Ah, summer festival season. In years past, those of us in the D.C./Baltimore region had to either consider an expensive trip to a faraway locale or jealously eye the lineups of Coachella, Sasquatch, Lollapalooza, Intonation, Pitchfork, Bumbershoot and countless other fests, hoping that the festival gods would someday smile upon our little patch of the Mid-Atlantic. Luckily, that all changed with the introduction of Virgin Fest in 2006 (now known as the Virgin Mobile Festival)…

It seems like just yesterday we were scratching our heads and wondering what this mythical “v fest” creature we’d heard of could possibly be. A large-scale music festival that doesn’t require a plane ticket? Our brain grapes were smashed at the thought! The first year (a one day event headlined by The Who and the Flaming Lips) went over well, and last year’s bigger, better and greener approach was another notch in Richard Branson’s belt….