Críticas

Sat 4 and Sun 5 Aug – Virgin Festival





This is video I took at the Festival, featuring Fountains of Wayne, Cheap Trick, Incubus, The Police, Paolo Nutini, Beastie Boys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, The Smashing Pumpkins

Sun 5 Aug – Virgin Festival

This had to be one of the best days in the history of music!

I started my day in the dance tent. Dan Deacon had great energy and was really involved with the audience. I love that he was down in the crowd, and that he started a dance circle. Girl Talk was next, and honestly I have been in love with Night Ripper for awhile now, and his set was pretty amazing. I had already seen the two of them a few months back, but I enjoyed this time around more.

I checked out Regina Spektor for a few songs, and she was adorable. I loved the simplicity of her set, and her voice is beautiful. I left there to check out Matisyahu. He was pretty amazing, but I kept loosing track and thinking about how dehydrated I felt and that the smell of weed was making me naucious.

From there, my friends & I got some food before going to see Explosions in the Sky. I only listened to a few songs. Their music is good, but doesn't hold my interest for very long. So we moved on to the North Stage to check out Panic! At the Disco for shits & giggles. They were actually not that bad live, and the lead singer's vocals were pretty funny at times. Their cover the The Weight by The Band was pretty sick though.

We immediatly moved up to the stage to get close for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which is in my top 3 favorite bands, and is definitely the main reason I came to V-Fest. Karen O was amazing! her stage presence is perfect. Their set was amazing, and they played so many of my favorite songs by them. This was the best set of my day, hands down.

We went to check out Wu-Tang Clan after that. We only heard like two songs, and they were pretty cool. We ran back to the North Stage for Interpol, which were also amazing. Their set was pretty awesome.

We then moved into the Dance Tent for the end of Deep Dish which was good dance music. We stayed in their for mia. She is so pretty, and really good. But my boyfriend & I left there, due to sweaty high guys who were pretty annoying, and it was just way too hot to be dancing after such an exhausting day. We went to check out The Smashing Pumpkins, which seemed pretty good from a distance. I'm not too familiar with their music. We went to check out 311 next, which was really good. I especially loved when Matisyahu came out during Love Song. It was perfect.


I definitely got my money's worth, and want to come back next year, hopefully for both days!

Sat 4 Aug – Virgin Festival

Overall, this was a fantastic two days despite the heat. Here are some notes on the bands we saw / heard and the event itself -- from the vantage point of some of the older attendees :)

Will update as time allows...

Bands

1. Fountains of Wayne OK, they were one of the big draws for us so I'm not impartial. They opened with a tight, sunny set (and then the sun took over). The first song was unfamiliar to us, and they didn't play Stacy's Mom, much to the disappointment of some. But they proved --to me, at least -- that they are an excellent live act.

2. Cheap Trick Although somewhat similar to Fountains of Wayne, I have never been a huge fan, but I must admit they were actually quite good for "old" guys. They were entertaining and energetic, and still bring out those wild guitars (five necks!) like in the old days. And Surrender is a top-flight song, and the performance didn't miss a beat.

3. Amy Winehouse. Many other reviewers got it right -- she seemed less than thrilled to be on stage and her performance lacked energy until the end. She even seemed to snarl at her (excellent!) band and the fans. But there is no question about her talent. Amazing for someone not yet 24.

4. Incubus. I have grown to appreciate Incubus since cramming for -- and attending -- their show earlier this year at DC's 9:30 club. They are great musicians and in some ways remind me of The Police, especially the unusual chord voicings and very active bass lines. And of course, they have a great drummer. They took the stage at the height of the midday heat and gave the audience a dose of head-banging rock, especially with Megalomaniac. By this time we had moved to the rear of the crowd, and this was the first time I noticed how good the sound system was on the North Stage.

5. After listening to Incubus out in the sun, we took a break and headed to get food, drink and shade. But we heard Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals from our "resting place" and I was extremely impressed. His band was tight and strong and Ben's delivery had an edge to it that I find lacking on his studio work.

6. The Beastie Boys. I guess I just don't get it -- I couldn't get into it. And I had to laugh when I heard some of our fellow concert-goers describe them as "old".

7. After about twenty minutes to change the stage, the opening arpeggios of Message In A Bottle rang out and it was as if the entire place "snapped to attention". The crowd surged toward the stage as The Police opened. The musicianship in their set was superb, especially Stuart Copeland whose nuanced drumming was perfect in the mix. The live versions of the songs seemed to have more weight and substance than the studio versions. And, Sting -- what can you say? In perfect form.

8. So we headed home, took two showers, got up a little later the next day but arrived in time to catch CSS. Intersting stage show, interesting outfits. Music not bad either, and the shrubs joined them on the stage.

9. For us, Sunday's highlight was Regina Spektor. She opened with an a capella song, and proceeded to accompany herself on piano and in a few cases, electric guitar. No band. The simple staging allowed her excellent voice and musicianship to shine. And the songs? Wow. Intimate lyrics with twists, and lush melodies with roots in the Russian classics. Maybe not the best fit for a rock festival, but we found it refreshing and are now big fans.

10. I'm trying. I really am. I know the critics love Spoon but I've been slow to warm. They had technical trouble on stage -- they couldn't get in tune -- and seemed a bit uncomfortable. Or arrogant? They do have a good rhythm section, but I found a lot of the songs jarring.

11. The day's remaining acts had a rougher edge, and the Sunday crowd seemed to reflect this. Many more "frat boys" than on Saturday. Of the remaining bands, we enjoyed the driving rock of Velvet Revolver. Slash never ages. How about Slash and Sting start a band?


Event / Venue Notes

1. The sound system on each stage was superb. Much better than Wolf Trap or Nissan in Virginia. Especially the bass response -- punchy all the way to the rear of the crowd, without overshadowing or distorting the mid and high ranges. Amazing.

2. Everything kept to schedule, although I read that Wu-Tang Clan took the stage 20 minutes late on Sunday.

3. We only used the dance tent for occasional shade, so I have no observations. Except that it was, indeed, shady.

4. If you go next year, take a map. For some reason the police (real ones, not Sting et al.) wouldn't let traffic exit the main lot in the direction from whence they came, so everyone ended up bailing onto the neighborhood streets. Confusing, to say the least.

5. Food and drink? Plenty. Bring money.

Sat 4 Aug – Virgin Festival

CSS

so, css was the first band of the second day. i knew i wanted to see them, but i hadn't really heard any of their music before. can i just say that i think i may have found my new group of heroes? because they were all just about the coolest people i have ever seen. the lead singer came out in a full body rainbow sequined jumpsuit, and she was the coolest fucking thing ever. like a combination of Bjork and Karen O, on speed. hahah. and the keyboard player had on a Tilly & The Wall shirt, which was amazing. they put on such a show. at one point, there were these three dancing trees that they pulled up on stage from the audience, and when asked what their names were, they said kelly, michelle, and beyonce. hahaha. then the singer said how jealous everyone in brazil would be that they had shared the stage with Destiny's Child. oh man, and at one point the singer was talking about how the day before, they had to cancel one of their shows because of united airlines, and she grabs one of the balloons from onstage, inhales the helium from it, and goes 'FUCK UNITED AIRLINES' into the mic, in this high-pitched voice. it was beautiful. i really, really, really, enjoyed their set.

Incubus

i have to first off state that i am not a hardcore incubus fan, and i only really know a couple of songs by them. that said, they were absolutely fantastic. it didn't matter that i didn't know the songs, because they were such good performers that i really enjoyed them anyway. brandon was of course quite sexy, and at one point he took off his shirt and everyone went crazy. he's fucking emaciated, and it's beautiful. he was also really humble, kept thanking the crowd every two seconds like he couldn't believe this many people actually liked what he was doing. it was really cute. did i mention he is really yummy? hahah.

