While I was in Europe, the lineup for the Virgin Festival at Pimlico was announced and, while it's not exactly a slam dunk, it's still pretty good and strong enough not to make me regret not ponying up for a flight to Chicago for Lollapalooza. Of course, it doesn't hurt that many of the bigger bands on the lineup are playing both festivals.

Here's how the lineup shakes out:

Day 1

Amy Winehouse / Beastie Boys / Ben Harper / Booka Shade / Cheap Trick / Danny Tenaglia / Sasha & John Digweed / Felix Da Housecat / Fiction Plane / Fountains Of Wayne / The Fratellis / Incubus / LCD Soundsystem / Miguel Migs (Petalpusher) / Modest Mouse / Paolo Nutini / Peter Bjorn And John / The Police / Sander Van Doorn / Shout Out Out Out / TV On The Radio

Day 2

311 / Bad Brains / The Crystal Method (DJ Set) / CSS / Deep Dish (Dubfire and Sharam) / Dieselboy & Andy C / Girl Talk / Infected Mushroom / Interpol / James Zabiela / M.I.A. / Matisyahu / Regina Spektor / Smashing Pumpkins / Spoon / Velvet Revolver / Wu Tang Clan / Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Chris Cornell was originally announced as part of the lineup but has since decided to pass. Accordingly, chatter on the 9:30 message board says there are still a few more bands to announce.

Overall, the lineups for the festival circuit in general is kinda lacking this year. Lolla is meh, same for Pitchfork. I can't ever see me going to Bonnarroo, no matter how great the lineup is, because leaf doesn't do camping. I'd have to say the best festival lineup of the year has to be the newly announced Austin City Limits which has somehow booked all of the available heavy hitters in one place.