Got back early this morning from the first ever Pemberton Music Festival. It was a solid 3 days of fantastic music, traffic jams, dust storms, and peculiar weather. All in all though one fantastic weekend. As with the “first” of most things, this festival was not without problems. The major issue of course being the anticipated traffic issues, and the what should have been foreseen issue of the shuttle buses.

So I will give my two cents on the major issues Pemberton faced, and maybe a solution or two on how they could have done things better.

The Bad

Parking off site and shuttle to festival grounds: This was in my eyes the greatest blunder they did. I realize it was likely done as they likely didn’t have enough room on the festival grounds to handle both tents and cars. If they were to keep the external parking and shuttle system they need to make some serious changes. The first major issue with their current setup was that the parking area (the airport) was in a location that only had a single access road. What this means is that both the shuttles, and all incoming vehicles use the same access road into the parking area. Thus when traffic into the parking area increases, the frequency of shuttles decreases due to increased traffic. This in turns increases the number of people waiting in the parking lot for a shuttle, which in turn slows down the number of vehicles entering the parking area, which essentially creates one hell of a nightmare.

The smarter thing to do would have been to pick a parking site that would have two access roads. One which the festival goers could take to and from the camping grounds, and a second access road dedicated purely to the shuttle buses to move between the parking lot and the festival grounds. This would have kept the shuttles moving smoothly, would have sped up the traffic moving to and from the parking area, and overall would have reduced the headache that everyone seemed to experience on their way into camp.

The next major issue with the shuttles was that everyone was putting their gear directly into the bus. This caused the buses to run about half full of people, and half full of gear. That is not a very optimized situation. If they wanted to optimize the seat space in the shuttles they could have had them all pull a trailer behind the bus used for all the luggage people had, while keeping the bus for what it should be used for; transporting people. The other solution would have been to have flatbed trucks to transport peoples luggage (which could be tagged) then have people collect their luggage on arrival to the festival grounds.

Lastly I think the final problem with their setup (at least when we arrived) was that they were largely understaffed at the parking area and the staff that were there were very confused about what they were suppose to do. This caused a lot of chaos in the parking area, and turned things into a mess of every man for himself.

Traffic: While we didn’t have to compete too much with the traffic, it was an issue for a lot of people. 3+ hours drives from Whistler to Pemberton for a drive that normally takes 25 minutes is ridiculous. I think part of the reason for this was due to the poor organization of the parking facilities, but also due to the single lane roads. The parking issue can be fixed. Unfortunately unless the government is willing to twin the roads all the way to Pemberton there is not much one can do about the single lane traffic.

Dust: Having the festival on a farm that probably hadn’t been rained on in over a month caused for some extremely dry land. Add 40,000 people and you create one dusty hell. I know the organizers tried to mitigate the issue by spraying down the grounds with water, however that only last for a short time before the dusts starts to be kicked up again. It also didn’t help that they had motor vehicles driving all over the place further adding to the dusty hell that was experienced. For a first festival though there is not much more I think they could have done. For the future however, if they are serious about turning this festival into an annual event, and to re-invest into their festival grounds they should look into installing sod. I went to Coachella a year ago, and Bonnaroo this year. Both festivals in very hot and dry locations. Both festival sporting nice fields of sod. Both festivals were very much dust free. (or at least much less than we experienced in Pemberton).

Bathroom facilities: Probably could have been a few more toilets in the camping areas. Long waits, no toilet paper, and “full to the rim” toilets were some of the major complaints I think a lot of campers had. A few more toilets in the camping area, and more cleanup services and I think people would have been happy.

Bacardi Tent: The Bacardi B-Live tent (the tent were all the electronic acts were) was a closed tent, and sold alcohol and thus had to be run like a club. This meant that they had to have a maximum capacity on the tent (which was a very low 2,500 people), and also meant that it was virtually impossible to get into. If they restricted the sale of alcohol to a beer gardens near the tent, opened up the tent on 3 sides, it would have made the tent a lot more accessible for people, and given people who didn’t plan on spending the entire day in there a chance to see some of the acts.

Those were essentially my issues with the festival, and in no way are they unsolvable problems for next year.

The Good

Music: The music all weekend was fantastic. It was a excellent lineup, and most bands seemed generally happy to be there, and put on some great shows. The set times were for the most part on time, and there were plenty of viewing areas to catch the acts you wanted to see.

Camping: While the camping was a bit unorganized in terms of plots (again I think they were very understaffed and unorganized in terms of dealing with the number of people), the campsites were all extremely close to the festival grounds. They also had an in/out policy which meant you could always return to your camp for a drink, something to eat, or a quick nap. They were also very unstrict about what you brought too and from your camp, which meant that you could simply go back to your camp, mix yourself a drink, and return to the festival, saving yourself the pain of shelling out $7 for a beer or mixed drink.

