Outdoor yoga, dancing tree mascots, and theatrically costumed stilt walkers twirling long gymnastics ribbons. We’re talking about Virgin Festival in Vancouver. It was all about music in case you couldn’t tell.
The small Saturday crowd listened painfully to early artists like Elizabeth, who aside from paying homage to the Queen seemed terribly off-key. Maybe it was the setting! There were bands on both days like Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, the Montreal trio Plants and Animals, The Thermals, and Gomez who rocked the shit out of the smaller Festival Stage.
Enter K-OS – a definite highlight for the crowd with his chill attitude, sweet dreads, and witty Virgin Fest banter injected into the songs. He played hits like Burning Bridges!, Man I Used 2 Be, and Sunday Morning, re-mixed towards the end with Sunday, Bloody Sunday (remember that song by U2?)
Poor Broken Social Scene! It’s as if the crowd who showed up on Saturday had no idea who they were. An indie-lover’s dream, BSS was joined on stage by a few members of The Stars and Metric. K-OS even came out towards the end of the performance to rap with the gang – “say broken, broken.” At least the musicians had fun with it!
The scorching heat was met with occasional drops of rain that turned into a massive rainstorm by the time Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace hit the stage. Thunder. Lightning. Since when do we get that in Vancouver?
Soaking wet, the crowd seemed more into the festival than ever, rocking out to Our Lady Peace favourites like Innocent, Naveed, All You Did Was Save My Life, and Somewhere Out There. Lead singer Raine Maida definitely won over the crowd by poking fun at the ridiculously overpriced $7 drinks in the Bacardi Breezer Lounge.
Sure, there was rain. Yes, lots of thunder and lightning, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind. Right before The Roots were set to go onstage, an announcement was made that Day One would be cut short to keep everyone safe.
The organizers promise that a make-up show with The Roots will happen and Day One ticket holders were given free admission to Day Two. I’m sure the people who bought two-day passes were thrilled about that. Sunday was packed with 15, 000 super hot, scantily clad peeps braving the heat.
Day Two featured Jarvis Cocker, Sonic Youth, and The Thermals. How is it possible that I was so in the dark about how awesome The Thermals are? The Oregon indie post-pop-punk rock band just released a fourth album, Now We Can See, Now We Can See, and have very quickly made their way onto my playlist. Best of the Festival Stage – we’re sure they are on their way up to the big time.
One thing is certain: Vancouver loves Metric. The sweaty crowd filled the field gently bopping to the electric beats. If you don’t know who Metric is, who are you? And, where have you been?
The adorable Emily Haines bobbed her blunt blonde bangs to hits like Gimme Sympathy, Help, I’m Alive, and Monster Hospital. She sported an off-white tank, la ong multi-chain necklace, purple suede v-slouch boots, and tri-coloured sequin mini. Dead Disco, baby!
Big thanks to Sir Richard Branson for bringing Virgin Fest back to Vancouver. Let’s hope they come back next year! We suggest getting regular (as opposed to VIP) tickets, unless you really want to pay double to be away from the main stage and sit on uncomfortable wicker IKEA furniture and hot (and not the good kind), plastic Virgin pillow seats.
We’d go back to Virgin Festival and think you should too. Think about all of the half-naked people you can make fun of and the music lovin’ memories you’ll have. The Festival will be in Calgary on August 8 and 9 with headliners like Pearl Jam, Billy Talent, Metric, Tokyo Police Club, and Shout Out Out Out Out, and in Toronto on August 29 and 30 with a similar line-up to the Vancouver festival. Check it out at www.virginfestival.ca.
