2009 will see the first edition of the fresh festival Sonisphere. The event will tour Europewhere the UK will host the climax of the event which would have already visited Holland, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Finland. The UK event will be in Knebworth, England on the 1st and 2nd of August.

It has recently been announced that Nu-metal masters Linkin Park and the one and only Metallica will be headlining the Knebworth show. Other acts include Lamb of God and Mastodon with dozens of others to be announced.  Metallica are hard to impress but Lars Ulrich is already jumping up and down - ”We’re stoked to be touring England and Europe with Sonisphere. Summer festivals in Europe are what Metallica do best. We can’t wait to see all of our fans over there.”

Knebworth might ring a few bells to you. Why? There are many possible reasons, but it is famously home to the phrase “The pen is mightier than the sword” by Edward Bulwer Lytton. But this is not all, It is also known as the home of rock as the Hertfordshire home has been host to the likes of Led Zeppelin, Oasis, Queen, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry and Deep Purple.

The festival is expected to be a great success due to its touring  aspect but the only way to really find out is to go. Tickets go on sale this Wednesday 11th Feburary at 9am GMT. If your interested then be quick as tickets will be snapped up quickly. If you want more information then visit the fancy Sonisphere Website.

You would be forgiven if you have not heard of Fort Minor as their frontman (Mike Shinoda) largely overshadows the hip-hop group with his other band, Linkin Park. However the rappers from LA are far frm a minor band with over a million plays of their biggest hit “Second To None” on their MySpace.

Mike Shinoda is critised for not getting his personality across when he raps but when the lyrics are of this high quality and seem to fit the music so tightly, I for one don’t care. The voice of Mike is captivating and the epic music that accompanies him on every Fort Minor track gives a huge impact.

It is easy to just say that Fort Minor are Linkin Park without Chester but I feel it would be better to think that Fort Minor highlights what Linkin Park depends on for success which has to be Mike. His hard working attitude is often credited but the quality he brings with his musical composition and rapping is pretty awesome.

Tracks to look out for include “Kenji” which show cases Mike’s personality in great style while other tunes like “Cigarettes” display a darker sound and the variety that comes with a collection of Fort Minor Traks.  A host of other talented vocalists  like Common and Black Thought add there own dynamics on their respective songs and help to make Fort Minor one of my favourite hip-hop acts of all time.

Nobody does Nu-metal like Linkin Park and the new live album “Road to Revolution” captures the rockers at their best in Milton Keynes. Now most bands are credited for thier quality in the studio but often they can’t cut it when it comes to the live act. Linkin Park ,however, seem to take it in their stride with confidence.

Fifty thousand lucky fans were there on the night when the album was recorded but it does not matter at all if you weren’t there as you can go as many times as ou like if you get the CD The highlight of the whole show though would easily be when Jay-Z joined them on stage to perform Numb/Encore. The track was well recieved when it was initially released and boy does it sound like it went down well at the gig.

Fans also seemed to find “One Step Closer” a real treat with classic aggression from lead singer Chester and it is easy to imagine his neck going purple when listening to this hit. The album manages to pump out 37 tracks in total over two disks and this causes one problem with the record. As soon as you start listening it is almost to hard to stop so you’ll find your time will pass away quickly but it is well worth it.

Linkin Park have announced a string of UK Arena dates for early next year.

Tickets for the four dates below go on sale on Friday (9th November) at 9am.

Thursday 24th January – Nottingham Arena
Friday 25th January – Sheffield Arena
Sunday 27th January – Manchester MEN Arena
Monday 28th January – London O2 Arena