andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Quite arguably one of the biggest events of the year, Virgin Fest again for 2009 was amazing. On Day 1 Jenn had a sit down with Thunderheist, Grizzly Bear and Paolo Nutini. She also found Waldo from “Where’s Waldo” and learned how to poll dance. Look out for Day 2 coming soon!

The Black Eyed Peas, Simple Plan, New Kids on the Block and Hedley are among the performers for the first-ever Virgin Festival in Montreal this summer.

The event, which will be staged at Parc Jean-Drapeau on June 19 and 20, will also feature the New Cities, “Canadian Idol” winner Eva Avila, Akon, Live, LIGHTS and Divine Brown. More acts are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

One organizer described the city as the perfect place to bring the event. “Montréal is a natural host for Virgin Festival,” said Jacques Aube, vice president and general manager of Gillett Entertainment Group, in a statement. “The city has an eclectic, thriving music scene, and tons of festival-loving fans.”

READ MORE »

Emerging Canadian acts will share the spotlight with such big-name bands as Foo Fighters and Oasis at Toronto’s upcoming Virgin Festival.

The event’s third stage, the Oh Henry! Stage, will feature six acts each on Sept. 6 and 7, including Winnipeg alt-rockers The Waking Eyes, Toronto electro-pop singer Lights, Montreal indie band Bad Flirt, London, ON rapper Shad and Burlington punk-rockers Saint Alvia (who recently shortened their name from The Saint Alvia Cartel).

Also in the lineup are Calgary’s Secret Broadcast, the winners of the Oh Henry! Road to Virgin Festival contest. The trio beat out 300 other Canadian bands after receiving thousands of online votes from fans and winning over a panel of judges, including Virgin Group chairman Sir Richard Branson.

Besides playing the third stage on Sept. 7, the band will also perform at the Virgin Festival After-Party at the Drake Hotel on Sept. 6.

The festival, which is returning to Toronto Island Park for its third year, will feature four stages. Besides Foo Fighters and Oasis, main-stage performers include Bloc Party, The Kooks, MGMT, Silversun Pickups and The Weakerthans.

Tickets are still available via Future Shop and Ticketmaster.

Here is the full lineup for the Oh Henry! Stage:

Sat. Sept. 6:

The Waking Eyes
Bad Flirt
Lights
Flash Lightnin’
Saint Alvia
We Are The Take

Sun. Sept. 7:

Secret Broadcast
Shad
Rock Plaza Central
Arkells
Opopo
Winter Gloves

The lineup for Toronto’s Virgin Festival in September just got bigger.

Among the newly announced performers are local band Danko Jones, American rockers Against Me!, Shudder To Think, Silversun Pickups and The Airborne Toxic Event, Swedish pop singer Robyn and British acts The Kooks, The Fratellis and Son and Daughters.

As previously reported, Foo Fighters and Oasis will headline, along with Canadian and international acts including The Weakerthans, Constantines, Wintersleep, Spiritualized and Paul Weller.

More acts are expected to be announced soon.

Tickets are on sale now for the festival, which will take over Toronto Island Park on Sept. 6 and 7.

Here is list of Toronto Virgin Festival performers so far:

Sat. Sept. 6:
• Foo Fighters
• Bloc Party
• The Kooks
• The Fratellis
• Against Me!
• MGMT
• Wintersleep
• Spiritualized
• Constantines
• Shudder To Think
• The Airborne Toxic Event
• The Midway State

Sun. Sept. 7:
• Oasis
• Paul Weller
• Silversun Pickups
• Stereophonics
• The Weakerthans
• The Cribs
• The Pigeon Detectives
• Danko Jones
• The Wombats
• Sons And Daughters
• Robyn

Oasis is extending their stay in Canada this fall with three other performances.

The band is scheduled to headling the Virgin Festival in Toronto in September. Now, pairing up with Ryan Adams, the band will play Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary in August, just before the festival.

According to their web site, advance tickets to the special shows can be purchased at ticketmaster using the password OASISINET.

Oasis will play in Seattle before flying North. It will be their first live performance together in over two years.

The Virgin Festival will return to Toronto this year with some huge headliners: the Foo Fighters and Oasis.

The third edition of the annual music fest, set to take place on Toronto Island Sept. 6 and 7, will also feature Bloc Party, Spiritualized, Paul Weller, the Stereophonics, the Pigeon Detectives and Canadians the Weakerthans, the Constantines and Wintersleep.

The Foo Fighters will close the first day of the festival, while Oasis will wrap up the second day.

The Toronto event has attracted more than 75,000 attendees in the past two years.

Tickets for this year’s shows go on sale March 29, with one-day tickets costing $87 and two-day tickets costing $159 (both prices include the ferry fee).

The Virgin Festival will also hit two other Canadian cities this year, with shows to be held in Calgary on June 21 and 22, and in Vancouver (dates to be announced).