Modest Mouse

oh man, modest mouse was absolutely flawless. they took their sweet time coming on stage (fifteen minutes later than planned) but once they got out there, they were great. i had met some really cool people in the crowd around me, and they let me get to the front, which was so nice. they played a rocking set, and i was so psyched to hear 'Bukowski' and 'Tiny Cities Made of Ashes'. and seeing Johnny Marr play guitar with them was great, he really added a unique sound to their music. they also had two full drumsets and drummers, which brought a whole new level of completeness to the rhythm. the whole crowd was really into it, and it was a great way to end the first night.

Smashing Pumpkins

holy. fucking. shit. this was the best show of the weekend, hands down. as with incubus, i only knew a couple of songs, but it didn't matter in the least. since we had gotten their at 12:00, we were able to get front row center for the pumpkins, and i had the most amazing view. it was unreal. they were all wearing black and white, and their instruments were all black and white as well. i was kind of sad that it wasn't d'arcy on bass or james on guitar, but let's face it, it's really all about the corgan. and he was so damn good. he was also a lot humbler than i expected, since he kind of has a diva reputation, but he seemed friendly and chill. for one song, he introduced it as one he had written during a time in his life where he was on a lot of mushrooms, and that made everyone laugh because he was so serious when he said it. they played 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings' and i totally lost my shit rocking out to that one. truly a life-changing experience.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

i don't even think i can describe this. i'd fuck karen o backwards and forwards. she is probably the most incredible person on the planet. end of story. though i wish they had played more from 'Fever To Tell'. but really, does it matter? i mean, jesus!

Regina Spektor

aww, i love regina. surprisingly, she played without a band, for a crowd of at least 1,000, probably much more. it was about on par with the last time i saw her, nothing new, but she's still so adorable that it didn't much matter. some girl in the front shouted something to her in russian, and she replied (in russian). that was pretty neat, haha. but yeah, good stuff!

Interpol

i found interpol pretty boring, honestly. all of their songs sounded exactly the same, and there was no crowd interaction at all, so it really didn't do anything for me.

Panic! At the Disco

um, we only saw panic so that we would be front row for the pumpkins. the end.

The Police

i really only caught the first two songs, because i wanted to get a good spot for modest mouse. i mean, they were good and all, sting's still got it and their drummer is amazing, butttt overall, i wanted to see modest mouse more. i'm sure it was good though.

Spoon

spoon was pretty good. again, i only knew a few songs, but i enjoyed myself. i was distracted because of the lead singer's likeness to David Bowie and Bob Dylan. it was really weird. but yeah, they were all very good musicians, so it was fun.

Beastie Boys

we were wayyy in the back for the beastie boys, just kind of sitting on the ground taking a chill break, but they were fun. i mean, it would have been cool to be in the crowd rocking out for them, but we weren't so we probably didn't really experience the whole thing. but it was fun.

overall, an excellent experience. lots of pot, none of which was partaken by us, alas, haha. but for reals? i definitely had a great time. we ended up both days exhausted, sore, bruised, and absolutely disgusting, but it was so worth it. lots of funtimes.

for pix, check the facebook.

Sat 4 Aug – Virgin Festival

Kevin and I got there okay on the first day. We woke up at 7 in the morning, drove to his bank, drove to my bank to find one of his banks across the street, and then off we went to the train station in Baltimore (I forgot about going somewhere for breakfast). When we got off at our stop there was some confusion about shuttle bus was free or not (I thought it was), if you have the concert ticket. But I guess it wasn't so I paid with 2 of the 16 dollar coins I got as change for my train fare. Kevin somehow snuck on to the bus without paying anything. The bus driver dumped us off somewhere near Pimlico Race Course but we ended up following a herd of people for like a mile around the entire place. The line was about 3 football fields long, but it was no problem we got into the festival in no time.