Water Stations: There was a good number of clean drinking water stations that allowed you to fill up your water bottles. This was a cost saver, and a great way to keep people hydrated all weekend. These water stations also doubled as showers for campers. While the water was glacier cold, it sure felt good in the extreme heat.

Vibe: There was a lot of talk before the festivals that it could attract a very rowdy crowd, that would be intent of getting drunk, starting fights, and destroying stuff. While a lot of people were getting drunk, and I must say a very large number of douchebags, most people were really tame and just their to enjoy the music and have a good time. Having a crowd like this makes for an enjoyable weekend.

Friends: Having the festival so close to home meant having a lot of friends in attendance at the festival. As the saying goes, The More the Merrier.

The Music

For the most part I stuck to the main stage all weekend (along with everyone else it seemed). Here is the list of bands I caught this weekend, organized by day:

Day 1: Metric, Wolfmother, Serj Tankian, Interpol, NIN
Day 2: Sam Roberts Band, My Morning Jacket, The Tragically Hip, Black Mountain, The Flaming Lips, Tom Petty
Day 3: Inward Eye, Wintersleep, Death Cab For Cutie, Matisyahu, Jay-Z, Coldplay

I think my favorite acts all weekend were probably Metric, NIN, My Morning Jacket, Tom Petty and Wintersleep. Jay-Z was also highly entertaining.

I really have to say that Wintersleep put on one hell of a show. With borrowed equipment no less. They said that they had had all their equipment stolen a day or two before the festival so they had to borrow equipment from the other bands playing that day (unfortunately it meant Weighty Ghost was played on a wrongly tuned acoustic borrowed from Sam Roberts; I still enjoyed the song though!) . It didn’t seem to get them down however, as they seemed really happy to be there. Not only that they played probably the best set I have ever seen them play. They had a big crowd out for their show too, who knew their songs, and were not afraid to jump, clap or sing along. Their set was much heavier than the previous time I saw them (in London a few months ago), which for me made them sound that much better.

After having only caught a few songs of My Morning Jacket at Bonnaroo I made sure to get up front and catch the full set at Pemberton. While it was restricted to 45 minutes (they played over their limit at close to an hour), they played a really fantastic set. Touch Me Pt 2 was fantastic as ever, and Jimmy James was all over the place. He even dedicated a song to the lone moose, and lone grizzly bear that maybe wandering in the forests surrounding the festivals.

Tom Petty was also a blast. His set was non stop one hit after another, and the crowd ate it up. People were dancing and singing everywhere. Was really fun to see him play, and his stage setup was also pretty cool. The biggest complaint I heard about his set was that he didn’t play You Don’t Know How It Feels, however he spent the morning sound checking the song, so essentially we all got to hear it.

Finally NIN put in another solid show. I don’t know another band that is as consistently awesome live as NIN are. I guess it is the perfectionist in Reznor. Their stage setup for the show was similar to Sasquatch a few years ago where the bring down the gate in front of the stage and project pixelated images over top of the band. I think they have taken the visual to another level for this festival, as they were even more impressive than when I saw them at Sasquatch.

Conclusion

Pemberton was a really enjoyable weekend, and a really good start to what hopefully becomes an annual event. It wasn’t without problems, but like I outlined above, they are issues that could be easily fixed for next year. With that said I have to give the Pemberton Festival a thumbs up, and will gladly attend next year.

Here are the shows that I checked out on the Friday of Coachella:

Tokyo Police Club
Of Montreal
Arctic Monkeys
Peaches
Jarvis Cocker
Interpol
Sonic Youth
DJ Shadow

A few notes about the day. It all started with the Canadian group Tokyo Police Club. They put on a solid performance, and really got me excited for the weekend.

Next up was Of Montreal. I hadn’t listened to the new album yet, so I didn’t recognize almost any of the songs they played. I also didn’t realize how fruity this band was. I still find their music decent, and their stage antics entertaining, but yeah pretty fruity.

After Of Montreal I went and checked out the Arctic Monkeys. They stole the show last year at Sasquatch, and did a good job here at Coachella.

I had intended to see Jesus and Mary Chain after this, however I realized I really wasn’t a big fan, and was more in the mood for some cheap entertainment, so I made my way to check out Peaches! She was pretty much what I had expected her set to be like. What was great though was that her over offensiveness had left loads of people who had no idea who Peaches was fleeing the outdoor theater meaning me and Joe were able to weasel our way pretty close to the front of the stage by the time her set was over. Our plan was to then checkout Jarvis Cocker, who each of us knew nothing about.