The rock festival, which is backed by Virgin Mobile and its president Richard Branson, originated in Britain as the popular V-Fest.

Here is the initial lineup for Toronto’s Virgin Festival:

Sat. Sept. 6:
- Foo Fighters
- Bloc Party
- Spiritualized
- Wintersleep
- Constantines
Sun. Sept. 7:
- Oasis
- Paul Weller
- Stereophonics
- The Weakerthans
- The Pigeon Detectives

This Saturday, a swarm of music lovers–from the most indie-devoted hipster types to the middle-aged mom types (”That Brandon Flowers is just sooooo cuuuuute”)–will descend up the Toronto Islands for two days of dirtying up the pristine beauty of the park, pissing off slow-going island residents and enjoying some of the biggest and best acts from Canada and abroad.

While the troubled Amy Winehouse will be the most notable absence (though she was well enough to appear earlier this week at the Mercury Awards in London), there’s plenty of other talent to keep non-film festival-goers occupied.

Canadian bands are featured prominently on both days, with Stars, Metric and Tokyo Police Club (all three playing on Sunday) likely drawing the biggest crowds. Not to be missed is the recent addition of The Constantines (also on Sunday), though the amazing energy of their club shows may be lost on a huge, midday stage.

Some lesser-known acts–Toronto bands DD/MM/YYYY, The Most Serene Republic and Noah’s Arkweld–will definitely satisfy those looking for hometown flavour. Brooding types will be checking out New York’s Interpol on Saturday and England’s nearly identical (but worthy in their own right) Editors on Sunday.

The highlight of the festival, however, will be a headlining performance by Bjork on Saturday night. The last time the eccentric Icelander played Toronto, she filled the island all on her own, and her return visit is not to be missed. One hopes, however, that festival organizers will have ironed out the kinks that limited the Flaming Lips’ much-anticipated headlining set to only 20 minutes last year.

Smashing Pumpkins will headline on Sunday in their first Ontario appearance since Summersault 2000 in Barrie. But with a mediocre new album and only half of the band’s original line-up, the performance will likely be little more than an aging Billy Corgan attempting to reprise ’90s rock glories.

There’s also still one act yet to be revealed–a TBA Saturday slot on the main Virgin Mobile stage–which could mean a hot, last-minute addition. With the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in town Friday night for a Vice magazine-sponsored club show, and Winehouse rumoured to be making her way across the pond for the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, there are definite possibilities of a great surprise. Or maybe Richard Branson can get into an extended water-fight with the audience. It gets mighty hot against the front railing.

Check back this weekend for full festival coverage from andPOP.

New York band The Strokes are the latest addition to the ever-expanding line-up for next month’s Virgin Festival in Toronto.

The scruffy rockers will play on September 10, the second day of the 2-day festival being held on the Toronto islands.

This year marks the first time that the popular British music fest has staged shows on this side of the Atlantic. Along with the Toronto dates, Virgin Festival will also make a stop in Baltimore on September 23. That show will feature two big names that aren’t (as of yet, anyway) playing the Toronto stops — Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Who.

This year’s British version of the show is being headlined by Radiohead and ex-Smiths front-man Morrissey.

As previously reported by andPOP, the first day of Toronto’s Virgin Festival will feature headlining performances by Gnarls Barkley and The Flaming Lips. In addition to The Strokes, day two will be headlined by Massive Attack and The Raconteurs.

Tickets for the festival are available through Future Shop and Ticketmaster. Single day passes cost $57.50, while two day passes are selling for $104.50. Tickets include round-trip ferry transportation.

The hugely successful Virgin music festival is crossing the pond from the UK and hitting North America this summer, with the first stop in Toronto.

As andPOP previously reported, the two-day festival (Sept. 9-10) will take over the Toronto Islands.

Confirmed performers include international acts like The Flaming Lips, The Raconteurs, Massive Attack, Gnarls Barkley and Eagles of Death Metal. Canadian acts include Alexisonfire, The Dears, The Hidden Cameras and Sam Roberts. Many more bands are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Virgin group’s billionaire cheif, Richard Branson, made the announcement on Friday at the Docks nightclub in Toronto, after being lowered from a helicopter.

“It’s the biggest sort of social event on the calendar for a particular age group in the U.K.,” Branson said of the music festival, currently in its 11th year. “There’s a lot of very, very, very big bands. And a lot of dating gets done there, I’m sure, so all-in-all it’s very popular.”

Tickets will be sold July 2 to 7 exlusively at Future Shop stores in the Greater Toronto Area and online at the chain’s website. Starting on July 8 at noon, tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster.

One-day tickets will be $57.50 each, with two-day passes set at $104.50. Prices include all taxes and return ferry fares.

All of the festival information, including line-ups for each day, can be found on its official website, www.virginfestival.ca.

While Toronto is the only planned Canadian stop this year, Vancouver and Montreal should see V-Fests happening in 2007.