndrome’. Once again, a hunt for food and drink was initiated in the main building. And once again, it took ages to get anything. The one distraction (and my favourite aspect of this venue on previous occasions) was the huge, nearby photo of Phil Collins live in concert. Spray-painted down the length of his beige trouser leg is the rather hilarious appraisal: ‘CUNT’. Proof that our French friends say it like it is. Finally (thanks to going with a vegetarian) I ended up with a bread roll containing two foot-long sausages. Not bad at all, despite the particularly fiery brand ofDijon mustard which I had naively covered them with. If Slayer were to write a song about my experience, it would probably be called something along the lines of ‘Mandatory Sausages’. But culinary delights aside, it was now time to find a good wall to lean against before Faith No More hit the stage. Upon walking in, the immediate aspect to everything was the pure whiteness of it all: from back-drops to amps to roadies.

Faith No More:

Given the seeming death notice on the official FNM website, it appeared that these shows may very well mark the end of the band’s reunion and the end of the band. Although they have always had a penchant for weirdness, the stage set-up – contrasted strategically with flower arrangements –  evoked the sense of a mortuary or a wake. Joy Division’s ‘happy-go-lucky’ ‘Isolation’ being projected from the PA only added to the sense of impending doom. Before tonight, the closest I’d come to seeing this band was a gig in Cambridge in 1997 for which my brother had a spare ticket (although it was a school night…) and subsequently, the live stream from Download a few years back, at which I thought the performance was awesome. Now, standing in front of a stage on which FNM would soon step, I had to just thank my immense luck that they came close to where I live – especially for what could prove their final festival appearance.

After 11:30 and out step four-fifths of the band, suited in white, naturally. ‘Woodpecker from Mars’ – of all tracks – kicks things off with its weird, off-kilter eastern influences. Around halfway through, and Mike Patton casually emerges from behind the amps dressed like some pimp, resplendent with Panama hat and walking cane. At this cue, the band switches from ‘Woodpecker…’ to Tom Jones’ ‘Delilah’. Now I’m not generally one for abstract weirdness in my music (FNM’s oddness marking pretty much the threshold of my tolerance) but must admit that Patton’s rendition here was excellent. Better still was what followed, with ‘LandofSunshine’ and ‘Caffeine’ performed in succession. From the outset, it was obvious that the crowd was sparser than it had been earlier, and equally, that towards the back there was hardly any reaction at all from the crowd on the floor. Maybe it was different up in the seats but downstairs it was necessary (and bizarrely convenient) to find a good spot nearer the front to feel as if you were at a gig, let alone watching one of FNM’s last. It seems that despite the internet, the current generation here were largely unaware of anything beyond “Machine Fucking Head” and Manson.

Regardless, FNM ploughed through their set, as the funky twang of ‘Evidence’ contrasted seamlessly with the rowdiness that is ‘Digging the Grave’. Following these two came the pathos-laden ‘Last Cup of Sorrow’. Quite expectedly, some strange moments and bizarre covers peppered the set, which might otherwise have allowed room for another original track or two. Similarly, those hoping to hear many songs from ‘Introduce Yourself’ and ‘The Real Thing’ would have left rather deflated, with just ‘Spirit’ representing the former, and ‘Epic’ – accompanying ‘Woodpecker…’ – as the only other representative from the latter. Having said that, I didn’t come in tonight with any concrete expectations, and overall the night flowed with a series of great FNM tracks. Some personal highlights were ‘Midlife Crisis’ (which broke into some well-known old French tune), ‘Ashes to Ashes’ and ‘Cuckoo for Caca’; the last of which was *coincidentally* preceded by Patton asking the crowd which bands of the day they had particularly enjoyed… ‘Just a Man’ closed the main set before an encore, culminating in ‘Easy’ and some Jay-Z cover – which was not particularly edifying to any but the most hardened FNM fans. “We’ll see you next time…” remarked Patton as he, Gould, Bottum, Bordin and Hudson evaporated from the stage. And that was that.

I, at least, can now die a little bit happier…

Conclusion:

Despite every piece of adversity that came the way of the organisers, Saturday’s installment of SonisphereFrancewas a complete success. The flexibility, organisation and infrastructure since the festival’s inception inFrancelast year has all been 100% ‘there’; hopefully it will return again in 2013. On Sunday though, there was yet more misery to read about as the outside stage was rendered useless by high winds. So on top of no headliners, three or four other bands for that day were also cancelled. All of which can only provoke genuine sympathy for the poor people trying to make the best out of an increasingly ridiculous situation. Top marks to ‘Le Galaxie’ venue, Le Snowhall Park d’Amnéville and the French organisers for putting so much into making Sonisphere 2012 happen. Merci beaucoup et à la prochaine! On espère…

Jamie Wilson