Virgin Festival has a pretty loose security system by the way, if you'd like to take advantage of it. When I went in and the guy scanned my ticket, there was a problem. His scanner said "STOP," and my guess was that somebody else somehow had my ticket number and came in before me (how that happened I have no idea), but he sighed and pointed aimlessly somewhere and said "Talk to that lady over there." Thinking I wasn't going to be able to enter the event the guy right behind him asked me "One-Day or Two-Day?" "Two-Day," and I got the two-day wristband without him even checking my ticket to make sure I was telling the truth. My ticket didn't even scan anyway. I guess my 200 dollars just really went towards somebody else, or nothing.

Shout Out Out Out Out- This was the loudest band of the day, especially with two drummers playing on top of a drum machine to triple the amount of percussion sound. My right ear started hurting (You know, the ear that gets all the abuse from Primus, to driving, to where my speakers are in my room and how I sit), so I had to cover it. The bass was so loud that my nostrils were vibrating. The music itself: Average at best. The tunes were catchy for being really generic. After about 4 songs we had enough.

Fiction Plane- We arrived in the middle of the song, stayed for five minutes, and left before the song was even over. Kevin and I's purpose for even watching this band was just to get a good chuckle out of it. But I thought we were wrong about Fiction Plane once I actually watched them for a couple minutes, this song ("Shine On" I believe it was called?) actually sounded pretty good. But then... he went through the chorus for a second, and then a third time. Then a fourth. Then I realized, Sting's son realized he made a good, catchy tune and that he would never be able to match it with another composition of this quality, so he did what any desperate person would do, and just make the song 10 minutes, so you think you're enjoying a lot of his set. I did indeed get a chuckle out of it.

Cheap Trick- Interesting, I guess. It was about as odd as it sounds: an old band among many young bands, playing mysteriously early in the day. The guitarist about stole the show, with his antics and different guitar each song. One guitar had five necks. He also liked to throw picks out into the audience, a couple times he threw entire handfuls of guitar picks. I could imagine my dad laughing to the whole thing. The music itself was decent, I guess. After about half an hour I was kind of loosing interest and focus. My favorite part of the performance was when a roadie was trying to adjust the guitarist's strap or something and he said to him "Get out of here, asshole! It's hot enough out here without you breathing down my neck!"


Booka Shade- Never saw DJs play there own electric drums live. That's all I had to think about.

Paolo Nutini- The first song he played when we got there was alright. I know I heard it somewhere before. Something about "Oh, Lord, know my troubles so high. Only Lord knows my troubles" or something like that. Where have I heard that? After that song I immediately lost interest and then waited in line with Kevin at the Guitar Hero II bus so he could play and win a free hat.

Felix da Housecat- I walked over and he was doing that song that Jason used to always play on Midnight Club Street Racing II. "Sweet seduction in the limousine, etc." Then he started mixing three Daft Punk Homework songs together and I didn't feel like seeing a DJ do not his own music.

Incubus- They were alright, I especially liked the two songs I recognized, "Drive" and "Megalomaniac." They had a couple cool jams, and then... a few of their songs were relatively boring for the extreme heat I was standing in.

Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals- They were good performers.

Beastie Boys- Okay, sorry I am getting lazy. They were good. For some reason it didn't feel like a rap performance at all. Maybe because of the formal attire they were wearing. They played a lot of their instrumental and punk songs too.

The Police- Good. Then... an hour later they left, came back, blah, encore. "Roxanne." Ah good song. Then... more songs. duhh.... more songs... another encore... guitar player is constantly flirting with some 19-year-old girl in the front row on the other side... more songs.... I'm bored... Finally over!





Day 2 was better than Day 1: breakfast, getting there, weather, music, and Tim paid for most of my food.

Matisyahu- Finally, I got to see this guy. And, to describe how I describe most of the performances this weekend, he was alright. He had some high energy, some good jams were happening, but there were also parts where I found myself thinking about other things because the music just wasn't getting to me. I was going to leave to go see Spoon if the next song he played wasn't "King without a Crown." But that turned out to be the next song, so I stayed for one more.

