Celebrities expected at Toronto's VFest

North America's first VFest — the festivalorganized by Virgin Mobile that has been huge in Britain for a decade — launched in Toronto on the weekend with a lineup of alternativebands that included Broken Social Scene and The Flaming Lips.

Thetwo-day Virgin Festival began on Saturday at Toronto Island Park.

The festival was dealt a major blow after its headliner, the British band Massive Attack, pulled out because of U.S. immigration visa problems. The band cancelled all its North American concerts but promised to make it up to fans.

Toronto's VFest was left without a star act, whereasthe VFestsin Britainhave attacted some of music's biggest names — this year, Radiohead and Morrissey — and when VFestmoves to Baltimore in two weeks, it willfeature the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Who and The Killers.

But the spokesman for VFest in Toronto, Andrew Bridge, said that only about 100 people out of an expected 50,000hadasked for refunds after Massive Attack dropped out.

"We think the benefits of adding Broken Social Scene outweigh any of the concerns we had about unfortunately losing Massive Attack," Bridge said.

OnSaturday, which wasrainy, the set included The Dears, Gnarls Barkley, Buck 65, The Hidden Cameras and Starsailor.

Toronto film fest stars may attend

It was rumoured that Virgin's chairman, Richard Branson, might attend on Sunday and organizers implied that movie stars in town for the Toronto International Film Festival might also appear.

Russell Crowe is said to be a big fan of The Raconteurs, who are playing Sunday, while Drew Barrymore's boyfriend is Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes, also playing Sunday.

Others on the Sunday bill include Sam Roberts Band, Wolfmother, K'Naan and The Diableros.