When joining the fray for a big music festival, it’s always important to have a game plan — even if large chunks of it usually get lost in the wash somewhere along the way thanks to a really long ATM line or running into some dude you haven’t seen since you were 14.
This weekend several DCists and at least two of our readers will be heading up to Baltimore’s Pimilco race track for its second Virgin Festival. Here’s our game plan for making the most of the two day fest. We’ll link to reviews we’ve done of these bands in the past where we can. The full schedule is here — let us know in the comments who you’re looking forward to seeing.
SATURDAY
Noon-ish: Arrive, get the lay of the land, wait in line for beer.
12:45: Make our way to the North Stage for Cheap Trick’s 1 p.m. show. We don’t care what you say, “Surrender” is and always will be an awesome, awesome song. Work our way closer and closer to prepare for the spectacle we’re hoping Amy Winehouse will bring to the stage from 2:10 to 3. Her ridiculous persona aside, that girl has made some seriously amazing music that we’re dying to see live. Stick around for a few minutes of teenage reminiscence as Incubus takes the stage.
3:40: Work our way to the South Stage for ubiquitous buzz bearers Peter Bjorn and John. Dance on through their set and part of LCD Soundsystem’s.
6:00: Head back up to the North Stage to catch the Beastie Boys, because dammit we will finally see the band that cancellations, lightning and a host of other blocks have kept us from for the past decade or so.
7:35: Because some of us have missed their recent visits to the 9:30 Club, we’ll bound southward to catch the last half of TV on the Radio, then high tail it back north and stand somewhere obscenely far away while we watch Sting & Co. do their thing.
9:30: After hearing enough of their greatest hits to sufficiently check The Police of your “bands to see” list, try and squeeze in a few minutes of Modest Mouse, then hope like hell that they’ll be visiting a smaller venue near us soon.
11:00: Collapse on the floor of a kind Baltimorean friend’s house.
Photos by Kyle Gustafson.
