Hi all, Jen here reporting from the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore. So far, on day one of two, we’ve been blessed with beautiful weather and I have the sunburn to prove it. The festival this year has gone entirely green with all cups at the concession stands made from corn (though that too has its environmental side effects) and recycling bins littered across the field. The layout of the grounds are easy enough to navigate but if you are particularly lazy, they have a VIP ticket selection that gets you free rides on a perimeter shuttle. The food at the stands is surprisingly above par, my lime grilled shrimp quesadilla was particularly filling and enjoyable for $10, and widely varied from the all American hot dog stand to falafel.

Most all of the performances I saw today were outstanding. I was with two other people today and their favourite acts varied widely – Duffy and Wilco. My own choice for the day is Gogol Bordello (with KT Tunstall coming in a close second). They were the one act of the festival that I felt cheated out of not seeing a full marathon set of. When they began the song ‘Start Wearing Purple’, I didn’t realise I was jumping up and down with the crowd until a few moments after I began. And even though I wouldn’t normally go see an Offspring or Foo Fighters concert, their energetic performances showed me why one would. I even ventured into the Dance Tent to catch Soulwax and I was floored at how happy they looked, everyone on stage did.