Virgin Fest Day 1 - M.I.A. Invites T.O. to Dance while Bjork Dazzles

Hey, remember this? Wait, scroll 12 paragraphs down. Now remember? Yes, a year after starting with the biggest whimper imaginable, the legendary Flaming Lips disaster was somehow still the talk of Toronto's second Virgin Festival. The events that preceded this year's weekend event did nothing to quiet the negative attitude towards a festival that pretty much everyone wanted to see succeed. The cancellations of Amy Winehouse and Peter Bjorn & John, plus the organizers' failure to secure the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as replacements despite the fact they were already going to be in town, were disappointing precursors to the fest.

But, somehow, with a mix of inspired first day main stage acts and two unexpected blockbuster headliners on the second day, V-Fest II easily shook off the bad buzz and gained an audience that's likely to return if the quality stays this high.

"I'm hungover and bored, but I'm here," K-OS said about three quarters of the way through his set. That pretty much summed up the performance. For a performer who had the potential to hit a new level of hip-hop stardom in Canada and a decent level of fame in the U.S. following the release of Atlantis: Hymns For Disco, K-OS continued on Saturday to show why it hasn't happened with another spotty, disinterested show. He's still forgetting too many lyrics and his band don't have the technical skill to make up for the shortfalls. But, worst of all, K-OS just doesn't seem to care about the people who pay to see him play. I had high hopes a year ago when I first heard Atlantis. Now, I'm just wondering if anyone will stick around to see what comes next. This wasn't the most promising way to start my fest, but thankfully things got better in a hurry.

That's because M.I.A. brought the party to Toronto. Already one of the highlights of my summer concert going, London's favourite Sri Lankan export brought an even tighter and more powerful performance to V-Fest than she did to Lollapalooza. It helped that she wasn't losing her voice, and that "Bucky Done Gun" and "Paper Planes" are anthems that most of the performers on the island couldn't match. This set also featured a stage invasion during "Bird Flu" that ranked as one of the weekend highlights. At least 100 fans got up to dance like crazy people during the politically charged single and, given how few surprises V-Fest offered, this was a perfect time to bring out a big one to get people into the show.

Organizers waited until the very last minute to announce who would replace Winehouse, and it turned out to be an old favourite/standby. I don't want to rip Kid Koala because, to be honest, he's really great. But there were two problems with having him fill this spot. 1) His vinyl started melting in the sun and, thus, skipping 15 minutes into his set, and 2) He wasn't Karen O. As snafus go, not landing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was pretty inexplicable. I can understand that they probably asked that some of the bands be bumped back, but the festival should have tried to make it work to make up for the aforementioned cancellations. (There was also The Hives, who agreed to play and then backed out for the ridiculously awful Maroon 5 tour. You had to be watching the V-Fest website pretty closely to catch that one.)

Next up were British hype darlings Arctic Monkeys, whose live show has improved so drastically from the first time I saw them that I've actually become a fan. At first, I didn't really get the appeal. Their songs, at the outset, don't sound very memorable. And their sound, while unique, is a tad grating. But the more you hear "You Look Good On The Dance Floor" and "Scummy Man," the more they burrow into your subconscious and stay there. I also like a band who can appreciate music history and was happy to see Alex Turner and Nick O'Malley at Friday's film fest screening of Control — the biopic of another Manchester band, Joy Division. It might sound trivial, but sometimes small things can influence your feelings about a group you're on the fence about.

And then came Interpol. Considering this was — and I'm not really sure how it came to this — my fifth time seeing the New York quartet in 2007, if you'd like to read about their live performances, I'll refer to this and this and this. I will point out that they played "C'mere," which I had hoped to hear the other four times and finally did. And it was swell.

I saw Bjork at Coachella, but I didn't really "see" Bjork at Coachella. I was about 300 metres back and tired out of my mind from the day's sweltering heat. To say that I was looking forward to seeing her under normal circumstances is a giant understatement. Bjork's show on the island in 2003 still ranks as one of my favourites of all-time, and while this one didn't have the promise of fireworks, it was V-Fest's biggest spectacle and had the most loaded setlist of the day. "Pagan Poetry" and "All Is Full Of Love" gave Iceland's biggest star her first chance to show off her iconic pipes. But the laser and video show gave a visual weight to "Army Of Me," "Hyperballad" and "Pluto" that could maybe only be matched by Radiohead at their most visceral. Bjork is finally starting to show some age on her face, but her voice remains the best in music today. Despite the fact that Volta wasn't as groundbreaking as some of her previous work, it's all but certain Bjork will go down as our enduring female icon.

Here was her setlist:
"Innocence"
"Hunter"
"Pagan Poetry"
"Aurora"
"All is Full of Love"
"Pleasure is All Mine"
"Joga"
"Unravel"
"Earth Intruders"
"Army Of Me"
"I Miss You"
"Bachelorette""
Cover Me"
"Wanderlust"
"Hyperballad"
"Pluto"
"Oceania"
"Declare Independence"

For a recap of Sunday's performance, click here.