Virgin Festival - Day Two

Day two was of more interest to me than day, artist wise.

I began my day with my favourite Winnipeg literary pop genius’, the Weakerthans. Front man John K Samson sang anecdotes in his oh-so-memorable voice. Sticking mostly to their ‘07 release, Reunion Tour, my favourite moments of their set were when they played off of 03’s Reconstruction Site. I was extremely pumped when they closed their humble set with “Pleas for a Cat Named Virtute” which is such a great song it’s easy to forget it’s about a cat.

As I mentioned above, I strolled by Rock Plaza Central’s southern rock set, and was easily bored. I decided to head back to the Bacardi tent to start sipping on the Mojito’s. Lucky for me the Silversun Pickups were on the mainstage and I got to hear them wafting over the festival while I sat on some benches looking out at the water. It’s sometimes really easy to forget how beautiful Ontario can be. I live here, and I barely take advantage of the luxurious waterfront. The Toronto sky line at night… well that’s a whole different world. I surely don’t live beneath it, it’s too amazing!

I was sure to be at the Oh Henry stage on time to see my favourite Canadian emcee Shad K. Well versed and dressed to a tee, watching Shad play it’s easy to note why Canada has a lot to be proud of. He spat through his catchy verses and the crowd danced along. Backed by his London (Ontario) band, including well known Canadian DJ TLO everything came spiralling out of the speakers with out a glitch. Shad proved himself adept at entertaining the crowd with humble banter and unbelievable freestyling that sets him way ahead of any of his peers. He closed the set with his latest single “The Old Price Still Lives At Home” which features his unique style of old school hip hop blended with classic and subtly punchy wit, and the crowd begged for more.

Now the crowd erupted in anticipation for long time British phenom’s Oasis. Oasis is a band I never expected to see live, and they played like I thought they would. Liam with his hands stapled to his back pockets, sometimes holding a tambourine in his mouth staring blindly into the audience like he didn’t give a fuck about where or what he is. While, his brother Noel looking to be the honest one, with the sweeter voice, off to the side. While watching them crash through singles like “Lyla” and “Let There Be Love”, I wondered if this is the closest I’ll ever get to seeing the Beatles. Pretty sad I know, but true. When they chose to close their set with “I am the Walrus”, I knew my wonders hadn’t been too far off.

About a verse into “Morning Glory” some drunken idiot comes lunging on stage, flailing his limbs. Unfortunately all I caught was the fool on top of Noel on the ground, and the security peeling him off the stage. That’s probably a lame explanation, but I’m sure you’ve already watched it on YouTube four hundred times and seen it on the news. The whole audience was left saying “what the fuck” to one another and huddling around iPhones to see who caught the scandalous footage. The press were having a shit show. -being at this festival just became a super profitable moment, especially if you were videotaping the whole throw down. Everyone was so excited they quite possibly forgot about the fun (not amazing) set the band was playing before and after the incident, that’s why I chose to write about it above. Sure, this was crazy and I hope the band is alright, but I don’t think it was crazy enough to overshadow the whole entire weekend I just had. Which was a great weekend with music and friends!