Below is the second part of our Virginfest coverage. Read Part 1 HERE.

Day two came along. I was feeling sick the next morning (unfortunately it had nothing to do with a hangover, I had a cold), so we showed up a bit later. It was imperative I see Spoon, so we got there right around 2. I passed the enormous amount of people watching the Matisyahu set. He sounded good, but what blew me away was that he had the largest crowd of people I’d seen at the South Stage. The hassid sure knows how to draw.

We eventually found ourselves in front of Spoon. My expectations were low, since their recorded songs never seemed to lend themselves to live awesomeness. Regardless, they surprised me with a good show - - not great, but good. The crowd was relatively scarce, and a lot of people seemed to be waiting for “The Way We Get By” - - which wasn’t played. That didn’t bother me so much, although I was surprised by how few songs I recognized considering I have three of their six albums and listen to them religiously. They also "overjammed" their mediocre tunes while neglecting their more catchy ones, but nevertheless, the Texan foursome on stage put on an entertaining set.

After that, we were on our way over to see Explosions in the Sky, but got distracted by the various attractions. We headed over to the Dance Tent, and caught the last half of James Zabiela. With the unique distinction of being the happiest DJ I’d ever seen, he had a really kinetic show and really seemed to be busting his hump up there. I’m not really a techno connoisseur, but the music sounded good and everyone was having a good time. Part of that may have been on account of the reefer being passed around. Unfortunately I took the time in between sets to get some beer, so I lost my prime spot as the tent got crowded for Infected Mushroom, a band who I was looking forward to seeing. The Israeli trance band did some really cool stuff and the tent seemed to move from the vigorous and lively dancing of the crowd. To my surprise, the popular Matisyahu joined them on stage for a bit and was spitting out rhymes and beats far faster and intense than the laidback reggae rap he’d been performing earlier in the day. There wasn’t much collaboration going on during the festival so it was refreshing to see this.

I missed then end of the Infected Mushroom set to go catch a view of Bad Brains, who delivered their brand of punk expertly and electrified the crowd with their presence. I caught the end of their set as everyone piled in for Wu Tang. They were a little more than ten minutes late to the stage and experienced technical difficulties for a good part of the set. The sound set-up didn’t really seem to fit them - - Method Man wasn’t loud enough and GZA’s mic was completely turned off during a song that featured him doing the lead rap. Not only was I disappointed by the performance, I was also upset that everyone around me was incredibly excited for Wu Tang, but didn’t seem to be familiar with any of their songs. I traveled away for a bit to see The Crystal Method spinning all their hits and had a great time watching them from the back of the tent. However, I left that early to go catch Velvet Revolver.

Again, I had to miss a band I was excited about (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), but Velvet Revolver did put on a magnificent show. From hearing their cd, I thought they were a bit overrated and riding the coat tails of Guns ‘N Roses/ Stone Temple Pilots fame. However, after catching them live, I really understood that these pros could rock with the best of them. Despite still feeling sick, I danced with everyone in the rain and cheered mercilessly as they jumped into STP classic “Vaseline”. Scott Weiland and Slash both had the same respective iconic stage presences that they’d maintained for years and worked well together onstage.

Finally, it was time for the big question that had been on everyone’s lips since the day before: “Pumpkins or 311?” I somehow had never managed to see either, but had enjoyed the Zwan show I went to a few years back and was aware of 311’s legendary (“legendary” in the circle of people who might like 311 of course) performances. Smashing Pumpkins started first, so I decided to start with them, and ended up having trouble pulling myself away. I’ve never really said this about a musical concert before, but their light show was perfectly orchestrated and their metallic set design and prominently black and white costumes really set the tone for the type of show we’d see. Billy Corgan had his nerdy charm shine through between songs with his angsty hard rock persona seeming to cut through the air during each song. Timeless alternative songs like “Today” and “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” energized people halfway across the 140 acre field and softer ballads like “Tonight, Tonight” and “1979” were played with an atypical energy for their genre. Despite the lack of my favorite song “Cherub Rock” or an encore, The Smashing Pumpkins lit up the stage. Ginger Reyes was almost indistinguishable from D’arcy Wretzky and Jeff Schroeder seemed to be blanketed in darkness for most of the show so maybe some people would believe he was actually James Iha. Either way, this was my favorite show of the festival and not even in the top 5 of my “must see bands."

All in all, I’m incredibly happy I decided to attend this year’s Virginfest and recommend it for all ages and backgrounds. Hippies, hipsters, punks, and jocks all found something they could relish there and from what I could observe people enjoyed all the extras that made it a real “festival” as opposed to just a “music festival”. I saw everything from fire eaters to luchador wrestlers to modern art sculptures to people dressed like plants with legs to people on stilts and even a bunch of Swiss Miss girls jumping rope with volunteers. There were places set up to play Guitar Hero II, get a free massage, skate around on a halfpipe, do some graffiti, check out an art gallery, get tattoos, and of course there were plenty of tents for buying stuff including a makeshift Virgin Store. And I’ve just been informed that they were using Pimlico as an OTB site, so I could have even made some bets if I realized. And I happened to see some great bands including multiple once in a lifetime concert opportunities. I think I’ve found a concert mecca I can return to year after year and I recommend it to anyone that wants to have a good time.