Metallica on stage during their headline set at Knebworth's Sonisphere Festival earlier this year

ORGANISERS of the Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth House are set to reveal the 2010 headliners.

THE wait is almost over. Rock fans will soon discover who will headline the 2010 Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth.

The Welwyn Hatfield Times understands that a major announcement about the two-day rock and metal event will be made early next week, with the headliners due to be revealed on Wednesday at 6pm.

Metal giants Metallica and nu-metal favourites Linkin Park were the two headliners of the UK leg of Sonisphere this summer.

Next year’s touring festival will return to the grounds of the Hertfordshire stately home from Saturday, July 31 to Sunday, August 1.

Heavy metal legends Iron Maiden are one of the groups rumoured to be playing, although there has been no confirmation yet.

As well as the 2010 Knebworth headliners, promoters are also expected to reveal details of where else the touring festival will visit next year.

In its first year, Sonisphere stopped off at Holland, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Finland on successive weekends before landing at Knebworth for the two-day climax attended by 80,000 rock fans.

Festival director Stuart Galbraith is keen to expand the Sonisphere brand into new territories across Europe and beyond.

Speaking about the inaugural Sonisphere experience during this year’s festival at Knebworth, Stuart said: “Some have been very successful, others slightly below expectation.

“But to give an example, we played in Finland and ended up running the biggest rock event that has ever taken place in Finland – 60,000 tickets sold out in a day!”

Music fans are advised to keep checking the Sonisphere website for clues to who the 2010 headliners might be before the official announcement later this week.