Music
Virgin Festival 2009: the Good News and the Bad News
The Virgin Music Festival 2009 (the Ontario edition) announcement FINALLY dropped this morning, and thankfully the rumours were true... NIN will be headlining at this year's Vfest!
This year will also see appearances by Ben Harper & Relentless7, and the full line up boasts some impressive talent. But with the good news, comes the bad: an out-of-town (I mean WAY out-of-town) venue, and some interesting marketing tactics to monetize the event.
This year definitely promises to be an exciting new chapter in the Vfest saga and I've got all the line up, venue, ticketing and VIP details right here.
With NIN to headline in what *may* be their last north American show ever (if we believe Reznor) I'm already sold on this year's Virgin Music Festival; but most people will want the full benefit of the details before forking out the hefty ticket price.
So first, this year's line up... in order of how much I care:
Day 1
The Pixies
Ben Harper & Relentless7
Franz Ferdinand
Paolo Nutini
Grizzly Bear
Sloan
The Rural Alberta Advantage
Down with Webster
Lights
Mates of State
Iglu and Hartly
Day 2... which is insanely stacked:
NIN
Mute Math
Pet Shop Boys
Thunderheist
N.E.R.D.
Our Lady Peace
Cold War Kids
The D'Ubervilles
MEW
Coeur de Pirate
The Von Bondies
Datarock
Hyper Crush
Trouble Andrew
Silver Starling
Looks like Bacardi's B-Live tent has been completely scrapped this year in favour of the Virgin Radio stage, which will host artists Candy Coated Killahz, Anjulie, Sean Kingston, Melanie Fiona and The New Cities. I'm a bit disappointed to see that the dance/electronic stage is being downplayed, but then again the Day 2 main stage line up is pretty bangin' in its own right.
Now the other big questions...
When? August 29th and 30th, 2009 (hopefully guaranteeing warm weather!)
Where? Burl's Creek Park, Orillia (click for map) ...about an hour and a half drive from Toronto, in good traffic flow. Given the ferry escapades involved in getting to and from the Toronto Island in past years, it'll probably take most people the same amount of time to get to Vfest this year.
How much? The ticket price this year is deceptively cheap, at only $99 for BOTH days of the Festival. However, given the location is pretty far for most people, don't forget to factor in travel, food and accommodation.
Getting to the festival is probably best by car... the site will have free parking and is generally easy to get to. However organizers have promised that shuttle buses will also be available from the Barrie terminal; probably with similar logistical issues as the Island ferries, but at least they're available (organizers are expecting 35,000 to attend, so shuttle at your own risk).
Staying on site is probably another good option, but camping fees are NOT included in your ticket price. Two day camping is $100 per site (max. 4 people on a site), and three day is $135 per site (max. 4 people on a site) - which adds to the cost of the $99 ticket price if you want the Vfest camping experience.
The organizers have also opened up a limited number of VIP festival and camping tickets, which I guess in this case means 'Very Invested Person'? The festival VIP pass, which covers both days of music, is $270 plus $180 per camp site per night (max 4 people per site). Aside from getting you into the 'Loud Lounge', shorter washroom lines, and special drink and food services, the VIP ticket's value seems to lie in giving holders front of the line access to the festival itself (useful if you're coming in from far away!)
Overall, great news about the line up and facilities, but bad news about the travel distance and extra costs. I can't pass up the chance to see NIN at a large North American festival but I'm not convinced that the line up alone will be enough to attract the expect 35,000 out to Orillia... we shall see on August 29/30th!
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But the worst hwy 11 times are Friday night and Sunday night... should be interesting for shuttle buses (blech)
Two of my favourite bands, plus the park is right down the road from my parent's place! Should be asskickingly good!
Two of my favourite bands, plus the park is right near my parents' place! Should be asskickingly good!
Virgin Festival next year in Markham... yeah?!!!! haha
Burl's Creek=BAD!
I went to see Jack Johnson there last summer and it took TWO hours to get out of the park after the concert! They better have added some exits.
