The Virgin Festival in a Nutshell

The Virgin Festival increased the non-musical entertainment this year as well. Domes were set up throughout the venue featuring different "chill areas" -- from activism information to cooling stations to free photo booths and more. Visually, it was a pretty stunning event. When night fell, each dome showed off a different design, lit from the inside. Bathrooms and other destinations were designated by balloons that flew high above the festival and lit up at night. Large red orbs marked exits and other destinations throughout the event. Big art installations were featured throughout Pimlico. And a whole lot of weird entertainment was provided, from wrestling to fire twirlers to roller girls and more. They even brought in several troupes of costumed guests to wander the crowd and liven things up. Here's a taste of what we saw roaming the populace this weekend. How many of these were actually brought in by V Fest and how many were doing it of their own accord, we can't be sure:

• Human bushes


• Bearded ladies and other carnival-inspired cross dressers on stilts


• A gang of girls in short skirts and pink beehives


• Gnomes


• People riding weird bikes (double bikes, super tall bikes, unicycles, etc.)


• Beauty queens


• Jesus in a crown of thorns and disciples


• Hoola hooping Heidis

And one note to parents: If you, for some strange reason, feel compelled to bring your infant or toddler to a big music festival in 90+ degree heat with thousands of inconsiderate drunks, at the very least, could you be at least partially responsible and put earplugs in their ears?

Now that we've gotten all that other stuff out of the way, let's talk about the real draw: the music. Obviously, we're but one blog, so if you caught any acts we missed, let us know what you thought in the comments.

DCist Amanda's Take:

Cheap Trick
In case you found yourself in the audience and didn't know who Cheap Trick was, or what wonders they'd added to musical history, the band was more than happy to inform. A bit heavy handed on the self promotion and congratulation (the Loveburger scene from Can't Hardly Wait came alive), Cheap Trick wanted to make sure everyone knew exactly who they were and how many great songs that you totally know from X movie or Y tv show they're responsible for. A bit shameless, but they did in fact still sound damn good. They used a quintuple-neck guitar, and "Surrender" rocked, so all in all, pretty much what we expected.

Amy Winehouse
"He's So Fine" set the tone for her girl-group inspired performance. Introduced by her two handsome male backup dancers/singers, she took the stage, just as tiny as we'd imagined she'd be. I'm still wondering how the hell that voice comes from that tiny body. That voice is, in case you were wondering, 100% her. It was just as strong as it is on album, and it appeared to be nearly effortless. It took a solid 1.5 songs for her to finally crack a smile, but beleaguered boredom (drunkenness?) owned her face throughout the set. She shimmied and shook, her backups provided some great choreographed moves, the band was incredibly tight and each song was a musical feat, but she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. To be fair, in that heat, I'd look pretty miserable if I had a blanket of hair covering half my body too. All in all we'd have much preferred seeing her in a small dark club.

Peter Bjorn & John
For the first time all day, we're watching a band that actually seems like they want to be here. Lots of energy, great harmonies, and far less back tracking than I'd been lead to believe. The first portion of their set was firmly in the "good, but not exciting" category. They made the bold move of playing their big hit "Young Folks" mid way through, but somehow, it ushered in a whole new mood over their music. With YF, their set went from ho-hum to actually pretty great.

Beastie Boys
I'm gonna go ahead and name the Beasties the best performance of the festival. I was too busy dancing my ass off to take many notes, but frankly, that's kind of the point. Their energy and sheer joy in performing was completely contagious. The entire crowd was wrapped up in their show, which featured every hit you wanted to hear, incredible DJing from Mix Master Mike, all of the B Boys playing instruments at various points and some great new material (I'm a big fan of "Electric Worm" already). Their punk emcee personas shone through with as much moxy as it did in the 80s. I wasn't expecting to be as blown away by them as I was, but let it be known: the Beastie Boys still got it.

Modest Mouse
Isaac Brock sure is shit storm crazy, but Modest Mouse is still a hell of a band.

The Police
Sure, they sounded great, sure, it was fun to hear the hits, but in all honesty I could have watched that on an HBO special. Also, Sting is bad at math ("There are 35,000 people in this crowd, that means there are 35,000 hands that should be in the air right now.").

Dan Deacon
Holy shit Dan Deacon rules! How can you not have fun starting your day off with a giant dance circle that has three rules:
1. Sassy as fuck
2. The current dancer picks the next dancer
3. Don't be a coward -- if you're picked, you gotta dance
And please let it be noted: if you break the rules, you will be called out. You'll be apologized to, but you will be called out nonetheless. It was a hell of a way to start a Sunday, and in DD's own words, "even the lord gets down on these sassy ass dance moves at the Virgin Festival." Many dates in D.C. and Baltimore are on the horizon for Dan Deacon. Don't miss them.

