The first day of the Toronto Virgin Music Festival was greeted with a weather scare as dark clouds loomed overhead.  But as festival-goers ferried their way over to the island, the clouds cleared for the start of a great day of musical talent both legendary and new.

September 6, 2008

By: Amanda Waschuk (Calgary Correspondent – Canada)

The first day of the Toronto Virgin Music Festival was greeted with a weather scare as dark clouds loomed overhead.  But as festival-goers ferried their way over to the island, the clouds cleared for the start of a great day of musical talent both legendary and new.

The Oh Henry! Stage was filled with aspiring artists who won their way on stage.  These included local indie pop sensation Lights and Winnipeg-based rockers The Waking Eyes amongst others.  If club music was more your style, then the Bacardi B-live Stage fed your hunger.  With shows by some of the biggest names in the DJ world, the big highlight of the day was when Lets Go to War was joined by a local band to pound out a sound so loud your musical tastes were given the utmost satisfaction.

Over on the TD Music Stage, The Midway State were one of the bands to kick off the day.  They have a fresh, original sound that is mainly piano-based due to the talents of lead singer/song-writer/pianist Nathan Ferraro.  Other artists that graced this stage included Halifax sensation Wintersleep, The Fratellis best known for their hit “Flathead” which made it into an iPod commercial and The Kooks, native Brits, with an acoustic guitar sound and interesting lyrics.

The Virgin Mobile Stage presented some of the biggest names in the music industry today.  With The Foo Fighters headlining, festival attendees began to congregate when MGMT performed.  This was a great choice as MGMT are an unbelievably talented duo from New York who like to mix electronica sounds to create songs unlike anything heard before, although they like to consider their influence to be rock.  Performing before The Foo Fighters was Bloc Party who also fit the sound of rock with a bit of electronica mix.  When The Foo Fighters took the stage, and crowd surfers finally made an appearance as everyone was ecstatic to see such a renowned band.  They put on an amazing show with lead singer Dave Grohl acting the part of comedian as well, cracking jokes and urging his fellow band mates to perform a triangle solo.  All the popular songs the audience wanted to hear were played, with “The Pretender” closing down the evening.

DAY TWO of the Virgin Music Festival.