VFest Toronto

I was at the Virgin Mobile Music Festival in Toronto this week-end located at the Molson Amphitheater next to Ontario Place.

It was a great festival in a venue that I'd never visited before and I was impressed by the architecture. Its an outdoor venue but not all of it ... since part of the seats are covered with a roof and the section 300 and grass areas are not. There are walls to hold the roof structure, but it gets windy everywhere. The floor section is really small, but makes the first sections that much closer :)

So the tickets I had were for the floor (100 level) and the 200 level seating so I was really close to the stage at all times.

There were 3 stages ( 2 of them quite far from the main stage ) but because of the schedules and their distanced location I didnt really got to see other stages but I only missed one of the groups I really wanted to see (Von Bondies). The fact that there was only one stage was kinda bad since we had to wait for the stage to be set for the next act everytime unlike at Osheaga in Mtl where the two main stages are side by side and we dont have to wait between bands.

Here are the bands that played and some comments about them ( if I remember them ):

Saturday
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Mates of State : first band playing at the festival they had a good first song and I was into it, but then 10 min later I was bored and wanted something different since it was all of the same

Lights : She was young, full of energy, kinda shy, shes talented and has some good songs, but ...

Grizzly Bear : I was waiting to see them, I was told it was a good band, but maybe my expectations were way too high cuz I was bored except for one song that was a little bit like Wolf Parade on the piano and all ...

Sloan : I had heard some of their older songs and I thought I liked it back then ... and I really
enjoyed their music now it was a lot of fun and they were enjoying themselves even though the singer couldnt play his instruments so they invited other people to play with them ... funny too.

Paolo Nutini : Scottish, weird posture, weird faces, screaming a lot, zzzzz music but people seemed to enjoy it on the floor dancing with their Scottish flags


Franz Ferdinand: Last time I saw them in Montreal I loved them, but for some weird reason I never listened to them after that show ... it never happened to me before and I still dont know why. I was expected a great performance from them and ... they delivered everything I was hoping for !! They kept playing some great songs ... in fact all their songs were major hits. I loved their energy, singing, interacting with the crowd and everybody was dancing. Great Performance at the festival ... one of the best.

Pixies: I already saw them before, but i dont remember where exactly, but they produced an amazing show also with rythmic songs like the good old days of alternative and grunge ... a band I'm really happy I saw again and wish to see them another time in a full show.

Ben Harper : I left before his show ... didnt really cared

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SUNDAY
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Coeur de Pirate: A lovely girl from Quebec with her band doing good songs that nobody could
understand, but delivered a good performance. A little shy since nobody really
got what she was singing about.

Datarock: Electronic music, red jumpsuits, extreme energy, jumping all over, playing many
intruments, good!

Mew: Bad music, really bad voice ... awful live anyways

Mutemath : didnt know at all the band, thought they were really good ( but playing after Mew
might be a reason I liked them so much lol ), people seemed to like them too so...

Cold War Kids: Dont remember them that much ... but I dont remember them to be good or as
good as other bands

N.E.R.D. : HipHop with 2 drums ... a lot of energy, not my style but was good live, brought
people on stage for most songs, good opening band

Our Lady Peace: This was a band which I loved the first 3 albums (mostly the first one though), but then they made some boring albums and still do which they should stop doing and just play their old material which is soooo good and grungy. So the show reflected that: old songs made people sing, dance and enjoy them, but half of the show was new stuff which should have never been invented ... ;)

PET SHOP BOYS: I knew the name but never really listened to them ... them being from the 80s or something ;) but they were excellent live! keywords to describe the show: Electronic, singing Robots, Cubes, Sports, Adidas, costumes, crazy videos, entertaining a lot, good songs. Excellent show !!!

Nine Inch Nails: This was one of their last performances ever (4 left). Ive been listening to them since their first album(20 years ago) and Trent has delievered great albums one after the other, trying to change his formulas, live they've always been incredible with stuff that you would never have seen before with screens effect and ... This show was more than any Ive seen from them before minus some of their technical scenic material since it was a 20 min stage construction. They gave a solid 2 hours finally to this festival and their career in Canada anyways. He sang so many of their greatest hits which are energetic and transmits it to the crowd who showed up for this last performance. Changing to more calm songs at times to relax a little bit even though after a while Trent's voice was a little bit irritated he kept singing for our pleasure.

The show started great and at the end of the first song the mic and its support was thrown off stage by Trent as he does sometimes ... the show was set to be a great one!! During the second song, Trent destroyed his guitar on his synthetiser right in front of the crowd and thousands of pieces flew all over the stage and some in the crowd... technicians had to give him another guitar and had the change the now destroyed synthetiser as well LOLL great start of the show !!!
Songs after songs they gave us the energy that we needed after such a long festival. During the show other guitars or instruments were trashed all over the stage for the fans pleasure and surely Trents own.

It was a great festival overall and a great time I had in Toronto for 3 days.