September 7^th, day two of the festival, included bands, such as Danko Jones, Silversun Pickups, Stereophonics, Paul Weller and Oasis on the Virgin Mobile Stage,  Sons and Daughters and The Pigeon Detectives on the TD Music Stage.

Concert: Virgin Fest Day 2

Where: Toronto Island, Ontario

Date:  September 7^th, 2008

Reviewed By: Brittney Teasdale (Downtown Toronto Correspondent - Canada)

Oasis, Paul Weller, The Pigeon Detectives, and Stereophonics were all performers at the September 7^th, 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival on Toronto Island.  Day two of the festival started out rainy and not looking too bright, but as the day went on the sky cleared up and the crowd started to grow. By five o’clock in the afternoon a steady flow of fans started filing onto the concert grounds.

The Virgin Mobile Festival 2008 had a plan of action to ensure the weekend was as green as possible. The “Red is the New Green” plan included providing recycling and waste disposal, using non-toxic inks and recycled paper for printed materials, “Green Angels” on-site here to help with sorting recyclables, a Water Station where people could get fresh water, human-powered mobile phone chargers at the Motorola tent, and audience members were able to trade in their empty water bottles for swag and prizes at the TRASHed Recycling Store.

September 7^th, day two of the festival, included bands, such as Danko Jones, Silversun Pickups, Stereophonics, Paul Weller and Oasis on the Virgin Mobile Stage,  Sons and Daughters and The Pigeon Detectives on the TD Music Stage.

Silversun Pickups is an American indie rock band from L.A., California and is signed with Dangerbird Records. The band’s lead vocals and guitarist is Brian Aubert, and they released their debut Pikul EP in July of 2005, and their full length album Carnavas onJuly 26th 2006. At approximately 4:55 in the afternoon the Silversun Pickups came onto the Virgin Mobile Stage and put on a great performance bringing many of their songs to the Virgin Festival, including the hit single “Lazy Eye.” Brian Aubert’s unusual voice is magnetic and produces a quite mesmerizing spell over the audience. When the hit “Lazy Eye” came on the audience, who were sitting on their blankets, got up and started grooving.

Next up on the Virgin Mobile Stage was Stereophonics at 6:10 pm. Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band consisting of Kelly Jones, Richard Jones, Javier Weyer and Adam Zindani. They have had 5 consecutive albums to reach #1 in the United Kingdom album charts. They played, among many songs, their hit song “Dakota”, which happens to be the band’s first single to make the charts in the United States. Kelly Jones, the lead vocalist of Stereophonics, put on a great performance, full of energy and sex-appeal.

Over on the TD Music Stage at 6:35 was Sons and Daughters, a rock band from Glasgow, Scotland. The band was created in 2001 while on tour with Arab Strap, and the initial members included Adele Bethel, David Gow and Ailidh Lennon. Later, Sons and Daughters added another vocalist, Scott Paterson, and went on to release their debut album “Love the Cup”. Since their debut the band has release two more albums, their most recent being “This Gift” in 2008. Adele Bethel had great stage presence and interacted with the audience on a same-level basis. She wore quirky hot pink knee-socks and although they did not have a huge crowd, the people who were there enjoyed every minute of the bands’ set.

Next to take charge on the TD Music Stage was The Pigeon Detectives at eight o’clock. The band’s sound is a mixture of alternative rock, garage rock revival, and new wave, which was a huge hit among the crowd at Virgin Festival this year. Off their 2007 Album “Wait for Me” the band played hit singles such as “I Found Out,” “Take Her Back,” and “Romantic Type.” When the song “Romantic Type” was belted out by lead singer Matt Bowman the crowd absolutely went crazy. Matt Bowman has an overwhelming amount of energy and continuously was throwing water on himself and bottles of water out to the crowd. The Pigeon Detectives put on one of the best performances at the Toronto 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival! They had such staggering stage presence and put on an amazing show. Although they were only front-lining the TD Music Stage, I believe that they could have stole the show on the Virgin Mobile Stage. The one word that comes to mind that describes Matt Bowman is “wild.” He is a brilliant performer and knows how to work an audience. The English band from Rothwell, Leeds, is sure to have caught the eyes of many during their performance at V-Fest and hopefully, Canada will be seeing more of The Pigeon Detectives in the near future.

Lastly, the performance that everyone on day two of V-Fest was waiting for finally came. Oasis started at roughly 9:10 pm on the Virgin Mobile Stage. The crowd went wild. Flags went up in the air, girls were put on their boyfriends shoulders, and cheering voices rang throughout the Island. Oasis opened the show with the song “Rock N Roll Star,” along with many other hits they have produced during their prosperous career. During the second half of the set the band played some of their hit songs such as the legendary “Wonderwall.” However, the show would have been flawless without an abrupt disturbance. During the song “Morning Glory” a frantic fan ran on stage and viciously shoved the lead guitarist Noel Gallagher. Noel did not see the 47 year old obnoxious fan run up behind him, shove him ferociously to the ground, then continue on to attack Liam, but his attempt was unsuccessful when stopped by security. Liam, after coming out of shock, went to go after the assailant. Following the disturbance the band had a twenty minute break so the band could regroup and then return back to the stage. They ended their legendary performance with a Beatles cover of “I am the Walrus,” but did not come back for an encore, perhaps reasonably so.

DAY ONE at the Virgin Music Festival 2008