Nirvana: Cass's Top Ten List From the Virgin Mobile Festival
If you can’t say something nice, you’re one hell of a blogger. Sage advice from our dear Tiresias…and right she is. Yes, I, Cass spend 90% of my time here at Hobos Inc. bitching about something. However, today is different. Today, I don’t care that my ankles are riddled with bug bites or that I have an unpaid traffic violation ticket in my purse because the site the ticket sends you to isn’t functioning properly; nor do I care that I saw a mouse dart by my neighbor’s door and squeeze into a very small hole in the wall. Today I don’t care that I’m exhausted from driving about eight hours on Saturday or that my throat hurts from lack of sleep. Nope, today is different, because the Virgin Mobile Festival was worth it. Worth it all and then some.
Sure Pimlico Race Track was crazytown. It was packed with pimple-faced kids and beer sloshing frat boys and poorly mannered youth who step on your blanket and don’t even pause to apologize. The burlesque show was the farthest thing from erotic; the food signs advertising veggie wraps and tofu felt obnoxiously yuppie. And yet, these are little blips on the larger screen of live music nirvana I achieved Saturday evening. And so, I present my top ten list from the Virgin Mobile Festival:
10) Decently priced and good parking – I’ve been raked over the coals many, many times; a la you know those events where it’s $60 for a ticket and then another $30 to park and then another $10 for a beer? Maybe I’ve been living in New York too long, but this event seemed different, almost fair. Some people were bitching about the $112 ticket (when you tack all of Ticketmaster’s fees onto the $95), but given the number of bands, the smorgasbord of talent, and the lengthy timetable, this was well worth the cash. We parked for free on a grassy incline not far from the gates that offered us an easy out to Routes 695 and 95.
9) Helpful staff who understand that port-a-potties are sick and offensive when you reach a certain age, are stone cold sober, and a woman. The gentlemen guarding the walkways to the indoor Grandstands area were nice enough to allow us and heck, even direct us to the indoor restrooms. Nothing beats a real toilet seat, a urine free floor, sinks and soap, and being spared the vision of an endless sea of blue-tinted waste.
8) Yes, the crowd was kind of rough-looking (particularly when you’re sober) and I, as a rule, am not a big fan of PDA, but I was enthralled watching this shirtless guy and girl doing a modern, sexy, gymnastics-laden version of the tango. And somehow it all worked! They were having a blast (unaware of anyone else around them); we drooled, and I (I, Cass) actually thought, ‘ah they’re cute’. Maybe I was contact high?
7) I like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but have never loved them. And yet seeing Flea in his PJs and listening to the yes overplayed, heavily-touted “Scar Tissue” live seemed like the kind of moment festival lore is made of.
6) WINE! A number of refreshment tents were fully functional bars…nothing like sipping some chardonnay while you’re swinging to Thievery Corporation.
5) The crowd-rousing commentary and sideshow and music of Gnarls Barkley
4) An all-day DJ rave in a separate tent. I finally made it here at about seven in the evening, and aside from the fact that it absolutely reeked, the music seemed fresh. Maybe because I have a secret love for techno/rave music, but even the sweat-drenched, shirtless, ‘shrooming guy continuously doing the running man seemed cool.
3) Watching a towhead toddler in a sundress get down to the music and theatrics of the Scissor Sisters. (My friends and I barely noticed that the toddler’s mom was wearing a figure skating costume (a la Tonya Harding) over her jeans, barely.)
2) The Killers LIVE
1) Stretching out on a soft blanket on the ground (with enough room to flex your bare feet) on an eighty-degree, rain-free day in September and being awakened by the sweet screech of Alec Ounsworth kicking things off for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
Sure Pimlico Race Track was crazytown. It was packed with pimple-faced kids and beer sloshing frat boys and poorly mannered youth who step on your blanket and don’t even pause to apologize. The burlesque show was the farthest thing from erotic; the food signs advertising veggie wraps and tofu felt obnoxiously yuppie. And yet, these are little blips on the larger screen of live music nirvana I achieved Saturday evening. And so, I present my top ten list from the Virgin Mobile Festival:
10) Decently priced and good parking – I’ve been raked over the coals many, many times; a la you know those events where it’s $60 for a ticket and then another $30 to park and then another $10 for a beer? Maybe I’ve been living in New York too long, but this event seemed different, almost fair. Some people were bitching about the $112 ticket (when you tack all of Ticketmaster’s fees onto the $95), but given the number of bands, the smorgasbord of talent, and the lengthy timetable, this was well worth the cash. We parked for free on a grassy incline not far from the gates that offered us an easy out to Routes 695 and 95.
9) Helpful staff who understand that port-a-potties are sick and offensive when you reach a certain age, are stone cold sober, and a woman. The gentlemen guarding the walkways to the indoor Grandstands area were nice enough to allow us and heck, even direct us to the indoor restrooms. Nothing beats a real toilet seat, a urine free floor, sinks and soap, and being spared the vision of an endless sea of blue-tinted waste.
8) Yes, the crowd was kind of rough-looking (particularly when you’re sober) and I, as a rule, am not a big fan of PDA, but I was enthralled watching this shirtless guy and girl doing a modern, sexy, gymnastics-laden version of the tango. And somehow it all worked! They were having a blast (unaware of anyone else around them); we drooled, and I (I, Cass) actually thought, ‘ah they’re cute’. Maybe I was contact high?
7) I like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but have never loved them. And yet seeing Flea in his PJs and listening to the yes overplayed, heavily-touted “Scar Tissue” live seemed like the kind of moment festival lore is made of.
6) WINE! A number of refreshment tents were fully functional bars…nothing like sipping some chardonnay while you’re swinging to Thievery Corporation.
5) The crowd-rousing commentary and sideshow and music of Gnarls Barkley
4) An all-day DJ rave in a separate tent. I finally made it here at about seven in the evening, and aside from the fact that it absolutely reeked, the music seemed fresh. Maybe because I have a secret love for techno/rave music, but even the sweat-drenched, shirtless, ‘shrooming guy continuously doing the running man seemed cool.
3) Watching a towhead toddler in a sundress get down to the music and theatrics of the Scissor Sisters. (My friends and I barely noticed that the toddler’s mom was wearing a figure skating costume (a la Tonya Harding) over her jeans, barely.)
2) The Killers LIVE
1) Stretching out on a soft blanket on the ground (with enough room to flex your bare feet) on an eighty-degree, rain-free day in September and being awakened by the sweet screech of Alec Ounsworth kicking things off for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
posted by hobos in space @ 4:30 PM
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