QUEEN’s Brian May and Roger Taylor have confirmed the band will headline the second day of SONISPHERE appearing on the APOLLO stage on Saturday July 7.

KNEBWORTH was the setting for QUEEN’s final concert with Freddie Mercury in August 1986.

May and Taylor also confirmed that for this very special event they will be joined by US singer-songwriter ADAM LAMBERT.

The potent chemistry between QUEEN and Lambert broke the surface when at the invitation of Brian May and Roger Taylor, Lambert joined them for the closing showcase at the recent MTV Europe Awards where QUEEN were present to collect their Global Icon award.  Says Brian May: “Judging by my incoming mail, this decision will make a lot of people very happy. It’s a worthy challenge for us, and I’m sure Adam would meet with Freddie’s approval! And what better place to revisit, and walk those emotional paths than Knebworth? It will be a rush.”

For the final, Sunday night, SONISPHERE KNEBWORTH is proud to announce the legendary FAITH NO MORE as the headline act on the APOLLO stage.

Onstage irreverent, uncompromising, unpredictable and dazzling at every turn, FNM have been setting new standards in exciting rock performance for more than two decades now.  With classics such as ‘Falling To Pieces’, ‘Epic’,  ‘Midlife Crisis’ and ‘Be Aggressive’, Mike Bordin, Roddy Bottum, Bill Gould, Jon Hudson and Mike Patton are poised to set KNEBWORTH on fire when they close the last night at SONISPHERE with their only UK appearance of 2012. Says bassplayer Billy Gould: “It was over 2 years ago when we decided to reform and play those amazing UK shows. The good news is, we’ve had a couple of years to improve our skills; moving our song to error ratio down 3.5 full percentage points. Watch out UK, we’re going to do it right this time!!” 

Joining the three superb headliners are some of the biggest names from the world of rock and metal.

WITHIN TEMPTATION are one of European metal’s greatest success stories, their elegant yet melodramatic symphonic grandeur ensuring sales in the millions. With no less than thirty gold and platinum awards as well as two MTV European Music Awards, WITHIN TEMPTATION play their only UK show of 2012 on the Friday at SONISPHERE’s APOLLO stage.

Joining them are WOLFMOTHER, one of the new millennium’s biggest Australian rock exports. Andrew Stockdale and co proudly boast gold records, top 40 singles and awards too numerous to count. They also boast the kind of loud and boisterous rock that aone hundred and thirty six thousand watt PA was invented for and that tunes such as “Woman”, “Mind’s Eye” and “The Joker & The Thief” will sound awesome through.

On the Saturday, the APOLLO stage boasts a plethora of talent that showcases not only what a truly eclectic festival SONISPHERE offers, but also its ability to deliver the biggest names across rocks’ spectrum.

EVANESCENCE were welcomed to the UK in 2003 when debut album “Fallen” went straight to Number One in the official charts. Since then it has gone on to go triple platinum here, with the multi-million selling US rockers counting no less than four top ten singles in this country. That their latest, self-titled album has already achieved silver status mere months after its release shows that EVANESCENCE mania shows no sign of slowing down before they hit KNEBWORTH for their only UK show of 2012.

Reformed glam-rockers THE DARKNESS come to KNEBWORTH armed with a catalogue of classics as well as the promise of the first chance to hear new material this summer. If “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us”, the first new song in seven years, is anything to go by, THE DARKNESS’ new material should delight crowds in equal measure to classics like “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”, “Get Your Hands Off My Woman”, “Growing On Me” and “One Way Ticket”.

Celtic folk-punks FLOGGING MOLLY make their way from Los Angeles California to show SONISPHERE why they are the perfect festival band. Armed with banjos, mandolins, fiddles, tin whistles, accordions and spoons, the seven-piece will entertain the masses with music from their five album career.

Sometimes you can’t get enough of a good thing, which is why SONISPHERE is proud to welcome back mighty metal powerhouse GOJIRA. Opening the APOLLO stage, the fierce French foursome will ensure a punishingly heavy start to the Saturday of SONISPHERE and give UK fans the first chance to hear new material from their fifth album - and first for new label Roadrunner - due later this year.

Over on SATURN, Italian goth-metallers LACUNA COIL give you their only chance to see them in the UK this summer, bringing with them a beautiful bounty of deliciously melodic, ethereal metal from their 18 year career.

SONISPHERE’s Sunday showcases more massive names to make sure the festival goes out with a bang. Making their way from Calabasas, California, alt-rock icons INCUBUS will not so much warm up the APOLLO stage for headliners FAITH NO MORE as set it on fire, with a plethora of hits from a 20 year career that’s seen over 13 million album sales. With last year’s “If Not Now, When?” - their first new album in five years - crashing into the top 20, INCUBUS are at the height of their game, and will prove as much at their only UK appearance of 2012.