Toronto Music Scene

By: TJ Liebgott
September 12, 2008

Sunday at Virgin Festival promised us the U.K invasion with headliners The Stereophonics, Paul Weller and Oasis. However, Oasis may have wanted to bring some reinforcements to ward of the attack of Noel Gallagher.  Here are some of the better bands we saw on Sunday.

Spiral Beach
Toronto indie rockers Spiral Beach entertained the crowds that arrived early at Virgin Festival with their garage meets pop with a hint of surf sound.  It was clear that this band is used to playing small venues since they made minimal use of the stage and only wandered five feet in any given direction.  Think of these guys as The Guest Bedroom on steroids in Paris.  Songs like “Made of Stone” really set the tone for the rest of the day.

Opopo
If a rock band took too much Ecstasy and thought they where at an all night rave instead of band practice you would have Toronto band Opopo.  Take a standard rock band and add some synths, drum loops and even a Kaoss Pad and you still have a limited idea of what these guys are about.  You really have to see this band live to understand their genius/insanity.

The Weakerthans
Winnipeg based The Weakerthans have a sound that seems to captivate everything that is Canadian.  Songs like “Tournament of Hearts” and “Aside” are perfect for a road trip along the Trans-Canada highway.  The Weakerthans had one of the louder applauses of the day when they came out to play and its easy to see why since they rocked the main stage for the next half hour.

Oasis
Rock N' Roll drama queens Oasis played a set as legendary as the band itself.  Nothing seemed to be able to stop these guys, including Daniel Sullivan who got his 15 minutes of fame for attacking Noel Gallagher.  Oasis is notorious for over reacting to any situation and walking off stage, but in this case they toughed it out and returned to the stage 20 minutes later to finish their epic set.  Sometimes in life, even rock stars can surprise you.

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