So, hubby and I went to Calgary all by ourselves this weekend to see VirginFest. Contrary to popular jokes made by cheesey radio announcers, I did not go to get my virginity back, neither did I go to relieve the time I lost it-that wasn’t a fun time for anyone involved, reliving it is not my idea of fun! 
The ride down was long and boring without the kids chattering away in the backseat. There was quite the storm that swept through Red Deer right before we arrived there, the power was out in Gasoline Alley (it’s a massive rest stop area with gas stations, fast-food places and family-style restaurants). It’s where I always go pee, and well I was full! So, we headed onto Innisfail, and proceeded to stop at the dirtiest McDonald’s I have ever been in. No word of a lie, I have been in bathrooms in gas stations where the bathroom door is outside the station that have been cleaner than this. The guy working there was a sight too. I don’t know if he truly did not care that much, or if he was stoned, or just plain ol dumb, but he was slower than molasses and got all his orders wrong-I witnessed about five in the time to get my milkshake and burger. Now I remember why it had been years since I stepped foot into a McDs.
Anyway, back to the point. Saturday came along and we decided to take our time getting to the concert. Hubby however conveniently forgot that I wanted to see one of the early bands, and we were too late for Carolina Liar, which I was disappointed about. We walked around the area a bit, people watched and checked out the entertainment on the TD stage. We caught Hey Ocean, a band from BC that were pretty good. We headed back over to the mainstage for Stone Temple Pilots, and caught the last of the Flaming Lips set. Can’t say that I was too impressed, they did a good show but I’m not a fan. One thing that happened during their set was that they played a cover of a Led Zeppelin tune (can’t remember which one, sorry!) and when they introduced it, the lead singer mentioned something about ‘naked people’ so sure enough, 2 topless women got onstage, and one totally naked chick! They danced around, I don’t think it was set up, the band seemed pretty surprised. The audience didn’t seem too impressed, not much of a reaction from the audience either way. Here’s a pic of the screen (we rarely got close enough to see much of the stage):
Then came STP. They were amazing, as expected! Scot Weiland’s voice was a bit raspy, but he put on an amazing show. He, along with Gord Downie is one of those guys who just loves to be on stage. He loves the music, but he loves to perform too, and that shows. Hubby was thrilled, he’s been waiting a long time to see STP live, and had given up on seeing them once they broke up a couple of years ago. Here’s a pic from their show:
Day two:
Sunday we woke up and it was raining! A lot! Thankfully it blew off by lunchtime, and we were left with another perfect outdoor concert day. Sunny, with a few clouds, and a little bit of a breeze-just like Saturday!
I had a list of acts that I wanted to see on Sunday, starting with the Stars, and ending with The Hip, so we headed to the concert a bit earlier. We did the park and ride thing, and took the c-train. So nice not to have to worry about parking!
The Stars were great, a nice slightly mellow way to start the day. We took an old blanket and relaxed pretty close to the stage for the first little bit. Next came City and Color, and just like I had hoped, Gord Downie from the Hip came out to sing ‘Sleeping Sickness’ with the band. Dallas Green said that it was the first time that they had performed it live together, and it sounded great! Gord Downie also made an appearance with The Constantines earlier in the day, but I missed that. City and Color were great, they sounded amazing. Usually I find their songs a bit too mellow when I’m listening to the radio, but Dallas Green just poured his whole self into the live act, and it really captivated me!
Next came Matt Good, which is a great show too. I saw him live a few years ago, and it was good then too, but it was different this time. For one, I was sober this time, and I think so was he! LOL! He has also gone through a lot of big changes in the past few years. He rocked it with a good mix of his old and new stuff, and the audience was quite receptive!
Then the Hip. Ahh, the Hip. One of those big Canadian bands that never quite made it internationally, but will keep drawing the audience in year after year while touring Canada. They are one of those bands that I could see over and over again, I’m on time #3 now. They are consistently a great sounding live act. Gord Downie loves the theatrics, non-fans just google the song ‘New Orleans is Sinking-Killer Whale Version’ if you want an idea of what I mean. He kind of goes on and on though. If he would cut out about 20 minutes of the theatrics from the show it would be much better. You wouldn’t have those long lulls without singing, and the hard-core fans would still get their unique Gord Downie experience. Here’s a pic:
So, all in all it was a great weekend. The crowd was pretty mellow, no fights or anything that we saw. I was pretty pissed off during the Hip show though, hubby and I got closer than usual to the stage and there were people coming and going, pushing through, stepping on my feet, etc. I hate that. Just stay still and listen to the music! Lineups were atrocious, but they went pretty quickly. The beer tent lineups were the worst, but I’m not a big drinker during concerts, especially outdoor ones so I didn’t mind that I didn’t get a beer. Potties were plentiful, but quickly became gross-that’s to be expected, there were over 35, 000 tickets sold for the two days!
I didn’t like that we couldn’t leave once we came in. It would have been nice to see the earlier bands, then leave for something to eat, then be able to come back. I understand the reasoning around it though. It’s much easier for security to have the ‘once you leave, you don’t come back’ rule. I also didn’t like how much junk there was floating around. Lots of flyers, free keychains, drink mugs, re-usable shopping bags (I got 2 for you Jane!) that got used as tank tops, that sort of thing. For a music festival that tries to be environmentally friendly, there was a lot of junk being handed out. Junk that ended up on the ground by the end of the night. The 2 screens on either side of the mainstage were great to see the bands with, but they had a thing where you could text messages to a number, and the messages would go onscreen. Kind of annoying after a while. They also didn’t show what was happening onstage between songs, which sucked too.
All in all though, it was a really good weekend, and my complaints were minor. Certainly not enough to keep me from going again if I ever had the chance!
Here’s my last pic from the weekend, one of the line-ups for port-a-potties LOL!!!:
