[1] It hosted heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Avenged Sevenfold and Babymetal (the latter group would make their UK debut at the 2014 event).

Stuart Galbraith, chief executive officer of Kilimanjaro Live, revealed in 2018 that Sonisphere will not return to the UK, due to financial issues.

[5] The Spanish edition of the Sonisphere Festival took place on Saturday 11 July 2009 at The Forum, Barcelona with headliners Metallica.

[6] The Swedish edition of the Sonisphere Festival took place on Saturday 18 July 2009 at Folkets Park, Hultsfred with Metallica as headliners.

[7] The Finnish edition of the Sonisphere Festival took place on Saturday 25 July 2009 at Kirjurinluoto Arena, Pori with Metallica as headliners.

[8] Machine Head were forced to cut their set short, due to lead guitarist Phil Demmel collapsing on stage.

The locations for Sonisphere 2010 were Poland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Spain, United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland.

[12] [13] Switzerland was the second nation to host the Sonisphere festival in 2010 with the event taking place at Degenaupark in Jonschwil on 18 June 2010.

[19] The Sonisphere festival in Greece was held on 24 June 2010 at Terra Vibe Park in Athens in front of 30,000 people.

[29] The Heaven & Hell show was cancelled before the beginning of the festival due to Ronnie James Dio's health issues.

[34] On 17 January 2011, it was announced that Motörhead, Mastodon, In Flames and Parkway Drive will be playing the UK leg of Sonisphere.

[36] 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.

[37] On 28 March Bill Bailey, Jarred Christmas, Jason John Whitehead, Jim Breuer, and Steve-O were added to the lineup.

Slipknot headlined the bill with the other bands performing included: In Flames, Opeth, Sonata Arctica, HammerFall, Mastodon and more.

[43] [44] 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.

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 many others.

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.

Iron Maiden headlined the second Turkish Sonisphere show, which took place on 19 June 2011, at Maçka Küçükçiftlik Park, Istanbul.

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 many more.

Nearly 30,000 people from Czech Republic and many other countries (Poland, Germany, Austria) attended the headlining gig of Iron Maiden on 11 June 2011.

However, on 21 December it was confirmed the event would be cancelled for the second year in succession, citing a struggle to secure a strong lineup for the festival.

On 2 December Iron Maiden (Saturday) and Metallica (Sunday) were announced as the first two headliners of the UK edition of Sonisphere.

On 6 January, Slayer, Mastodon, Alice in Chains, Ghost, Karnivool, Gojira and Airbourne were added to the lineup as undercard bookings.

Then on 21 January, Limp Bizkit were revealed to be the special guests for The Prodigy on the Friday, with Dropkick Murphys, The Sisters of Mercy, Anthrax, Chas & Dave, The Devin Townsend Project, Carniflex, Silverstein, The Virgin Marys, Voodoo Six, TessaracT and Alestorm also appearing across the weekend.

The shows were well received and considered on many music sites "Best at Sonisphere 2014", especially after a "Lego Deathmatch" was held on the final night.

[54] The 2014 Sonisphere event would also feature one of the most anticipated sets in the festival's history, the United Kingdom debut of then-unknown Japanese death metal trio BABYMETAL.

The original plans for Sonisphere event planners was that the group would have a late Day 3 evening set in the Bohemia tent; however, after BABYMETAL's music video for their wildly popular song Gimme Chocolate!

released, the event planners decided to move their set to early Saturday morning on the main Apollo stage.

[60] Sonisphere UK 2015 was cancelled in January 2015 after the organisers stated they couldn't get a line-up together they deemed suitable for the event.