U.K.'s Virgin Fest Trots to Baltimore
The Who, Chili Peppers Among Starters at Pimlico
By J. Freedom du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 17, 2006; Page C01
And they're off!
Putting pop music -- and lots of it -- where the ponies usually run in Baltimore, Britain's massively successful Virgin Festival is coming stateside, with a one-day American edition of the super-concert scheduled for Sept. 23 at Pimlico Race Course.
The ambitious lineup is topped by classic rock stalwarts the Who, chart-topping funk-rockers the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and modern hitmakers the Killers and Gnarls Barkley.
"My goal was to put together a blockbuster event that's worthy of being called one of America's great music festivals," says the event's producer and promoter, Seth Hurwitz. "I want to give this area the biggest and best show it's ever had."
Some might say that was achieved during the glory days of the HFStival, but the assembled Virgin Festival talent is notable nonetheless.
The rock bacchanalia will also feature the Flaming Lips, the Raconteurs, Keane, Scissor Sisters, Thievery Corporation, New Pornographers, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Wolfmother, Drive-By Truckers, Kasabian and at least a half-dozen other youth-skewing acts from the indie-rock and club-music genres.
The complete lineup will be announced today, and tickets ($97.50) will go on sale Saturday. Lots and lots of tickets: Using a general-admission setup, Pimlico can accommodate up to 60,000 concertgoers, Hurwitz says. As such, he's advertising the day-long show in New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and beyond. "This will be a big East Coast event."
Bring on the Bonnaroo of Baltimore, the mid-Atlantic's answer to Austin City Limits, the Coachella of the East Coast!
Okay, maybe not.
The upcoming Austin City Limits Music Festival will feature 130 bands on eight stages over three days. The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival (held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tenn.) and Coachella Valley Music Festival (staged in middle-of-nowhere, California) are similar-sized annual pop extravaganzas.
By comparison, the U.S. Virgin Festival -- backed by Virgin Group's singular chief, the billionaire Richard Branson -- might seem downright quaint, with some 20 artists scheduled to perform on two stages, plus a deejay tent, over a single 10-hour stretch.
Hurwitz says his booking philosophy emphasized quality over quantity, to the point that he resisted putting together a two-day concert -- "because I didn't feel we could do two days' worth of entertainment without seriously diluting the lineup for the one knockout show I wanted to do."
He also didn't want to copy the Coachella or Bonnaroo blueprints.
"Most festivals have a ton of bands on a million stages, and you need a chart to figure it out. It's sensory overload," says Hurwitz, co-owner of IMP Productions, which owns the 9:30 club and operates the Merriweather Post Pavilion. "I just wanted the best of the best."
Set lengths will vary, with the artists at the beginning of the bill playing less than the biggest names. "Big sets from the big bands," Hurwitz says. "But it's not going to be like a radio festival. People aren't going to do five hits and then take off."
Pimlico was selected as the U.S. Virgin Festival site by the creators of the 11-year-old British original. (They're also launching a Canadian edition this year, over two days in early September, at Toronto Island Park.)
While the track that hosts the Preakness Stakes might seem a peculiar choice for a rock festival, it's pretty familiar turf for Hurwitz: In the '90s, he successfully produced multiple Lollapalooza festivals at Charles Town Races in West Virginia.
Might Virgin Festival become an annual event at Pimlico? "That's the idea," Hurwitz says. Just depends on how the first one goes. (Insert cart-before-horse cliche here.)