Later in the day their was some guy handing out Matisyahu fan club fliers. The guy basically resembled Matisyahu from a distance--he had the Jewish look, the beard, and he was almost wearing the same clothes. So, naturally, everybody thought he was Matisyahu, unfortunately even us for a second. I was hesitant because his beard was parted. But at least we didn't say to him, "Hey, good show" like some people did.

Spoon- I might have to say that this was the best performance of the weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed about all of their music. Perhaps what could have made it more perfect for me was more energy and sharper banter. During the show I met up with Wayne, some guy I met at my ODU orientation.

James Zabiela- I ran over to him because I thought I recognized the song he was playing, but it turned out it wasn't it. I actually wasn't sure what song by him I have (It's "Weird Science"). I actually didn't pay attention to him at all and just ate my pizza.

Bad Brains- They were a pretty good band. I had never heard these guys before, I was interested in how the band was going to play a mix of hardcore punk and reggae songs. It all floated pretty well. Actually, I didn't like the sound mixing for this one. The vocals were terrible, they could barely be heard. And the lead singer's guitar wasn't even turned on. The bass was so loud that I had to apply ear plugs, which made hearing the vocals even more difficult. But aside from that, the music itself was good. It got pretty squished up there and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to leave. The guy in front of me was irritated that I was squeezing him against the wall (That's his problem) and kept looking back at me. Sea lo que sea

Infected Mushroom- Pretty good, for the 10 minutes I saw. I wish I could have saw them at Coachella in the dark with all the lights and everything. We saw Matisyahu standing in the sound check watching these guys probably because they are from Israel.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Saw them from really far away. I was kind of digging it, except I didn't recognize any of the songs that they played. Kevin really wanted to get back to the South Stage to see the Wu Tang Clan.

Wu Tang Clan- Hm... Sorry, but I wasn't very into it. Most of the show there were just too many people on stage talking at the same time (8 guys with a mic). Some of the guy's mics weren't even turned up enough so there were some silent parts when it was there turn to rap. I found myself sitting down for most of the second half of this one.

The Crystal Method- Meh... didn't pay any attention.

Interpol- Really good from what I saw. I recognized all of the songs I heard, thankfully. We had to watch them from far away as we ate.

Velvet Revolver- Kevin just wanted to see these guys for a minute. I only agreed to go in hopes of seeing some boobs, which we didn't see at all. It wasn't terrible for Velvet Revolver, but I made sure we didn't stay too long.

After Kevin left, Tim and I checked out the Artists' Lounge in the backstage area. Not sure if I was surrounded by famous people or not, but I did see the guitar player of Bad Brains and his wife, and I think one of the people from Spoon walked by.

The Smashing Pumpkins- It wasn't too bad as I had expected. Billy Corgan didn't really seem like a dick at all, from what I saw. The bassist looked like a babe too, on the big screen. They opened with "United States," which I think is an alright song, but hearing that first is a real party-killer, especially since it's 9 minutes long and involves the same drum beat throughout. They then played "Today," "Zero," and "Hummer." Then I left to catch some M.I.A. action.

M.I.A. - A good performance. I kind of had some problems with audio. The bass was wayyyy to loud. It hurt my ears and rumbled my nostrils. I had to apply earplugs, and then my head was vibrating and I couldn't hear the vocals at all. So I had to sort of pull out my left earplug just to let some treble sneak in. Anyway, the show: M.I.A. is pretty much a babe. I recognized half the songs, which I was expecting to recognize more, since she's only had one album. But I guess she played quite a few from her new one that's coming out or something. "Pull Up the People," "Bucky Done Gun," and "Galang" were the highlights, of course. I think M.I.A. wanted to get off the stage and end the performance because she said something like "I want to end this set," but then after the reaction she tried to cover it up with "If you want us to stay make a lot of light with your lighters."

Overall, great concert. I was really impressed with the festival and the venue. It wasn't a piece of shit place for such a corporate event. I'd like to go again next year, fo sho.