Review: Third Annual Virgin Mobile Festival

This was my third year covering the (third annual) Virgin Festival in Baltimore and, once again, it proved itself to be an excellent value: top-notch musical acts, good food & drink, fun and interesting attractions, including a motorcycle high-wire act. They even had a village of vendors ready to educate the masses, or at least sell them stuff. A concert shirt was going for thirty American.

If Sir Richard was an ostentatious fellow – sure, he does some outlandish adventure stunts – the fest would be called Branson Fest or Branson Bash. But the man knows how to throw a party. For a corporate-based thing, they’re doing just about everything right, from booking big-draw music acts to its green recycling and earth-education efforts. For example, one of the many green choices made by the fest planners was to serve all beverages in seemingly plastic cups which were actually made from corn, so totally biodegradable, as were the “plastic” utensils.

Yes, right, the overview:

Saturday: The weather is fantastic: low-humidity, temp hovering around eighty degrees, and a few airship-like clouds – it’s going to be a great day of music!

KT Tunstall – The Scot gave a well-polished performance with her five-piece band, or was it a six-piece? Think it changed when I looked away to watch concert-goers add their graffiti to a public art project on the festival’s grounds. Hey, that’s the F-word! She was entertaining — note to self: get some of her tunes on my iPod.

Cat Power – great emotional energy in a one-of-a-kind set. Atmospheric songs featuring her signature soulful singing. A real gem. She spent at least ten minutes tossing out the band’s unused water bottles to the crowd afterwards along with set lists and white flowers, which contrasted her army-green shirt and dark hair.

Swell Season – Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova kicked off their U.S. tour at the festival and despite some minor technical glitches with the sound, their fiery performance was a highlight of Saturday. The duo even jumped down in the fenced-off area in front of the stage so they could be closer to their appreciative fans, where they performed two more songs. Glen, probably new to large musical festivals, yelled jokingly in response to the far-off second stage: “Let’s take those fuckers!” He even told an invasive cameraman, hovering right over Marketa’s shoulder as she played piano and sang, to “fuck off.” Key tracks: Lies and Once. Yup, you should see the movie – ONCE.

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Vu Skateshop Demos: These kids can use the skateboard and demoed their talents on a modest half-pipe. A few even caught air.

The Silver Beats & Chuck Berry – These two played separately with the Japanese Beatles winning some new friends and playing near-perfect renditions of Beatles songs during a forty-minute medley. Eric especially looked and sounded a lot like a young John Lennon.

Mr. Berry is rock-n-roll. I forgot how dirty his lyrics were in some songs, even the teens seemed impressed. Might be one of his last tours – great backing band. The legendary musician even did his “jumping leg” bit (not the duck walk) as he was leaving the stage. “Hail, hail, rock-n-roll!”

The Foo Fighters – Dave & Co. primed the crowd for Day Two. Lots of loud, driving rock and Dave’s fun-loving sense of humor. A great concert value. They played nearly two hours, running through most of their hits and crowd pleasers, even bringing backing musicians – a violinist, a piano-player, and a master triangle player – for some of their Blood & Bones cuts. Stacked Actors was long, drawn-out dramatic fun about  the plastic that is Hollywood.

Sunday: More great weather, only reaching to mid-eighties. This is a contrast to last year’s triple-digit temps.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Guest drummer Leah, recently on tour with The Ravonettes, filled in on drum’s for an “on-sabbatical” brother Nick. Nice bluesy, guitar-based flavored set. Harmonica and “slide” (What was that thing? A rusty metal bar?) playing were inspiring. Key track: Ain’t No Easy Way Out.

Artist Mike Ming in the Dell Dome – what can I say? A really nice, humble guy. Check out his website since the photos there are more telling of his art.

The Stooges – The Michigan boys were amazing. I was about five when they hit the scene in 1969 or so. Of course, James Osterberg, Jr. (Iggy) has been a musician since he was in a high school band called The Iguanas. Then, he was the drummer. But on this day of V Fest, Iggy was all showboat in his classic, iconic performance, even climbing a wall of amps and striking seductive poses. The Ashetons backed up along with Mike Watt (The Minutemen, The Missingmen) on bass gee-tar. I’d say that STP wishes they could be as cool as The Stooges. Iggy punctuated the encore song with the smashing of his mic stand. The crowd loved it. Key tracks: Down On the Street, Loose, and No Fun.

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Stone Temple Pilots – see above. An average, uninspired set, but the fest-goers could not have cared less. Eric and Robert kept it together, while the other two pretty much “showed up” – a half-hour late, mind you. They must’ve thought they were at the Hollywood Bowl Fest. Sincerely, I wish Scott the best and perhaps he can now make some real art based on the past (?) rock-star bullshit he’s put himself and others through. (Stepping down from soapbox.)

Bob Dylan – The folk-rock legend rolled through classics and newer songs with consistent, polished craftsmanship. What am I thinking? This is my first review of Dylan … he was, and always will be, a timeless classic. The setting sun evening illuminated the stage in approval. Thanks, Bob.

And thanks, Sir Rich. Cheers and tally-ho and all that. Well done, especially to Seth Hurwitz and all the planners. For a music circus, y’all got it down. Already thinking about next year. Maybe next year I’ll have some steamed crabs with my beer. Probably not – I’m there for the music, baby.

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5 Responses

  1. Yeah, kind of: Bob Dylan, Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, Iggy Pop & The Stooges, NIN, Cat Power, KT Tunstall,… yuck.

    I was hoping ABBA would reunite for it or maybe Styx would show up… or Air Supply!

  2. Man, we loved it. It was tough trying to pick and choose which acts to watch since we were taking turns at our booth, but I think everyone in our group pretty much had a blast and saw lots of bands they wanted to see.

    A very well thought out and well executed event.

  3. Excuse me! He left out Kanye, Bloc Party , Lupe Fiasco, The Underground etc…
    SO, to the P-ricks that obviously didn’t get to go.
    I’ll tell you : THIS FESTIVAL ROCKED!!!
    The venue is laid out properly, the security isn’t bent outta shape, ALL of the staff treats you nice, and THE V I P was TOTALLY FREE!! ( And I know i polished off a bottle of Jack a day! )
    The sound systems didn’t clash with eachother. And the Jack Johnson set was a make out fest!
    It’s easy to be a sideline critic BUT, I was there and it was BANGIN’!!!
    So if YOU weren’t? : “To bad, so sad!! “

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