Pearl Jam to headline Calgary Virgin Festival
Last Updated: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 | 5:48 PM ET
CBC News
Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam is shown performing in New York in 2006. Pearl Jam will be in Calgary for the Virgin Festival. (Jason DeCrow/Associated Press) The band Pearl Jam will headline Alberta's 2009 Virgin Festival, with Billy Talent to take the stage on the second night.
Virgin Festival organizers announced the details of the extravaganza, scheduled for the Aug. 8-9 weekend, on Tuesday.
The outdoor event will be held at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.
Pearl Jam, the Seattle alt-rock band considered one of the most influential bands of the 1990s, will be joined by a Canadian indie lineup. Among them are Toronto singer K-os; Arkells, out of Hamilton; Montreal-Toronto duo Thunderheist; Vancouver's Mother Mother; and Toronto's The Cliks.
Billy Talent, a band that emerged out of Toronto's indie scene, headlines the Sunday concert.
Canadian rockers Metric and Tokyo Police Club will also take to the stage, along with British alternative band White Lies and Edmonton's Shout Out Out Out Out.
It will be Calgary's second Virgin Festival. The series of festivals, held in Canada, the U.S. and Britain, were the idea of Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson and are a big event in the British summer music scene.
The first Canadian Virgin Festival was in Toronto in 2006, and this year Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver are also hosting events.
