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Have Joan Jett news to report? Email us at jettfc@aol.com, and please include the source of the information so it can be validated. Live Review: Virgin FreeFest at Merriweather Post Pavilion from: expressnightout.com by Roxana Hadadi and Rudi Greenberg, Photo by Josh Sisk
Music festivals are generally plagued by blazing heat, clouds of dust and overpriced beer, and Saturday's Virgin FreeFest had it all. What it mercifully lacked were stinkbugs.
The smelly insects currently swarming the Washington area were, for the most part, absent from the festivities at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Perhaps the heady aroma of sweat and wacky tabacky kept them away. Huzzah!
The epic slate of bands at FreeFest was a test of endurance for concertgoers on festival overload, from early afternoon act Jimmy Eat World to midday chill wave band Neon Indian. But the fest really kicked into high gear after the sun began to drop, pitting its heavy-hitting headliners against one another and forcing some difficult decisions for attendees.
JOAN JETT by Kyle Gustafson for The Washington PostFirst there was JOAN JETT in the Pavilion at 4:30 p.m., delivering BLACKHEARTS-era tracks like "Backlash," "Crimson and Clover" and the crowd-pleasing "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." Jett, much like her cougar-in-arms Madonna, proved that age just means knowing how to rock harder: She pranced, she purred, she had the audience in the palm of her hand.
After Jett wrapped up, it was into the Dance Forest for electrofunk duo Chromeo, who drew a larger and larger crowd as Dave 1 and P-Thugg got the party started. By the time they launched into "Hot Mess," awkward dancing was in full force. Flailing limbs and non-ironic robot-ing continued through "Tenderoni," "Call Me Up," "Needy Girl" and "Bonafide Lovin,'" and the hazy steam rising off bros and indie kids alike got darker and darker as a sea of feet kicked up the dust below.
The cloud of smoke (of some kind) hovering over Ludacris's set on the West Stage was inescapable. The crowd packed both lawns to watch Luda rip through older tracks like "Ho" and "Cadillac Grills" while also peppering in his verses from Fergie's "Glamorous" and Taio Cruz's summer smash "Break Your Heart."
As much as girls dipped it low during Luda's set, nothing came close to the energy level at Sleigh Bells' 30-minute set in the Dance Forest, where fans crowd-surfed during Derek Miller's and Alexis Krauss's 10-track performance. Surprisingly, it seemed that the same people head-banging during Sleigh Bells couldn't be bothered to wait around for M.I.A., who signed the pair to her N.E.E.T. record label.
The Sri Lankan rapper appeared 20 minutes after her 9 p.m. start time, opened with little-known songs like "Illygirl" and pissed off Maryland and Virginia residents by continuing to refer to the crowd as "D.C." But "World Town," "Bamboo Banger" and "XR2" were thrilling, and the kids went nuts when she invited people onstage during "Born Free." But by the time M.I.A. got around to closer "Paper Planes," her crowd had dwindled significantly, moving on to something else. Freedom of choice is kind of M.I.A.'s message, but on Saturday, it didn't help her case.
Music festivals are generally plagued by blazing heat, clouds of dust and overpriced beer, and Saturday's Virgin FreeFest had it all. What it mercifully lacked were stinkbugs.