Jarvis Cocker had great stage presence, and worked the crowd pretty well, however his music did absolutely nothing for me. By about his 5th song I was ready to head out, but wasn’t sure if Joe was into him or not so I thought I would give him one more song. Well it turns out Joe and me were on the same wavelength because by the end of the 5th song he looks at me and says, “Dude lets get out of here!”

So we headed back to the main stage to catch Interpol. Their set was nothing to write home about, and nothing too inspiring.

After Interpol we headed back to the outdoor theater to catch Sonic Youth. Since Sonic Youth opened for Pearl Jam last tour, I had seen them a good number of times live. However I really enjoyed their sets last year, and this year was no different. With what appeared to be the end of their set they faded off into distortion filled noise. As they are walking off the stage someone says something to Thurston. A minute later the band is back on the stage, and Thurston is telling the crowd, “Nobody tells me anything, I guess we are going to play another song for you…” as they kick into their last song of the evening.

Most people in our group were going to checkout Bjork to close out the Friday, but I was going to have none of that. I finished off my night at the outdoor tent to see DJ Shadow close out the night. It took him a while to get his equipment all setup, but as soon as he did he started right into it. His stage setup consisted of 4 elevated turntables, and a couple microphones. Looked pretty wild to be honest. I stuck it out for as long as I could but eventually I was too tired to watch anymore and started heading out toward the campground. As I did, DJ Shadow started to play my favorite show of his, Organ Donor. So I gave that a listen before breaking out. On my way out I picked up an Emek poster of the event which was a cheap $20. (this turned out to be a mistake by the merch booth as the next day the price was at $60.)

We all met back up at the tent, and compared notes on the day. Friday was the weakest of the 3 days, while Saturday appeared to be the most jammed pack. So we all headed to bed soon after in hopes of gaining a few hours sleep for Saturday.

Better late then never a little recap of all the little things that I thought were great, funny or otherwise memorable.

I went down to Sasquatch with Lester and Dean. As well Randall and his friend Steve were also going down in Steve’s car. So we all met up in Vancouver and drove down together and setup a pretty sweet camping spot.

Friday Highlights

Drinking $8.50 beers, and having Randall and Steve get locked into a beer garden that wouldn’t let them leave until they finished their beers. Randall passed his off to me (over the fence), and for the next 20 minutes the security guard stared at us.

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead

I really like these guys, I saw them at Richards a while back, and was curious to see how they would do in front of a big crowd. They didn’t disappoint and put on a good show, with the usual drum destruction antics at the end.

Steve gathering up all the Canadians in the crowd

TV on the Radio

I really enjoyed their set, they are pretty decent live, and very passionate.

HIM and Bauhaus.

HIM was a complete joke. Reminded me of Jack Black making fun of metal bands. Bauhaus, also wasn’t too impressive. Was fun making fun of them though.

NIN

To cap off the night NIN played an awesome set, no wait an amazing set. This was my second time seeing them, and it only gets better. Reznor is just so intense live.

That night we pounded back some beers then headed to sleep. It poured rain through the night. Several times. All in all though my tent stayed quite dry.

Saturday Highlights

In the early morning (say between 7-8am) I half asleep heard a vehicle pull in, and two guys talking, “yeah lets park here; perfect location, right by the road, and all these tents, plus look at all the Canadians park around here, perfect location.” Later after waking up I noticed it was two guys who parked their big ass van right behind us. They introduced themselves to us, and let us know that if there was ANY type of drug we needed they could provide for our needs.

Rogue Wave & Architecture in Helsinki

Anyway Saturday I started out by checking out Rogue Wave and Architecture in Helsinki. I really enjoyed Rogue Wave live. Architecture was good to see, they play lots of instruments, and kinda make you bounce, granted I can’t say I am overly fond of these guys. After Architecture I went back and caught the last song of Gomez. Made me wish I saw their set instead of Architecture.

Sufjan Stevens & Iron and Wine

Sufjan Stevens had a very Americana act (everyone dressed in stars and stripes and big uncle sams all over the place) and Iron and Wine. Watched both these sets from the grass, and was somewhat napping for both of them. After that I met up with Lester who was down in the pit.

Neko Case & the wrath of God & the Hip

We decided to head down to the pit for the next show, Neko Case. Up until this point of the day it had been sunny all morning and really really hot. I was glad to be in my short. However now some really black clouds were moving in and the wind was picking up. About 2 to 3 songs into Neko’s set the sky opened up and god poured out marble sized hail. Neko Case tried to play through it, until she realized it wasn’t going to quit and that she was getting hurt in the process. At one point she even said “OUCH” in the middle of the song. Soon after they shut down the stage and told everyone to hang tight and wait it out. This hailstorm lasted a good 30 minutes, covered the ground in white ice and pools of water, and pretty much sent everyone into hiding, looking for cover. When it finally stopped I found myself pretty wet, especially my shoes, they were soaked completely through. My top wasn’t too bad as I had a raincoat on, but my shorts were pretty soaked as well. Lester and me decided to walk back to the entrance and see if they would allow re-entrance due to this extreme weather. To our luck they did, so we headed back to camp and got a nice change of clothes and had some lunched. I did my best job of drying up my shoes, then made an insole of plastic bags to keep my socks dry. We headed back to the venue just as the Hip started into Grace Too. We got into the pit about 3 songs into the Hip’s set. They put on a good show, however it was quite rushed, it looked like everyones sets would be shortened for the day.

