Toronto is losing its claim to the popular outdoor summer music jam, Virgin Fest.
Festival organizers announced today that the yearly party on Centre Island will be moved to a place just outside of Orillia, Ontario called Burl’s Creek Park. V Fest wouldn’t explain the reasoning for the location switch, offering only that the new space provides a space upgrade and more room for “music fans with a passion for camping.”
This could be interpreted as the latest victim of the ongoing city workers strike, with city-run ferries currently floating idle and the logistical nightmare of transporting fans to and from if, for some horrible God-forsaken reason, the strike is still going by August 29 and 30, this year’s dates. However rumours of the location switch were circulating back in April, so that would have to mean V Fest has some great foresight.
V Fest press agent Erica Faltous told NOW the decision to move was independent of the strike and based more on offering camping this year.
This is the second island-slated music concert to get scrapped or moved to a new location.
Broken Social Scene’s Olympic Island love-in was cancelled in May, citing the noisy Indy Toronto as the reason. Now V Fest is leaving the island and leaving Toronto music fans with the dilemma of whether driving the hour-plus to Barrie and getting your camp on is worth the effort. Not to mention the added expense – $135 for camping on top of a $99 festival ticket.
Making that decision will probably depend on how attractive you find the lineup:
Saturday August 29th
Ben Harper & Relentless 7
The Pixies
Franz Ferdinand
Paolo Nutini
Grizzly Bear
Mates of State
Sloan
Lights
Plants and Animals
Iglu & Hartley
Sunday August 30th
Nine Inch Nails
Pet Shop Boys
Our Lady Peace
Cold War Kids
Mute Math
Mew
Thunderheist
Von Bondies
Lights
Datarock
Hypercrush
Coeur de Pirate
Trouble Andrew
D’Ubervilles
The big news is Nine Inch Nails and how it’s the supposed a last hurrah for Trent Reznor, dubbing the just-announced handful of dates the Wave Goodbye Tour. It should be noted that NIN recently played Toronto on a co-headlining bill with Jane’s Addiction, but Reznor says he doesn’t want to go out like that because set times were limited and he didn’t dig playing in the daylight.
Maybe NIN is going on hiatus but does anybody in their right mind believe Trent Reznor is walking away from music? They always come back, just like the Pixies who are also scheduled for the first night just under headliner Ben Harper & Relentless7. Some will groan at Harper’s lofty placement in the lineup, but take into account that people who like camping also like Ben Harper. If you need proof check Bonnaroo sometime, a hugely successful outdoor fest that V folks are obviously taking notes from.
It hurts to know there will be no music played on the island this summer. There’s been some great memories out there from over the years, Flaming Lips fiasco, pre-career-explosion MIA, bizarre Bjork and Oasis under attack, just to name a few. No matter what you thought of the lineups, it was still a fun party in a picturesque setting. Toronto just can’t catch a break this summer.
