Archive: July 29, 2007 - August 4, 2007
Saying Goodnight With Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse certainly doesn't have anywhere near the draw of the Police but it felt like a headlining set when the Pacific Northwest rock act hit the stage. Chants of "Modest Mouse! Modest Mouse!" greeted the band and there were even some girls perched on boyfriends' shoulders -- a total...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 10:17 PM ET | Comments (2)
Police Escort
So the Police just finished their set, and I'm backstage, talking to a festival publicist about today's attendance count(42,000 at a venue that's set up to hold about 60,000) when a police car comes by with sirens blaring. Behind the cop car: an S.U.V. And two vans, inside of which...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 10:04 PM ET | Email a Comment
Hot, Hot Heat
Festival officials tell me that approximately 90 people were treated here for heat exhaustion and other ailments, with 15 of them receiving additional treatment at area hospitals. -- J. Freedom du Lac...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 9:28 PM ET | Comments (1)
Getting the 'Message'
The opening sounds of the Police set came courtesy of Andy Summers' guitar as he fired off the taut corkscrew riff from "Message in a Bottle." What an opening! Sting and the Police put on a much more energetic set at Virgin Festival than Live Earth. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen) Already,...
By Fritz Hahn | August 4, 2007; 8:54 PM ET | Comments (1)
Sound and Fury
One constant throughout the day has been the fantastic sound. Audio was crystal clear at both stages, inside the dance tent, and even at the center stage (featuring the Middle Eastern sounds of International Velvet). I thought the sound crew would take the Underappreciated Star of the Day award, but...
By Fritz Hahn | August 4, 2007; 8:40 PM ET | Email a Comment
Trancelike State
Right now, the universally loved Beastie Boys are performing on the north stage while up-and-coming art-rock stars TV on the Radio are playing on the south stage. But for the couple thousand or so folks in the dance tent, this is the only place to be. World-renowned DJs Sasha and...
By Fritz Hahn | August 4, 2007; 7:46 PM ET | Email a Comment
Droppin' Science
As I type, the Beastie Boys are playing a spacey jazz-funk instrumental. This after having bashed out a hardcore punk song. But the group's core competency is pass-the-mike rapping. The Beastie Boys mixed hip-hop rhymes and funky instrumentals at Virgin Fest (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) | PHOTO GALLERY The one-two...
By Fritz Hahn | August 4, 2007; 7:21 PM ET | Email a Comment
Sir Makes-A-Lot
Billionaire on the infield! On my way out to see the Beastie Boys, I ran into Sir Richard Branson, who was walking through the unwashed masses on his way to the VIP riser. He was being high-fived along the way, natch. Anyway, he said he was excited to catch the...
By Fritz Hahn | August 4, 2007; 6:55 PM ET | Email a Comment
South Stage Dance Party With LCD Soundsystem
I feel bad for all the people who started leaving the south stage halfway through LCD Soundsystem's dynamite set of dance rock. It's not like they were going to score a good spot to see the Beastie Boys, who started 15 minutes before LCD finished. There's no way to catch...
By Fritz Hahn | August 4, 2007; 6:51 PM ET | Comments (2)
Can You Hear Me Now?
Among the things being passed out to festivalgoers by the keepers of the swag: condoms. Not on the giveaway list: earplugs. -- J. Freedom du Lac...
By Fritz Hahn | August 4, 2007; 6:14 PM ET | Email a Comment
Five Minutes With the Beasties
The Beastie Boys may be Beastie Men now, but they can still act plenty like kids. I was all business going into their trailer knowing that five minutes meant FIVE minutes. Before I even get a question out, MCA (Adam Yauch) starts giving me a hard time about my outfit....
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 5:00 PM ET | Comments (1)
Teed Up
You can't really judge a festival by its attendees' T-shirts, so this is a completely meaningless survey meant to kill time during a set by Incubus, the pride of Calabasas, Calif. Herewith, a roll call of the band tees that I've seen on the Pimlico infield over the past 10...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 4:45 PM ET | Email a Comment
Waiting Game in the VIP Lounge
I'm back in the artists lounge right now waiting to get my five minutes with the Beastie Boys. It's not actually a lounge, of course, just a gated off area next to the press tents. There doesn't seem to be anything too extravagant going on and I don't actually see...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 4:00 PM ET | Comments (2)
Amy, Amy, Amy
Amy Winehouse -- probably the most buzzed-about performer at this year's festival -- did, in fact, show up. But in some ways, she wasn't really here. And no, that's not a reference to her emaciated physical state. Amy Winehouse at Virgin Fest (Rich Lipski/The Washington Post) Winehouse seemed to go...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 3:20 PM ET | Comments (10)
Win, Place or No-Show?
