When: September 23, 2006

Where: Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.

What: Inaugural Stateside Virgin Festival

A spin off of Britain's massively successful super-concert, the first stateside Virgin Festival featured a blockbuster lineup of 14 bands and five DJs performing in three different areas; artists with diverse styles such as The Who shared the bill with dance-rock band Scissor Sisters, Brit-style new wave American band the Killers, and the hip hop/soul duo Gnarls Barkley, of the big summer hit “Crazy”, dressed up as Roman gladiators. Unsurprisingly, it was The Who that brought the house down, outrocking, outstrutting and outperforming their younger counterparts.

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Virgin added a little first-class treatment to the experience providing inflatable red couches and cell-phone shaped rafts for concertgoers to lounge on during the show, while also offering up the Freaklounge, a brightly-decorated tent where people could sit at cocktail tables to check out burlesque dances and other off the beaten path performances by acts like The Merry Milk Maids.

“It was a great event, though highly restrictive as far as photography was concerned, so these are all handheld (and beer-fueled) - take them in accordingly,” says photographer Frenyo.

Visit Frenyo’s website for more panos of V-Fest .
Email Andras Frenyo: Andras[at]howdido[dot]com