Girl Talk
Just when we thought nothing could be more fun than Dan Deacon, Girl Talk took over the dance tent. Mixing and mashing everything you could ever imagine — from "The Weight" to "Throw Some G's On It" — Gregg Gillis was a force to be reckoned with. He shook his mop of hair around in pure excitement, while dancers filled the stage, confetti filled the air, and every single person in that tent danced like they couldn't stop even if they wanted to. At 12:30 on Sunday morning. Gillis may enjoy what he does more than any performer I've seen. Ever. Potentially the most inspired mash up of the day: "Bittersweet Symphony" with "My Neck, My Back."

Regina Spektor
I plowed my way to the front of her set purely to get as close as I could before Spoon took the stage, but ended up really enjoying Ms. Spektor. She performed completely solo — no band — with only her voice and either her guitar or piano. Her lyrics have a certain air of whimsy that's so often lacking from other femme-favorites ("Someone next door's fucking to one of my songs"). She had a big grin and a big voice that made this set the surprise delight of Sunday afternoon.

Spoon
This was my first time seeing one of my favorite bands, and they did not disappoint. The new material was just as tight and well rehearsed as the older gems and the band sounded damn good. A couple tuning breaks didn't slow them down (in a musical sense). They played most of the material off of "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga" as well as favorites like, "My Mathematical Mind," "I Summon You," "They Never Got You," and "The Beast and Dragon, Adored." Spoon's former bassist (a Baltimore native and current member of The Oranges Band), Roman Kuebler, joined them on stage for two songs from his era -- "Lines in the Suit" and "Fitted Shirt." The only song that didn't hold up as well live as it did on album was "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb." We'll have some more on Spoon later, but to wrap it up, these guys are pros, and this set was one of the festival's highlights in my opinion.

Panic! At The Disco
Man, people sure do like Panic! At The Disco. Huh.

Wu-Tang Clan
They said it best themselves: Wu-Tang Clan aint nothin to fuck with. The entire living clan was present at Pimlico this weekend — which is a pretty rare event. An enormous crowd turned out to the smaller of the festival's two stages for one of rap's premiere group of artists. Method Man, Ghostface Killa, GZA, and the late ODB have all made very successful solo careers for themselves, but the Wu-Tang Clan is home. They guarded the crowd — scolding the sound guys for not getting it right the first time and making sure everybody could enjoy their set to the fullest. They did a lot of the big songs we came to hear (like "Gravel Pit", "Method Man," "Triumph" and "Da Rockwilder"). They honored their fallen brother, Old Dirty Bastard. They teased us with new album news (a full clan album is coming out on November 13, the anniversary of ODB's death). And they owned the ass of every single person in that crowd. I was standing next to several older people whose children were much more likely Wu-Tang fans than they were, and not knowing a lick of their stuff beforehand or even really liking rap, emphatically told us how much they enjoyed their set. And how could anyone not love something that involved Method Man walking on the crowd (think crowd surfing, but on your feet)?

Interpol
There's some contention in the ranks here at DCist about Interpol's set, but in my personal opinion, it reinvigorated my love for a band whose awesomeness I'd let slip from my mind. Paul Banks' voice sounded stronger than ever this Sunday; their noir music and dark attitudes may be more properly matched with a small club setting, but their sound filled the stage and I couldn't take my eyes or ears off the band. Not every band has to explode around the stage to be worth seeing. These guys have mastered their form, IMHO. Also, Paul Banks and Daniel Kessler must have been loading up on their sexy pills, cause both of them are way, way hotter than I remember them being.

M.I.A.
Dear M.I.A. —

Do you give dance lessons? Cause I'd pay $1,000,000 to learn your moves.

Love,
DCist Amanda

DCist Sriram's Take:

Explosions in the Sky
Instrumental bands are of a by-gone era. In the 70s and 80s we had Pink Floyd, Rush, and Yes to act as bands that musicians loved but everyone else seemed to hate. Explosions in the Sky returns to the long form instrumental creating lengthy and lush soundscapes that don't seem quite appropriate for a festival setting. If the band has a weakness, it's that they lack the musicianship of the aforementioned prog rock groups. While Pink Floyd, et al. have the craft and skill can keep a listener's interest for 20 minutes, Explosions in the Sky has more of a challenge which they do not always meet.

Interpol and Spoon
I'm going to have to disagree with my fearless editor, DCist Amanda, on these bands. I found both acts to be less than inspiring. Spoon, at least, showed some signs of life but Interpol had me bored out of my skull.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
This band gave the performance of the day. Karen O oozes charisma and attitude without losing her connection to the audience and her band mates. Dressed in a wild silver and black leotard, her screams and screeches accented the music but she wasn't afraid to belt out a tune when the music called for it. The unsung hero of the group is drummer Brian Chase, whose obvious jazz training gives his playing a level of subtlety and nuance that is often lacking in the world of alt-rock bashers. His rhythms provided a solid counter to the wall-of-sound approach of guitarist Nick Zinner.

