Not since Lollapalooza’s ’90s heyday has a travelling music show boasted as high a hip quotient as the Virgin Festival. And while last year’s inaugural Toronto edition was not without its glitches—headliners the Flaming Lips were cut off after four songs when their set went past curfew—the second promises to be a grand affair. As thousands of fans take to the island ferries for two full days with some of modern music’s most revered performers, it’s hard to know where to look. Here, a helpful breakdown of six big draws and all the details that matter.

Smashing Pumpkins
Hometown: Chicago
Sound: Heavy but sleek alterna-rock
Sartorial style: Clockwork Orange droogs as drawn by Edward Gorey
Pitchfork.com rating: 4.9 out of 10 (for Zeitgeist)
Hip quotient: Low. Any nostalgia generated during the band’s seven-year hiatus was obliterated by the 2004 publication of singer Billy Corgan’s poetry book.

Interpol
Hometown: New York
Sound: Melancholy but strident guitar rock like the kind Brits made in the ’80s
Sartorial style: Snazzy vintage finds and bespoke threads—the antithesis of the usual indie scruffiness
Pitchfork.com rating: 6 out of 10 (for Our Love to Admire)
Hip quotient: Medium. The band’s moody sound has lost some of its freshness, but those suits add a certain flair.

M.I.A.
Hometown: London
Sound: Alternately exuberant and abrasive mix of electronica, hip hop, funk and dancehall
Sartorial style: Oft seen in army pants and shiny tops
Pitchfork.com rating: 8.6 out of 10 (for Arular)
Hip quotient: High. Her references to her Sri Lankan father—for whom her debut album is named—and his past as a Tamil militant lend her camo cred.

Tokyo Police Club
Hometown: Newmarket
Sound: Spiky, hectic pop-rock played with all the vitality you’d hope to hear from guys just out of their teens
Sartorial style: The usual indie scruffiness
Pitchfork.com rating: 7.9 out of 10 (for A Lesson in Crime)
Hip quotient: High. Though only two years old and still without a full-length disc, this local band has made fast work of wooing fans internationally.

Björk
Hometown: Reykjavik
Sound: Genre-busting, gleefully odd dance-pop, topped by inimitable vocals
Sartorial style: Cured of that swan dress fetish, she now favours coloured face paint and giant robes with streamers
Pitchfork.com rating: 5.8 out of 10 (for Volta)
Hip quotient: High. The unevenness of her latest songs detracts only slightly from her sterling rep as a maverick.

The Killers
Hometown: Las Vegas
Sound: Arena-sized rock equally indebted to U2, Bruce Springsteen and Duran Duran
Sartorial style: Suits like Interpol’s, though singer Brandon Flowers recently stepped it up with a gold lamé version
Pitchfork.com rating: 5.9 out of 10 (for Sam’s Town)
Hip quotient: Low. The glittery clothes can’t entirely disguise their paucity of ideas.