The 2007 Virgin Festival in Baltimore - review & pics

August 7, 2007

words & photos by Bao Nguyen

Girl Talk

So this was a very last minute idea, meaning I left New York for Baltimore at 12 PM on Saturday when gates had already opened at 10 AM. Not knowing at the time whether I had a pass waiting for me at the festival, I made the 4 hour drive, hindered by the beach bound crowd on the NJ Turnpike, armed with a Polaroid, 4 hours of sleep, and a sense of regret for missing the previous night’s CSS show. I arrived at Pimilico Field at exactly 4 PM and after nearly being run over by Richard Branson on a golf cart, I made it just in time to catch the start of Peter Bjorn and John‘s set. I think their music plays better in a small club than a large festival type atmosphere especially when the entire crowd seems to be waiting for only one particular song that everyone can whistle to. Following Peter Bjorn and John was an high energy set from LCD Soundsystem that included a very unusual mosh pit where three people were doing their best Thom Yorke seizure dance….

The sun soon began to set and that signaled the mass exodus to the Main Stage to catch the Beastie Boys. While waiting for the Beastie Boys to go on, I noticed the crowd was fairly older, late 40’s, early 50’s. Assuming they were there waiting for the Police, I asked a woman no younger than 50 if she was excited for the Police. To my surprise, she smiled and said, “I’m actually here to see the Beastie Boys! I don’t understand all the hoopla behind the Police”. I suppose there is no age restriction in exercising your right to party. However, as my friend pointed out, the members of the Beastie Boys are getting quite old themselves and beginning to resemble Bob Dylan onstage. Nevertheless, the older crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves especially near the end of the set when they played old hits such as “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” and “Sure Shot”. The Beastie Boys cleverly sampled KRS-One‘s “Sound of Da Police” in a tribute to the final act of the night.

Lollapalooza had Pearl Jam, and well – many more acts, but one thing that was clearly missing from their line-up was the Police. Definitely the band I was looking forward to the most all weekend, they really showed that they knew how to rock out even if they were growing a bit senile in their age. Maybe it was no sleep or too much music, but I heard Sting greet the crowd with, “Hellllooo, Bonnaroo!”. I suppose he might have said Baltimore, but to keep the interesting plotline going let’s just say he said the former. Starting out with “Message in a Bottle”, the set was practically a compilation of all their greatest hits, which didn’t seem to disappoint the crowd. Throughout the set, the crowd remained energetic, dancing and singing along, something lacking at most indie rock shows today. Day one was over, and in 12 hours I would be back and ready for a very long Day 2.

For Day 2 I magically turned my Polaroid into a SLR, so the photos from this day are of much higher quality. This depends of course on your preference to Polaroid to digital, a true marker of how “indie” you are apparently. Whereas choosing which acts to see was a fairly simple task on Day One, it was extremely difficult from the outset to plan out Day Two’s schedule. As mentioned earlier, I missed CSS‘ show at Studio B, so it would be sacrilege to miss Lovefoxxx and company twice in one weekend, right? Well the only trouble was that Dan Deacon was playing the Dance Tent followed immediately by Girl Talk. I have never seen Dan Deacon live, and to see him play in Baltimore – his hometown, was as good as place as any to see him for the first time. I was not disappointed. Dance circle competitions, a critique on post-Armageddon cinema, beach ball envy – the set had it all.

Dan Deacon

Girl Talk watching Dan Deacon

Always a fun thing to do on a Sunday at noon is go buckwild onstage during a Girl Talk set. He decided to keep this a G-rated version of his usually raunchy sets by keeping most of his clothes on. Nonetheless, his mix of Daft Punk, the Police, Avril Lavigne, and everything in between, kept the young crowd dancing into the afternoon.

Girl Talk

After Dan Deacon and Girl Talk, I headed over to the Main Stage for a bit of a breather and caught Regina Spektor and Spoon. It was a nice break to just sit back and listen to Regina Spektor’s set, which included a cover of John Lennon‘s “Real Love”, and then sing along to the Spoon catalog of favorites like “Small Stakes” and “I Turn My Camera On”.

Regina Spektor

Spoon

Being so caught up with Spoon‘s set, I forgot that Explosions in the Sky had started playing on the South Stage 20 minutes earlier. I hurried over to catch the last couple of songs. One of my favorite live acts, Explosions in the Sky held their own in a crowd that was eagerly awaiting Bad Brains, Wu-Tang Clan, and/or 311.

Explosions in the Sky

I headed back in the direction of the Main Stage to catch the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The beginning of the set was heavy on Show Your Bones but slowly transitioned back to the days of Fever to Tell. To anyone who has always wondered what “Maps” was about, well according to Karen O, it’s about, “Love! Summer fucking love!”. Her childhood summer crush was apparently with a boy named Rand McNally – zing. I ran back to the South Stage to catch some of Wu-Tang‘s set. It was beyond packed and I was left to enjoy their set from afar and mainly through the giant TV screens adjacent to the stage.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Next was more New York bred (indie?) rock with Interpol. I was pretty disappointed at their recent Bowery show, but was pleasantly surprised by their performance on Day Two of The Virgin Festival. Perhaps they ARE meant for big venues such as Madison Square Garden. My friends and I found ourselves mindlessly dancing and jumping around to a crowd who were anxiously waiting for the Smashing Pumpkins. First time I could say I’ve actually had fun at an Interpol show.

Interpol

Most of the crowd all day seemed to be waiting for them. It seemed like every other person I saw was wearing a ZERO t-shirt. Given this, the crowd was more subdued than I expected, but then again I only stayed for four songs which included “Zero” and “Today”. Without D’arcy and James Iha, it just doesn’t seem like a real reunion.

Smashing Pumpkins

I left the Pumpkins early to catch the act I had been looking forward to all weekend (after the Police). Unfortunately, there was nothing for M.I.A. to climb in the Dance Tent, but she was far from disappointing. The dance tent was full of a diverse crowd of Baltimore hipsters (don’t ask me to explain what that means exactly) to European ravers left over from the earlier dance acts. I’ve still heard only certain tracks from “Kala” so far, but in any case, I found myself dancing until she ended her hour long set with “Galang”. Naeem Juwan of Spank Rock watched from backstage, and I was hoping he would play a song with her to return the favor from last year. Alas, he stayed in the shadows watching his hometown dance to easily the best act of the entire weekend.

M.I.A.