Virgin Music Festival 2008 LIVE COVERAGE: Foo-Fest!

Reviews, Top Story

The Foo Fighters returned to Toronto on Saturday night and rocked the Island in true Foo fashion.

The band headlined the third installment of the Virgin Music Festival in Toronto and played a set that lasted over an hour, mixing old hits with new tunes. Frontman Dave Grohl proved that he was the evening’s best showman by teasing and taunting the crowd by jokingly mocking their singing abilities.

The set’s only real lag was an extended drum sequence, but Foo fans in attendance didn’t seem phased, especially when percussionist Drew Hester later got the opportunity to play a triangle solo. Yes, you heard me correctly… a triangle solo.

While the Foos were definitely the main draw for Saturday, there were plenty of other thrilling bands available for the estimated 20,000 fans in attendance, and Saturday’s main stage lineup also included brilliant performances from The Constantines and Against Me!

There is no doubt that the most surprising set came from synth-rock duo MGMT who rocked the crowd with their signature sound, exemplified by the hit song “Electric Feel”.

Over on the second stage, The Kooks dominated their main-event slot, preceded by an inspired performance from The Fratellis and Wintersleep.

The Virgin Music Festival is known for giving lesser known bands a proverbial voice on one of the biggest national platforms around and by introducing the Oh! Henry stage, it allowed contest-winning bands a chance to play for enthusiastic Virgin ears.

The Festival has grown tremendously from its 2006 Toronto inception when the city became the first international location to host the event. At an early morning press conference, Virgin Canada’s chief marketing officer Nathan Rosenberg said that V-Fest is one of “global expansion”, despite heavy scheduling issues for most of the media in attendance, with the city also playing host to the Toronto International Film Festival during the same weekend.

“[It] gives people an alternative to the Film Festival,” Rosenberg added.

During the same press conference, Richard Branson made yet another one of his trademark cheesy entrances, though keeping in mind the publicity stunts that he has become famous for, this one was relatively low-key. Branson interrupted Andrew Bridge’s (director of Virgin Festivals) media briefing when he waltzed in and holding a Festival ticket and asking if he was in the right spot. It was vintage Branson.

Next up?

Sunday’s docket includes the Festival’s biggest act, Oasis as well as Moby spinning at the Bacardi B-Live tent and The Pigeon Detectives on the TD Music Stage.

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.