When Richard Branson, the head of Virgin Group, hit his music festival’s main stage on Sunday, he didn’t dazzle the audience with his usual daredevil antics. Instead of jumping out of a helicopter or rappelling down the stage scaffolding, Branson simply rolled into view on the back of a slow-moving Harley that he wasn’t even driving.

That’s basically how his festival went, too. Months ago, when this past weekend was just a long list of great bands spread out over two days on the Toronto Islands, everyone was prepared for a massively fun British-style music festival, the likes of which this city has never seen. But what we ended up getting was a watered-down version of the UK’s established V Festival, and an event that was so poorly organized it was shocking.

I arrived late in the day on Saturday, just in time to catch the last half of Muse’s set. The band seemed to be pumping some energy into the near-shivering crowd (note to festival organizers: stick to the summer months), though I still don’t understand the popularity of their wailing, overdone Brit-rock sound. The worst part, however, was that the schedule seemed to be running about half an hour behind. And for anyone that’s been to a concert on the island before, you’ll know that the shows are governed by a strict noise curfew of 11:00 p.m.

Nevertheless, the evening continued as planned, with Gnarls Barkley taking the stage in full karate outfits (the band wore white, while Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse stood out in red ensembles). While the performance was tight, the crowd wasn’t all that into it, and even their ubiquitous single “Crazy” fell a bit flat.

Even so, Gnarls played out their full set time, casting serious doubt on the chances of a whole Flaming Lips performance being squeezed in before the curfew. And when it became apparent that the Lips’ elaborate stage set-up would take a while to come together, the doubt grew.

With the clock passing 10:30, the band finally launched into their performance in full party mode. Confetti dropped, fans dressed as aliens and Santa Clauses danced side-stage, and singer Wayne Coyne bounded across the heads of the crowd in his giant, inflatable hamster ball. Once Coyne returned to the stage and shed his bubble, the Lips launched into “Race For the Prize.” Dozens of oversized yellow balloons descended on the crowd while Coyne shot off confetti gun after confetti gun.

But as expected, the good times didn’t last long. A little after 11, a roadie in a Captain America costume told Coyne that he had to end the set – the plug was literally being pulled. After only four songs, the night’s headlining act was finished. Coyne explained to the stunned crown that the band had wanted everyone else to perform – likely the reason no sets were eliminated or cut short – but it didn’t make up for the fact that many had shelled out $60 for a ticket just to catch this one performance. It was a sad, dismal end to a cold, dismal day.

The weather had picked up a bit by the time I boarded the ferry on Sunday. With the sun out and the temperatures rising, it almost seemed as though the second day of the Virgin Festival might live up to all those lofty expectations.

Arriving a few hours earlier than on Saturday, I managed to catch a number of the afternoon acts on the bill. First was Sweden’s José González, whose delicate folk songs have garnered attention by being featured both on “The O.C.” (his song “Crosses”) and in a Sony commercial (his cover of The Knife’s “Heartbeats”). He played those and other selections from his debut album “Veneer,” and closed his performance with a striking cover of Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” (the band was supposed to headline that night, but had cancelled earlier in the week due to immigration problems). Though the crowd was relatively sparse for his set on the second stage, those who did make it over were familiar with González’s talent, and gave him one of the warmest receptions of the festival.

I then made my way over to the main stage in time for Sam Roberts’ performance. While I expected a bland set, now that his popularity seems to have trailed off, Roberts actually managed more sing-a-longs from the crowd than anyone else at the festival. His music does seem more suited to warmer summer days, but few people seemed to care as he charged his way through a set of material off his latest LP, “Chemical City,” and a few old hits, including the standard “Brother Down.”

Next up was The Strokes, one of the later additions to the festival’s line-up and also one of the most highly anticipated acts of the day. The crowd seemed to nearly double in the lull before they took the stage, and it quickly became clear that the boys from New York City deserved a more prominent billing. Though front-man Julian Casablancas wasn’t as engaging as he was for the band’s last Toronto stop – the most he offered was a confusing explanation of how he now “gets” Canada after many trips here – he still managed to put across a tight set of songs representing every Strokes record, with a particularly emphasis on their breakthrough debut, “Is This It.”

The Strokes set was suitably followed by that of another “saviour of rock’n'roll,” Jack White. Making his first Toronto appearance with The Raconteurs, White came across as the most respected and talented musician at the festival. Also featuring Brendan Benson, the band played most tracks off “Broken Boy Soldiers,” and even threw in an intense, powerfully reworked cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” It was by far the best set of the day, and left me praying this band returns to town soon for a proper show of their own.

But just as it happened the night before, the day’s high point led directly into the low point. With the main stage set up on its own island, the only way to access the second stage was across one of two bridges. I wanted to catch at least part of The Mooney Suzuki’s second stage set before Broken Social Scene (the last minute replacements for Massive Attack) closed out the evening.

After discovering that the more convenient bridge had been closed for the night – with a heavy police and security presence – I made a beeline for the second bridge at the other end of the park. But after the unnecessarily long walk, I arrived at the second stage to find The Mooney Suzuki’s set-up behind schedule. I quickly turned around and headed back for the bridge.

When I got there, a crowd had formed at the entrance, trying to work their way back onto the island to catch Broken Social Scene. They were being told aggressively by two security guards that this was an exit only, and that they weren’t allowed to cross. After tempers rose, police officers arrived to try and sort out the mess. They stopped the stream of people exiting, and allowed those trying to return to the main stage to pass. Though the delay wasn’t long enough to make anyone miss Broken Social Scene’s performance, it still reflected a nearly dangerous absence of organization and co-ordination.

But as they do so well, Broken Social Scene brought back the love. Even though they had been asked to play with only three days notice, the band managed to bring together their strongest line-up (including Metric’s Emily Haines, Stars’ Amy Millan, Leslie Feist, and Jason Collett).

With Kevin Drew at the helm, they ran through a triumphant set that included “Ibi Dreams of Pavement,” “Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl,” “KC Accidental,” and closer “Lover’s Spit” (though Millan tried to push Drew into playing “Bandwitch” instead). And though it was an entirely predictable performance (Broken Social Scene has played a summer show on the island for the past three years) it was exactly what the Virgin Festival needed to close out the weekend – a good, strong shot of solid experience.






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