Just a quick note about VFest in Toronto.
First, I hope the organization is MUCH better here than it was in Toronto. You had to show ID to get into the beer garden (which had the only dry places to sit). Problem was...all the food, booth to buy beer tickets, washrooms, etc were all OUTSIDE the beer garden. So the lineup to get inside could be hundreds of people long - with only ONE person checking ID.
Second, what a bunch of corporate whores. I understand that Virgin is sponsoring it and therefore we expect advertising. But they pasted these huge Virgin, Bacardi, and Bud Light banners all over the fence at the beer garden - so you couldn't see anything that was happening on stage. Idiots. Never even thought of what the fan's persepective was.
Usual whining about expensive food and the long lines that go with that.
Horrible scheduling - Muse took forever to get Bellamy's ego squeezed onto the stage and consequently, everything was almost 45 mins behind schedule. Instead of shortening Muse's set, they just kept going and let everyone take their allotted time. Fine, except when Flaming Lips came on, they had a whole 10 minutes before the curfew. The went 20 mins past the curfew before they were cut off. Yes - if you paid $60 to see Flaming Lips, you got a whole FOUR F**KING songs. Brilliant.
On to the positive. Wolfmother kick motherf**king god almighty ass. It's a shame I'll miss them at Pimlico. Yeah - the singing is kinda annoying, the songs all sound the same after awhile...but who gives a damn when the band is putting on THAT kind of a show. Amazing stuff.
The Dears just keep getting better and better. They've gone from the old days of drunken jams to exceptionally polished and well crafted rock/pop songs. And Murray, bless his heart, still sings like he really really really means it.
Broken Social Scene....*sigh*. This one picture (taken from Chromewave's blog) says it all. <img src="http://www.chromewaves.net/images/concerts/virginFestival2006/brokenSocialScene/brokenSocialScene-20.jpg" alt=" - " />
Yes - we had all three divas (and were spared Lisa Lobsinger). The WHOLE freaking band was there. Feist, Jason Collett and Amy Millan were on tour in the States but flew back on three day's notice for this. It was a short set (thanks to The Strokes taking 40 mins to get their shit together) but we still got 60 mins of beautiful, joyeous, celebratory noise. Jimmy and the Photocall, Ibi Dreams of Pavement and Anthems for a Seventeen Yead Old where the absolute highlights (the last one finished with a group hug between the three girls, which is fantasy material for the next year).