Bad Brains
Yet another act I can cross of our "must see" list. While I never saw them back in their day, yesterday's performance was better than expected but not the transcendent experience I hoped for. The playing was perfectly competent but singer H.R. seemed a bit distant. Still, they rocked through many of their punk-reggae-metal classics and judging by the size of the mosh pit, it's quite possible that we just missed something that everyone else seemed to get.

Velvet Revolver
The rock needs to come back and if Velvet Revolver is the band to do it, then so be it. Scott Weiland is still a great front man and Slash is still, well, Slash. Even whipping out the occasional STP or G'n'R tune, the members of the band have been doing their thing for a while now and it shows. Having presumably left the chemical dependence behind them, the band members were lean and tight, both in the figurative and literal sense. Rawk and Rowl Forevah!!!

Smashing Pumpkins They had a huge sound which works for a festival setting, but they couldn't overcome the fact that their most recent album, Zeitgeist, is all too forgettable. I missed the second half of the set, but during the first half the only real memorable moments were those devoted to the songs of yore. The D'Arcy and James Iha fill-ins did a commendable job and Jimmy Chamberlain showed why he was one of the most influential drummers of the grunge era, but the material did not allow the group to show its potential. MIA Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, better known as "M.I.A.," topped critics polls across the country with her 2005 release, Arular. This made her last D.C. appearance at 9:30 Club all the more disappointing as she reportedly lip-synched her way through rather paltry performance. Last night, all debts were forgiven as closed the DJ tent with an intense 50 minute set. Rockin' the mic with help from her DJ, a backup singer/dancer, and trippy light show, M.I.A. led the fervent crowed through intense renditions of "Bucky Done Gun," "Sunshowers," "U.R.A.Q.T.," and other songs from her first album. Much of the set was devoted to tracks from her forthcoming release, Kala, and if her performance last night was any indication, the CD should be even more successful than her last.

DCist Mehan's 2 Additions

Dan Deacon's set was especially surprising given that the sound was loud and clear and that nearly everyone in the tent could see him--a world of difference from his only previous festival performance, his disastrous set at this year's Pitchfork festival in Chicago.

Sir Richard Branson himself could be seen getting down on the side of the stage during Wu Tang's set — even he didn't seem to mind that they showed up a full 20 minutes late.

DCist Jason Cox's Take

Regina Spektor
Here’s a prime example of a singer who’s talking voice and singing voice sound absolutely nothing alike, but are both still amazing. The piano-playing cutie from Russia kept it simple with herself, a piano and, when appropriate, a guitar. Between tracks, she would squeak out a couple meek “thank yous” that hinted at her sense of wonder about her fame. Or she’s just a really good actress.

I lucked out in that Ms. Spektor saved my favorite tune for last, the melancholy and moving “Samson.” I’m still trying to understand the deeper significance of that song, despite the obvious religious allegory. Another standout tune, despite its clunky title, was “Ghost of Corporate Future,” which is far less political than it sounds.

Official After V-Fest After Party at Sonar
For those with enough energy after bouncing around to Sander Van Doorn’s club set in the dance tent Saturday night, The Official V-Fest After Party at Sonar carried people’s (mostly natural) highs into the wee hours of the morning. While the majority of the crowd rocked out in the main room to the hip-hop machinations of Z-Trip, the electro-headed minority whipped their glow sticks around to a rousing set by Uberzone. The free water was a nice touch, too. Thanks, Sonar. The only complaint? Everything wrapped up by 1:45.

DCist Heather's Take

Modest Mouse
Since the Police and their painfully repetitive lyrics give me a headache, Modest Mouse was my must-see performance Saturday. Maybe I blew it up too much in my head, but man, they were kind of a disappointment. Instead of busting my eardrums with their work-up-to-the explosion songs, it all just seemed a little like they were performing for the sound check, even forgoing the culmination of "We've Got Everything." Though ironically, Issac's mic may have benefited from another sound check; it seemed to be tuned to his screams and not his singing, and most of the folks around me, 15 feet from the stage, agreed we were having trouble hearing him. This was after the band arrived on stage 20 minutes late, then left early, came back for a sad little one-song encore, and promptly left again, giving one of the shortest sets all day. Not the worst show I've ever seen, but memorable? Far from it.

CSS
I only caught CSS's set, which kicked off Sunday on the main stage, half-heartedly on a friend's recommendation. I'd never heard of them before and didn't realize I was about to get my socks knocked off on a hot, dusty morning. CSS, or Cansei de Ser Sexy (I got tired of being sexy), might have put on the surprisingly best show of the festival, with a lead singer in Lovefoxxx who outdid even Karen O in the ridiculously awesome outfit (a psychadelic neon bodysuit) and rolling-on-the-floor/interpertive dance categories. The music was electro-rock with serious beats and clever lyrics that got even the sunbaked, dehydrated bodies in the back moving and throwing their hands in the air. Even if the music had been mediocre — and it wasn't — it was the circus of a performance, which included three girls in tree suits who danced through the audience and on stage, that already has me on board for every CSS show that comes through town.