Sonisphere Knebworth is taking place now at Knebworth Park in the UK. Adam Sagir is Head Of Press for the festival and has issued the following report from day 1 yesterday (Friday, July 30th):

His head was sheared off with a guillotine, he was whipped, injected by poison and hung the old-fashioned British way. Oh, and among a lot of other borderline lunacy, he ended up snogging a rubber doll. Just another regular Friday night for ALICE COOPER then.

He only had one complaint: “The crowd weren’t quite close enough to get any blood on them.” It’s been almost 30 years since our Friday night headliner played a festival in the UK. Why did he take so long to return?

“I don’t know. We played at Reading in the eighties, but I think promoters were just scared of something theatrical,” he says. “I think tonight showed they didn’t need to be.”
“Thank God this festival has promoters with balls,” as one happy punter put it after a stunt-packed set that begun and ended with ‘School’s Out’. “There were so many people out there I just couldn’t see,” says Alice. “I normally focus on people to sing to, but not tonight.”

Will you come back to Sonisphere? “Oh, definitely.”

After Alice’s set the party in the Bohemia tent hosted by Bizarre went into overdrive and got a little out of hand. One women (with a prosthetic penis) paused her simulated buggery to spray the crowd with milk (at least we think it was milk) from fake breasts strapped to her backside. Then there was a mechanical horse shooting fire out of its hind flanks, some flying bug women spinning down into the crowd from the ceiling and a Zebra dominatrix or two who just couldn’t stop wrestling.

Bizarre employ the kind of performing girls (or guys or gender-confused people) that you’d imagine would go out with tonight’s headliners RAMMSTEIN. In fact it wouldn’t surprise us if some of them hang around for Rammstein’s after party. Apparently they’ve ordered two grand’s worth of vodka, booked Hertfordshire’s leading 80s pop DJ (he also does weddings) and according to one of Sabaton invited some fire-breathing midgets to serve the drinks.

Earlier in the evening, Terrorvision played a set packed with their hits including stand-out versions of ‘Perseverance’ and ‘Oblivion’. They dedicated ‘Alice What’s The Matter’ to Mr Cooper and ended with an explosive rendition of ‘Whales and Dolphins’. Before Alice Cooper, GARY NUMAN served up one of the heaviest sets he’s ever played. Appearing at his first real metal festival he established himself firmly with the rock community.

And so to today, SABATON are currently playing an inspirational battle metal set. “That is scary,” our photographer just told us. The kind of thing to wake up and work into a frenzy anyone still lazing in their tent. Anyone who wasn’t already alerted into action by Family Force 5’s basslines that set off car alarms all across the site. Later there’s COREY TAYLOR’s second-ever UK solo set, MÖTLEY CRÜE, PLACEBO, ANTHRAX, GOOD CHARLOTTE and, of course, Rammstein with their first-ever UK festival appearance. See you in the pit!!