Review: Virgin Festival Saturday

Photo by Aris Aristorenas. Rapper Isis, above, and MC Grahm Zilla, known together as Thunderheist, were the first group to really get the party started Saturday at Virgin Fest Alberta.

Let’s talk about Virgin Festival Alberta. And like any great conversation starter, let’s begin with the weather.

The Weather

The weather couldn’t have been better for Virgin Fest, Calgary was so lucky to have recieved such a great weekend after such a shitty week. It was hot during the day and nice and cool in the evening.

The Lineup:

Yes, many believed the line-up wasn’t as great as other Virgin Fests and many only showed up to see Pearl Jam. However, Saturday’s line up was actually pretty great. Canada is so lucky to have such great bands. The party really got started with Thunderheist, MC Isis is absolutely amazing and I doubt there is anyone at that festival more fun to party with.

The Arkells could definitely one day become iconic Canadian rockers. They have great chemistry on stage between lead singer Max, bassist Nick and guitarist Mike. They rock out hard and feed off the crowd.

Photo by Aris Aristorenas. The set from Mother, Mother — led by Ryan Guldemond — early on during Virgin Fest on Saturday left a little to be desired.

K-OS and Wintersleep, different as night and day but so awesome to listen to live. Their sets were short but packed with awesomeness.

PEARL JAM! Such a great mix of old, new and never heard before. Eddie Vedder is clearly having a great time still and loves seeing the all-ages crowd rocking out. I’m pretty sure they left in SUVs and were escorted out of the grounds by police sirens.

The Venue

I don’t care what the official word is, that was not well thought out. Walking half way up a ski hill to get to the mainstage beer gardens or the artist tent is pure ridiculousness. CJAY had it right though, having their beer gardens and stage near the entrance.

Leaving COP at night was a pure gong show. I’m a little ticked off about this. So, great, encourage everyone to take transit and the shuttle bus, try to be green. But the thing is, people will choose convenience over being green, and convenience to Calgarians (unfortunately) is being able to drive every where. With police at the two main exits it was a bottleneck trying to get out. If you parked at the top of the ski hill you had to walk up the hill. Up a SKI HILL! Supposedly there was shuttle buses going up the hill but none of the people I saw trying to go up got in a bus. Or the chair lifts, those weren’t going up either. Personally I was lucky. I was in a nice car with two smart guys that somewhat broke the rules and between the three of us we managed to find a short cut out of there. But it still took us 50 minutes after driving some friends up the hill. I would not be surprised if people were still trying to get out at 11:30 p.m.

I’ll be back tomorrow for half the day in large part to avoid the same troubles I had leaving today. Hopefully the great staff at COP and Virgin Fest learned something from this.