VFest Toronto Day Two

Toronto Island

Toronto, ON

on Sep 7 2008

Jen White (CHARTattack)

09/09/2008 1:58pm

Day two of the Virgin Festival started out a little shaky as a light but annoying rain threatened to keep up all day. I got to the island rather painlessly this time, and reached the Virgin Mobile Stage just as Spiral Beach began. They played a pretty solid power-pop set for a bunch of teenagers on a pylon-littered stage, but their age shone through during their banter. ("Where did you guys get those different coloured rain jackets?" and "I think there's lots of stuff to buy, and I think there's some of our stuff, so you should pick some up.") The crowd was small due to the rain, but concert-goers that braved the bad weather were receptive.

Danko Jones came out just as the rain started clearing up and the sun began to shine. This news made most people happy, but not Jones. The man dressed all in black asked the audience to join him in giving the sun the finger because it's not a proper rock show unless it's raining, and we all apparently "have to be sick tomorrow and shit." This was only the beginning of his hilarious dialogue with the crowd. Later, when the audience started giving him the finger, he asked if it was a friendly "fuck you" or a mean-spirited swear, and since they said yes to both, he gave the former group a warm thank you and told the latter to "go fuck yourselves." At this point, I decared Jones this year's winner of the ChartAttack VFest Award for best overall banter.

Besides the audience, Jones had guitar troubles halfway through "First Date." But he kept singing, accompanied only by bass and drums, while his guitar tech tinkered with his axe. He got the crowd to sing along and then seamlessly put his working guitar back on and continued with the song. So the swearing frontman is also pretty smooth. Who knew?

I headed to the TD Music Stage to catch Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains, which proved to be a mistake. It was incredibly different from the music he used to make as one half of Death From Above 1979, and incredibly sucky. Their version of Queens Of The Stone Age Lite didn't keep me there for very long.

Back on the main stage, Winnipeg's The Weakerthans were an odd choice to follow Jones. Things swerved from Jones' total cock rock to their literary pop set filled with songs about curling, public transit and paintings. They stuck mostly to tracks from their Polaris Music Prize-nominated Reunion Tour. I always swoon for John K. Samson and his group of musical merry men. Highlights included "Civil Twilight," "Sun In An Empty Room," "Tournament Of Hearts" and "Aside."

Call me ignorant, but prior to Silversun Pickups' main stage set, I assumed they were a southern rock band based solely on their name. Imagine my surprise when their bland indie rock blared while I ate lunch at a nearby picnic table. I didn't think I knew anything by the L.A. quartet until I heard their radio hit "Lazy Eye" towards the end of their set. Well, I'll be damned if it was a guy and not a girl singing that song. I heard many people commenting afterwards how they're trying too hard to be the new Smashing Pumpkins, with the chick bassist and frontman Brian Aubert trying to look and sound like Billy Corgan and all. I'll just stick with the original, thanks.

Over at the TD stage, Yoav braved it alone with his acoustic guitar. He fully utilized his instrument by not only strumming the strings, but by also hitting and tapping it to create a drum beat, which he then looped. When you hear the fully layered songs, it almost seems impossible that they were made by only one musician and not a full band. He even sang into his guitar to make a really cool noise. The audience was very chilled out, with most people sitting or lying around on the grass.

Nearby at the Oh Henry! Stage, London, Ont. rapper Shad had the crowd pumped. He commanded the small stage, and his backing band added a fun vibe that also let him shine. He even had people dancing early in his set, which is always impressive for a Toronto audience — and even moreso for a bunch of honky anglophiles waiting for Oasis.

I rushed back to the main stage to catch Stereophonics. The Welsh rockers drew a massive crowd that waved flags from Wales, England and Ireland. While I only recognized a few songs, including "Have A Nice Day" and "Dakota," they've had 25 top 40 singles in the U.K. I thought it was a pretty good show, but my vague positive was nothing compared to everyone else who went absolutely ape shit for "The Tragically Hip of Wales."

The British-heavy lineup continued on the main stage with Paul Weller — you know, that guy from The Jam and The Style Council. While people went nuts for him, I was more concerned about sitting down and eating.

Soon after Weller left the stage, I went in search of a good spot to watch headliners Oasis. It was my first time seeing the British musical heavyweights, and I was pretty excited. But the overall experience turned out to be incredibly odd.

They took the stage around 9:15 p.m. and the sea of people that amassed for the Brits went crazy. During "Rock 'N' Roll Star," I realized that the Gallagher brothers barely seemed like rock stars at all — especially in comparison to the previous night's headliners, Foo Fighters.

When Liam wasn't leaning into his mic for those signature whiney vocals, he would just stand there, staring blankly out at the crowd, which was entirely creepy. He was also wearing an oversized granny sweater with big pockets, a little scarf and John Lennon sunglasses. So even without his creepo stance, he didn't really look like your typical rocker.

Noel didn't really rock out much either, and pulled a very un-rock 'n' roll moment when he had a music stand on stage with a sheet on it during one song. It kept blowing off and a sound tech had to run out every time to replace it.

Everyone seemed to be having a merry old time, with "Lyla," "The Shock Of The Lightning," their new single from the soon-to-be-released Dig Out Your Soul, and "Morning Glory." And then just as they were about to hit the chorus of the latter song, someone flew from the side of the stage and hit Noel from behind, plowing him over into his monitors. The douche then tried to get at Liam, but just as quickly as the incident happened, it was over, and security dragged the assailant and carried a slumped-over Noel off the stage.

The commotion had a confused audience standing around saying a collective "What the fuck?" I thought the performance was over. An announcement was made a few minutes later, saying that the show would indeed go on. That totally surprised me, but I wasn't about to complain. The band came back and it looked as though Liam was going to make another announcement, but his brother stopped him. Noel then launched into "The Importance Of Being Idle," followed by an awesome trio of old hits: "Wonderwall," "Supersonic" and "Don't Look Back In Anger."

Oasis then played a cover of (who else) The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus." Before the song was even over, Noel took off his guitar and walked off stage, showing he was definitely pissed about what had happened. The other members followed suit shortly thereafter and that was it. With no encore, the show ended at the early time of 10:30 p.m.

The adventure wasn't over, though.

It was then that a fully mental sea of people began the long push back to the ferry dock. This was treacherous to say the least. The paths back to the boats were poorly lit and barely capable of handling so many people. I know it's what you have to expect after a show at the island, but you never really get used to being herded like cattle. I thought it was a blessing to be able to get in the significantly shorter line for the VIP ferry, but it ended up taking way longer than the commoners' boat.

I was starting to get irritated about the length of time it was taking me to get home, but a couple of English guys fighting about whether Oasis were complete rubbish or absolutely mind-blowing actually made my night. I made a joke to the hater, asking if he was the one who pushed Noel, and he had no idea what I was talking about. Apparently he spent his time drinking rather than watching the band, which prompted the fan standing nearby to attack him for not knowing his shit, and saying he'd seen them 36 times (or something equally ridiculous) and that Oasis were the best band on Earth. After two days of VFest, I stood somewhere in the middle, both figuratively and literally.