Ah yes…..Virgin Festival 2008 is here!!

We had a great time at last year’s fest, although our hotel room accomodations left a lot to be desired…

Seriously though, you can’t beat a day that opens with Fountains of Wayne and Cheap Trick back to back.

And, I saw a wonderful performance from Amy Winehouse – we rolled the dice and got the good version (read: sober) of Amy Winehouse on that day at Virgin Festival, only a week or two before she went down the tubes.

Closing out the day with performances from Beastie Boys and The Police on the same stage, was pretty awesome.

And that was Saturday.

Sunday’s lineup didn’t have quite the blockbuster talent present in the previous day’s lineup. Had I driven there solo, I probably would have opted out of day two.

We ended up ducking out early before 311 and Smashing Pumpkins hit the stage – I’ve seen 311 many times, so I was good with that….and I figured I would catch the Pumpkins on their eventual Cleveland stop.

And then of course, they didn’t come to Cleveland.

Oh well, all good. All in all, it was an awesome weekend with SO many musical highlights.

(Check out the complete schedule from last year.)

We took the early exit to drive back to Cleveland, hoping to avoid bad weather that we knew would be coming along. And of course, we ended up driving most of the way home in said bad weather in a white knuckle rainstorm that topped all previous entries in category “worst storm ever.”

Cleveland welcomed us home after several death defying hours on the road, and thoughts began to drift towards Virgin Festival 2008.

“We’ll have to do this again next year,” was the final thought expressed by three weary Cleveland travelers returning home.

One year later:

The weekend is upon us, and the destination: Baltimore, MD for Virgin Festival 2008.

This year’s travel companions once again are my friends Brian and Adam, both fellow veterans of last year’s Virgin festivities.

Our group will grow by one this year.

I extended an invite, and I’m stoked that fellow blogger TJ from Viva La Mainstream will be meeting us in Baltimore for Virgin Festival. TJ’s a great music fan, and it should be a great hang this weekend for the four of us.

One of my criticisms of last year’s festival, was that the lineup was killer, but it felt like most of the “must see” bands were on the first day, while the lineup for day two felt a bit thin by comparison.

This year, I think there is a much better balance of talent between the two days, and there are a ton of bands that I’m looking forward to on both days.

And the schedule conflicts are minimal.

Saturday thoughts

Saturday’s action starts with Cat Power on the main stage, and KT Tunstall on the south stage.

I would like to see both, but Cat Power’s got my winning vote at this point.

Gogol Bordello wins no contest over Duffy.

The Swell Season will be next on my schedule. One of the great things about Virgin Festival is the opportunity to see bands that either have skipped Cleveland on their current tour schedule, or in the case of The Swell Season, shows that have been to Cleveland recently that I’ve missed.

Saturday’s must see bands:

Cat Power
Gogol Bordello
The Swell Season
Citizen Cope
WILCO!!
Foo Fighters

Bands I’m curious about:

Lupe Fiasco
Bloc Party
Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Bands I’ll check out to pass time:

The Offspring

Sunday thoughts

Sunday is STACKED…

The day begins with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (sweet!,) Shudder to Think, Paramore, and She & Him.

There’s a bit of overlap between Paramore and She & Him, but at the appropriate time, I’ll be heading over to the south stage to make sure I catch the entire set from She & Him.

After that, a bit of a gap while Taking Back Sunday and Lil’ Wayne are on stage. Don’t really care about either.

The next conflict – this one is a tough one – There is severe overlap between Iggy and the Stooges and The Black Keys. I think I’m going to have to miss most of The Black Keys set, because I don’t think I’ll end up wanting to miss ANY of Iggy’s set!

The rest of the night is pretty well set – Stone Temple Pilots win over Bob Dylan….unless Weiland’s performance goes off the rails.

If that’s the case, I’ll bail and catch a performance from Dylan that will either be sub-par, or awesome.

That’s better than the alternative of potentially seeing a crummy performance from Dylan while missing a great performance from STP.

We’ll see. Bottom line, I dig Dylan, and I’ve seen Dylan. I’ll go to see STP before they call it quits again.

Nine Inch Nails vs. Kanye West. I’d love to see Kanye, just to see him, but there’s no way I’m passing up NIN.

Sunday’s must see bands:

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Shudder to Think
Paramore
She & Him
Iggy and the Stooges
The Black Keys
Stone Temple Pilots
Nine Inch Nails

Curious about:

Andrew Bird

Complete lineup for both days right here.

That’s all for now…bring it on, Baltimore!

Relevant Links:

Virgin Festival official website

TJ’s Viva La Mainstream Page