The Shins

I hadn’t really heard any of there stuff, except the one song or two on a movie here and there, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Not knowing what to expect or what their music was like they really blew me out of the water (or hail for that matter!); I was very pleasantly surprised.

Flaming Lips or Ben Harper?

Anyway after the Shins while they were setting up the stage everyone was cheering for the Flaming Lips. They were suppose to be up next, however right away I noticed the stage was being set for Ben Harper. They had both drum sets up, and the chair out front had Ben’s signature blanket on it. A few moments later it was announced, due to time constraints and Ben having to be in Vancouver the next day he would play next.

The Ben Harper set was probably the best set I have ever seen Ben play. Some highlights were Glory and Consequence, Morning Yearning, Black Rain, Pleasure and Pain, and a fantastic closing with Better Way.

Flaming Coldness!

Waited 1 hour for the Lips to setup the stage. Finally the started the show with Wayne in the bubble tromping all over the fans. Was fantastic. Sidestage he had aliens and Santa Claus’s battling with flashlights. Played an awesome cover of Bohemian Rhapsody. Eventually me and Dean were too fucking cold to hang out any longer and decided to head back to camp where some fat burgers and beer awaited us.

Sunday Highlights

Sunday saw the departure of the drug-o-van and the arrival of the frat girls with beer bong. This had bad written all over it.

After the ritualistic 4 beers for breakfast we head into the venue for the noon shows.

Pretty Girls Make Graves & Nada Surf

not very remember able.

Arctic Monkeys

Finally got to see what all the fuss was about. These kids (they are kids, really really young kids) can flat out rock. While there songs may not be full of depth, they can play pretty intense, and put on a good show.

The Decemberists

Having to follow the Arctic Monkeys must have been a bit tough, but they pulled it off. I actually wasn’t a big Decemberists fan coming into the show, deleted all their stuff I had a while back. This show just changed my mind on them. They were fantastic. At one point the lead singer actually got the entire pit to sit down on the ground after making all the band members fall down and become motionless. Great Show.

Matisyahu

God made a Rainbow appear for us during his set to let us know we wouldn’t drown, according to Matisyahu anyway.
Queens of the Stoneage

Caught most of this show, left nearing the last 2-3 songs to catch Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Queens were putting on a fantastic show though, really heavy, and rocking. They fucked up the lyrics on a couple songs (really badly during Burn the Witch), however I still really enjoyed their show, not to mention Josh calling the security guards gay. “Could you guys just pretend for a little while that your not gay and leave these guys in the pit alone?”

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

A lot of people at this show. I think it is called the Pitchfork effect. Anyway also according to Pitchfork these guess stink live. It didn’t show at Sasquatch though. I enjoyed their set, at least what I saw and heard of it. There was so many people there that I had to stand on a picnic bench in the eating area to catch a view. Also from where I stood the sound from Queens playing on the other stage was battling CYHSY. It was so bad at times that I could hear more of the Queens show then the CYHSY show. The lead singer’s voice for CYHSY continued to get more and more destroyed as the set went on and on. I think it is because he sings out of key. At the end he could barely speak when he was talking to the crowd; Lester thought he sounded like Aunt Selma from the Simpson! Ha

Death Cab for Cutie

Lead singer said it best when he said, “Playing after Queens of the Stone Age makes a band feel like a bunch of sissies”. Regardless they did their best to put on a ‘rocking’ show. I enjoyed it. Not a huge Death Cab fan, but another band that has impressed me with their live show.

Beck

Beck finished the night. Was awesome, one of the best shows of the weekend. He had full puppets of all the band members, showed a video he had made just that day about the gorge and the show. Played a wicked cover of Do You Realize, and all out rocked the show. Sadly he played a really short set at just over an hour, and two songs being videos and mascots. Regardless really good set, and I will definitely have to see a Beck show non festival.

Summary

Sasquatch was awesome, it rocked my ass off; lots of beer consumed, great bands were heard, all with some really great friends. So who is in for next year?

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah video:

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Video

Wayne in a bubble:

link to Flaming Lips video

Ben Harper doing a tag of Pearl Jam’s Indifference:

Link to Video

NIN Video 2

You can find the best of my Sasquatch photos at photos.kloppmagic.ca

NIN Video Link