If you bet money on Amy Winehouse skipping the festival, you lose. The erratic, unpredictable retro-soul singer came on stage about eight minutes late, but she's here nonetheless. A report to follow. -- J. Freedom du Lac...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 3:04 PM ET | Email a Comment
The Fratellis, Very Fine
The Fratellis provide a nice jolt with their tight set of snappy and quite loud pub/punk rock. Most songs --like "Flathead," which you might recognize from an iPod commercial -- are about drinking, partying and what results when you combine those two things. Today clearly isn't the best day to...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 2:21 PM ET | Comments (2)
Getting Tricked Out
How can you not love Cheap Trick? The power-pop pioneers from Rockford, Ill. are making a marvelous racket on stage with their well-perfected blend of savage, metal-edged riffs and pretty pop melodies. And the musicians are quite a sight to behold -- especially guitarist Rick Nielsen, who's wearing all black...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 1:55 PM ET | Comments (1)
More Than Just Music
Feel the love -- and the heat Walking between the two stages gave me a chance to survey some of the concession booths and other diversions. Very popular? Shade tent. Kinda popular? Beer booth. Not so popular? Shrimp on a stick. I walk by the Guitar Hero II booth...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 1:31 PM ET | Email a Comment
Fiction Plane Takes Flight
A few facts about Fiction Plane: The alternative rock trio is from the U.K. It's the first band playing on V-Fest's South Stage. Its singer-bassist is Joe Sumner, who happens to be the son of Sting, who happens to be headlining the festival tonight with the Police. Oh, and Fiction...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 1:16 PM ET | Email a Comment
Seth Speaks
In the hour before the start of the festival, promoter Seth Hurwitz hardly appeared stressed. "I can't think of a better way to spend a summer day," he said while driving around Pimlico in an electric-powered golf cart. "It's a blast being able to put on a show like this....
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 1:10 PM ET | Email a Comment
Fountains of Wayne Skip the Hit
Fountains of Wayne prove to be a smart choice to kick things off. The band's sunny pop songs are perfect background music for those that are just trying to get situated. People are snapping pictures of their groups of friends, examining the schedule, guzzling water. FOW singer Chris Collingswoth noted...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 12:51 PM ET | Email a Comment
It Really Is That Hot
It's the kind of hot where you stand still for a few moments then start to move and get dizzy. The sun is just beating down and the occasional gentle breeze doesn't help all that much. Right before Fountains of Wayne hit the stage, Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" comes on...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 12:17 PM ET | Comments (1)
Faint Praise
After only five minutes in the festival grounds I witnessed my first fainter. It was a pretty graceful fall, and after about three minutes on the infield dirt and some water provided by her friends, the young lady was back up on her feet and ready to rock. -- David...
By Maura McCarthy | August 4, 2007; 12:11 PM ET | Email a Comment
Who We're Psyched to See
Virgin Festival will feature more than 40 acts on three stages over the course of what promises to be a very, very hot couple of days. We'll be there filing up-to-the-minute reports, so be sure to bookmark this page and keep checking back all weekend for the latest from Pimlico....
By David Malitz | August 3, 2007; 1:52 PM ET | Comments (6)
Wu-Tang Clan's Pure Genius
No discussion about hip-hop's greatest groups is complete without considering Wu-Tang Clan. Other artists might have sold more albums and had bigger radio hits, but few acts in hip-hop have been as influential as the unwieldy and unruly Staten Island crew that turned the genre on its head in the...
By J. Freedom du Lac | August 3, 2007; 6:00 AM ET | Comments (6)
Songwriting 101 With Fountains of Wayne
Adam Schlesinger is a songwriter. He also plays bass for the always-tuneful power-pop quartet Fountains of Wayne. You surely know their single "Stacy's Mom," or at least its accompanying video, starring a salacious Rachel Hunter in the title role. Schlesinger also plays bass and writes songs for melancholy indie-pop band...
By David Malitz | August 2, 2007; 6:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
Velvet Revolver, A Legal Substance
The 1990s were a high-flying decade for singer Scott Weiland. And how: His band, Stone Temple Pilots, became a chart-topping rock-radio staple, with sorta-alternative stadium-rock hits including "Plush," "Interstate Love Song," "Vasoline" and "Big Bang Baby," while Weiland himself was famously in and out of drug rehab. STP eventually disintegrated...
By David Malitz | August 1, 2007; 6:00 AM ET | Comments (10)
LCD Soundsystem's Festival Life
LCD Soundsystem broke out in 2002 with its memorable single "Losing My Edge," in which mastermind James Murphy offered a pretty spot-on predictor of today's been-there, loved-it-before-you-even-knew-it hipster culture, all over top an irresistible electro beat. That song and dance-rock rave-up "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" made LCD...
By David Malitz | July 31, 2007; 6:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Making It Big With Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse has experienced its share of turmoil over the years -- arrests, nervous breakdowns, you name it - but it's been one success story after another lately. In the '90s, the trio's agitated, aggressive songs, highlighted by singer/guitarist Isaac Brock's distinctive howl, made them indie rock favorites. But the...
By David Malitz | July 30, 2007; 12:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
About This Blog
On Aug. 4-5 one of the biggest music festivals in the county is coming to the Washington area, and washingtonpost.com has you covered. J. Freedom du Lac, pop music critic for The Washington Post, and David Malitz, music producer for washingtonpost.com, will be talking with Virgin Festival performers in the...
By David Malitz | July 29, 2007; 6:00 PM ET | Comments (1)