Prosti-tots!
yes, i agree with the person who said that half the fun of v-fest was that it was IN the city and on the island... ferry and all. for the reporter who claims that the "travel" time up to orillia will be the same... he failed to take into account that a lot of supporters of V-FEST in the last few years are people who live in DOWNTOWN toronto and don't necessarily have a CAR. you could go to V-Fest without having to worry about transportation at ALL. just bike or walk or subway to the ferry. there are also water taxis if the ferry wait is too long. so NO, the location is NOT the same in terms of travel ... AT ALL!
BOO, Burls CREEK. Boo, camping. Yuk. Like, seriously, if you're going to make it a CAMPING type festival out in the boonies, you better make the line-up worth it. Otherwise... I predict a bust.
Therefore, a drive up from or down to the city, with good traffic flow, will be a similar expense of time. Course being downtown means public transit and all sorts of options like walking/biking... people complain when it's ON the island, people complain when it's OFF the island. MEH.
p.s. The Pixies? Hello? Franz Ferdinand and Thunderheist? I hardly think NIN is the only draw, but you know - to each their own. You can always go to Reading instead :P
Burl's Creek is an awesome spot - I have no problems with Torontonians opting to stay home. But I'll be leaving my King St. condo (sans automobile, btw) to make the trek.
i've never complained about v-fest being on the island, never heard anyone else complain about it either, even standing in the ferry line-up. it was all part of the 'experience', and people wee usually in a pretty good mood. enjoying a picturesque ferry ride, vs. sitting in a gridlock traffic jam on the 400? not so much. camping with drunken yahoos just to see the few bands that you might want to see? no thanks.
the great thing about having this show in downtown toronto was that you could JUSTIFY buying a ticket just to see the acts you WANT to see, then time your ferry arrival/departure to avoid the most crowded times and only show up for the acts you want.
moving it to a camp site means you basically have to commit to the whole festival, deal with traffic, and be stuck with drunken frat boys all weekend just to see, um... well, in my case, ben harper. that's the ONLY act on this bill that would even slightly convince me to go, and again, if it was on the island, I WOULD buy a ticket and GO just to see him. but i'm not doing the whole damn weekend just for ben harper.
blamblamvietnam: pixies? puh-lease. don't feel sorry for me. saw them in the '90s, first time around. and twice again since.
ZED: um, sorry, but "experiencing life outside the big smoke" to me, doesn't mean driving to orillia. if i want the whole festival 'experience' of being dirty, stinky, and dealing with WASTEheads like you... i'd go to a real festival like coachella.
p.s. "getting wasted"? not everyone who loves music also necessarily loves getting trashed, or being stuck with people who are trashed and generally ruin the whole 'experience' for everyone around them. keep that in mind when you're annoying people at burls creek. frat boy.
But not everyone who enjoys drinks and recreational drugs during a concert experience are frat boys out to annoy people. Some of them are pretty fun and are there trying to enjoy the music. Given this attitude, I would assume you don't leave your house very much.
note to v-fest organizers: nice try, but you ain't bonnaroo, coachella or reading fest... far from it. better luck next year.
for my money, if i was going to travel to a festival this summer, i'd go to lollapalooza in chicago, aug 7-9. now THAT's a line-up worth travelling for, and v-fest organizers should take note. exactly what kind of festival do you want to be? putting on a great festival in a great CITY is pretty cool. BARRIE or ORILLIA are never going to be another 'destination' festival the likes of a coachella or bonnaroo, IMHO. they've already been done, and much better... elsewhere.
this year they expand to more cities. (calgary, nova scotia and montreal, i think?) but then they move the toronto show north of barrie, of all godforsaken places? what's the point of that? lame.
big festivals like bonnaroo or coachella don't try to be in five different cities. they just focus on making ONE festival the best line-up possible. with a few exceptions (NIN, Ben Harper, PJ in Calgary), v-fest looks like it was thrown together with whoever they could get ... (OLP anyone? barf.)
The nightmare of highway 11 alone would be enough to keep me as far away from cottage country that weekend.
This event needs to follow the lineups and organization of the superb European festivals, and the Fuji Rock festival in Japan if it wants to be a destiantion and eargerly anticipated event with a slew of stand-out bands of up and comers and old favourites.
I'd do it again.
yes they should've stuck with what worked. even if they had to move it for one year due to the ferry strike... downsview perhaps?