Arts & Entertainment

Chloe Bach

aeditor@ gmail.com

 

 

 

Mark
Fisher

 

The Pemberton Music Festival was one of the most eagerly
anticipated musical events to take place on Canadian soil. While other
music festivals such as Sasquatch, Bumbershoot, and Sled Island
have been taking place within and around the local area for years,
none of them have ever generated this much buzz. Despite a few
snarls that are inevitable for the first undertaking of an event this size,
the organizers succeeded ini what they set out to do — create musical
history and hold the biggest music festival Canada has eVer seen.
The first and most ubiquitous of said snarls was the traffic jam that
almost every festival-goer encountered on the trip there. With the
exception of the camping enthusiasts who got there a day early, most
ticket buyers were hard-pressed to get there in time to see the first few
bands play, especially if they needed to set up their camp. This meant
that the fist main stage act, Metric, only drew a fraction of what the
following acts audiences were. Metric put on a great set as always,
highlighted by “Combat Baby,” “Poster ofa Girl,” and Emily Haines
ina shiny green mini-dress. The only drawback was that it’s been over
3 years since they put out a new album, so their set contained nothing
fans hadn’t seen ages ago.
After everyone finally unpacked the field was overloaded with a huge
crowd for Australia’s Wolfmother. From opening with the absolutely
insane “Dimension” to Chris Ross playing his keyboard at a 90 degree
angle, they exemplified the potential that the festival had to deliver one
classic moment after the next. Serj Takian did a bizarre dance routine
while wearing a tophat, but his solo material was disappointingly
much softer than his System of a Down work. Interpol looked
incredibly stylish, it was almost as if each member knew when the
camera was on them so they could strike a dramatic rock star pose.
The first night headliners, Nine Inch Nails, performed the most intense
show of the entire festival. At times the light show got so dynamic it
put most multi-million dollar movies to
shame. One killer moment out
of many was Trent Reznor
ending the maniac
“March of the Pigs”
with an extended

  
 
 
 
 

stage as an
exclamation

point. This

band is a non-stop bombardment of noise. It was only the end of day
one and already my expectations were exceeded.

The gigantic dance tent at the festival played into the early hours of
the night while the rock ‘n roll fans slept. By the time I was out of bed
the next day, the line-up to get back into it extended nearly all the way
across the diameter of the festival site. I kept meaning to get in there
to check it out, but the lineup hardly ever died down the entire time.
Some of the biggest names in electronic music got to do their thing,
such as Junkie XL, The Crystal Method, and MSTRKRFT, and if
it’s popularity is any indication, expect the tent to be even bigger next
year.

Sam Roberts kicked things off on day two to an enthusiastic crowd.
Only at festivals like this do you get to see a performer feeding off the
energy that tens of thousands of people give off: And even thought the
rain started during his set, his gigantic crowd barely lost an attendee.
Sadly, the same wasn’t as true for Mates of State on the festival’s side
stage, who didn’t get nearly the sized crowd that hey deserved due to
the bad weather. Personally I loved the rain—the field the festival was
in consisted of dirt and hay, so anything to clean the dust out of the

air was welcome. The sun retumed soon enough, allowing Canada’s
Buck 65 was able to draw an impressively large crowd for his set on
the B-stage.

The Tragically Hip seemed to get the biggest crowd of all up to this
point. Opening with “Yer Not the Ocean,” “Music at Work,” and
“Grace, Too,” the band had an entire kilometre. Gord Downie looked
to be higher than even the stoners in the crowd, particularly when he
sat down on the stage and drove around like a race car driver. The
love coming from the crowd during their set was amazing to behold.
The combination of The Hip, the dirt blowing around and getting in
everything, and lack of sleep from the night before seemed to catch
up with the crowd though, during The Flaming Lips set the crowd
seemed noticeable run down. For a band that relies on the crowd to
be a part of the show like The Lips do, it had to take a little bit of the

wind out of their sails, though frontman Wayne Coyne tried his bestto ©

keep them energized. An enthusiastic "Come on you guys!” preceded
nearly every one of their songs. Like the first night, the headliner put
ona show that no one would forget anytime soon. Tom Petty proved
that he can still rock a mean guitar, especially during set closers “I
Won't Back Down” and “Refugee.”

My final day started with two bands from New York City getting very
different receptions. The Fiery Furnaces played on the B-stage, and
despite their eclectic style and backing violinist, the brother-sister duo
act drew a very small crowd, which had to be disappointing for an act
that came all this way. After leaving their set, it was off to Vampire
Weekend playing the main stage. Vampire Weekend puts on a very
happy, very poppy show and the crowd seemed to be eating it up that
day. Personally I can’t stand the band, but maybe I’m just too cynical
or the lead singer is so cute that it tums me off. After taking in as much
as I could I went to hit the beer garden.

Many music festivals just throw the beer garden in the back so it’s as
far away from everything as it can be. In comparison, the Pemberton
Festival treated its drinker like gold. There were three massive beer
gardens; one located near the main stage, one with its own personal
DJ, and one located next to the “Barn Dance” stage. The Barn Dance

stage showcased local British Columbian acts, including many from
Pemberton itself: The beer garden also had wine and sangrias from
Pemberton’s wineries, which made everyone love the little town
playing host that weekend even more.

Wintersleep and Matisyahu closed out the side stage for the

festival. Both drew a gigantic crowd, this is likely the biggest crowd
Wintersleep has played thus far in their brief career. Lead singer Paul
Murphy has a unique voice that really helps set the band apart, and the
songs that focus around that such as “Weighty Ghost” and “Oblivion”
just might take them far someday. Matisyahu was dancing on top

of the speakers for nearly half his show, and told the crowd this was
the most beautiful place he had ever player in. Coming from an artist

 

that’s as well traveled as he is, that’s a huge compliment to Pemberton.
One of the best things about the festival was how it catered to so
many different musical tastes. There was electronica, folk, classic
rock, industrial rock, mainstream acts, indie acts, and whatever the
hell The Flaming Lips are. But it was a hip hop act that stole the show.
From the second he started “99 Problems,” Jay-Z had the crowd in
the palm of his hand. His set had more crowd sing alongs and shout
outs that any other act. Even some of his sillier singles, such as “Jigga
What, Jigga Who,” “Izzo,” and “Girls, Girls, Girls” were awesome
with a live band backing up his performance. It made for a tough act
to follow for Coldplay, who even acknowledged this early in their set
by telling the crowd, “We’re very honoured to be closing for Jay-Z.”
Modesty aside, Coldplay clearly was idolized by the rapacious crowd.
It’s a testament to the band’s talent that they only have four albums
and yet they can fill an hour and a half set with non-stop hits. Chris
Martin knew they were a part of something special that day, and
repeatedly told the crowd what a special event this was for them to be