Mike's Bloggity Blog

It’s turning out to be a bad year for festivals.

Lilith Fair is still struggling to sell tickets and now comes word that Virgin Fest will be cancelling all of it’s Canadian summer tours!

I didn’t even know they were planning summer dates.

“We’re taking the year off” said Virgin Mobile Canada Chief Marketing Officer Nathan Rosenberg earlier this week.  Which is no doubt a relief to media, who now no longer have to type his ridiculously long job title.

I checked out the tour last year when it was in Calgary.  Despite it being extremeley lopsided (Pearl Jam one night, Billy Talent the next), it was a great event.  I also loved how so many canadian musicians were featured, even if most fans were there for the often american headliners.

So with Lilith not “fairing” well and Virgin lost, what does that leave us with?  Warped?

Fuck.

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I’ve never really known what my purpose is life was. Was it to take over for Ryan Seacrest? Become a hoarder of Entertainment Weekly magazines? Aerospace Engineer?

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Just want to take a second to say thanks to everyone at Hill & Knowlton. They were in charge of all the PR at VirginFest and they pretty much treated me better than my family.

>So there I was at the VirginFest AfterParty being all hob-knobby with all the VIP people. I was probably being more of an ass than I deserved to be. Can you blame me? Afterall, I was sitting right beside the table that was occupied by members of Metric, Billy Talent and Bedouin Soundclash! Could you imagine three cooler bands sitting together? So by the meer fact that I was sitting close to thmee, I thought I was cooler. I thought I was the shit.

I thought wrong.

As they got up to leave, I quickly introduced myself to Emily from Metric. Only it turns out it wasn’t Emily from Metric. It was just someone sitting at the table. I don’t embarrass easily, but let me tell you how mortified I was. I was m.o.r.t.i.f.i.e.d. All night long I thought I was watching Emily Haines party it up, turns it out it was just a very lovely lady who happened to look like Emily.
She said she had gotten it before, but that is no excuse.

I don’t even think I’ll be able to get to bed after this one. This is like the time I threw up on a certain airlines passengers. Twice.

No more being an ass. No more hob-knobbing. I am on a canadian-celebrity detox. At least until I can correctly identify canadian celebrities.

Bad Blogger, Bad!

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Back on the grounds and I will updating about different stuff going on on the grounds today. I’m expecting a smaller crowd today because Pearl Jam isn’t playing, but should still be fun.

2:34pm I know a lot of people just got their tickets for PJ, so Sunday tickets are on sale all over the place.

Here is my favorite ad currently on Craigslist:

“I offer one ticket for Virgin Fest on Sunday (Calgary) in exchange for 1 coffee from Caffe Artigiano. Pick up only in Eau Claire (2 blocks from Caffe Artigiano). Email: vicgalla@hotmail.com Email if interested and leave a phone number. I know Billy talent is worth a 7-Eleven or a McDonald’s cup of coffee, but Metric is decent. “

2:45pm The recycle depot had one person bring in 500 bottles last night and got a free virgin phone. They are expecting two more today. I’m surprised there aren’t more, there are cans and bottles EVERYWHERE.

2:50pm Just talked to concert-goer Hussain, who was one of the crowd-surfers from last night. He said he is surprised there isn’t free water for everyone and I sorta have to agree. Water is at a premium on the hill today.

2:53pm It is a LOT hotter here today than yesterday. Looks like there might a storm or two in the air.

3:00pm Social Code is just wrapping their set. They’ve play at least three covers, seems like an odd thing to do when you have the Virgin Stage to yourself….

3:17pm I just went and checked out this really cool mural project. It’s being completed by Tommy Matejka and it’s a traveling piece of work. He is actually going around with VirginFest all across canada and works on it more and more at each stop.

3:35pm Autograph times. Michael Bernard Fitzgerald 4:30, White Lies 5pm, Tokyo Police Club 6:30pm, Shout Out Out Out 8:30pm

3:43pm Waiting for the White Lies to start. The buzz around these guys is insane!

4:00pm Apparently the White Lies are not the Killers. Could have fooled me.

4:05pm Michael Bernard Fitzgerald is easily pulling the biggest crowd at the secondary CJAY crowd. It’s a shame that that stage is a beer garden, because there are about 100 teenagers forced to watch from a far.

5:35pm. I am a bad blogger. I abandoned the blog and twitter to sit and enjoy Tokyo Police Club. That is the first time I have abandoned the blog in three years. New fan alert.

5:44pm: Taking precaustions with the looming raining clouds. The remaining two acts, metric and billy talent have been moved by 15 minutes.

8:00pm A couple of minutes late and Billy Talent takes the stage. A completely different crowd than for Pearl Jam. Luckily a little more subdued.

8:05pm I once served the members of Billy Talent Lobsters and made them wear bibs. Ahh part-time jbos.

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ToThis weekend Calgary is finally playing host to the much rumored VirginFest. Some of the acts this weekend include Metric, Wintersleep, K-OS Thunderheist and a little band called Pearl Jam!

3:40pm. Combined these two people have seen Pearl Jam 35 times.

7:19pm The progression of the Bacardi Lite Brite.
7:22pm The crowd is building and getting pumped. I’m heading to the VIP section.

8:00pm Pearl Jam has taken the stage (on time!) and the audience is going nuts. I am happy to be far, far away from the first few rows.
8:30pm Eddie Vedder keeps stopping to make sure the audience is safe. I don’t know if I can say that he is a sweet man. But yeah, he is is a sweet man.

….the next morning.

12:27pm (Sunday). The problem with Live Blogging an amazing festival is that at some point, you want to put the computer down and just enjoy yourself. So that’s what I did. Of course the drink tickets I found on the ground helped, but I was having a great time anyway.

I’m hearing a lot of positive things from the Virgin Fest grounds the morning after. People seemed to have a really great time. I did hear however the the shuttles home were a nightmare and so was walking up a hill that was used for winter olympics to get to the parking lot.

Part two
of the festival is today. I’m not expecting the same crowds as yesterday. Call me crazy but I don’t think Billy Talent and Metric have the same pull as Pearl Jam! Which I have learned you always have to type with an exclamation point.

If this blog wasn’t enough, here are some reviews of the first day of the Festival. One from Lisa Wilton from the Calgary Sun and another from Heath McCoy from the Calgary Herald.

Are you ready to do it all again? Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate.

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I’m getting more and more excited for my very first VirginFest. By all accounts it’s going to be a pretty cool time and I’m not just talking about the bands and acts on stage.

>Only four more sleeps until Virgin Music Fest is here in Calgary!

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Have you seen the line up for VirginFest Calgary?!

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The VirginFest line up was JUST announced.