Down in the valley
Friday, July 25, 2008 | 09:38 AM ET
This weekend, the tiny town of Pemberton, B.C., will host a music event to rival the Glastonbury festival in England and maybe even Woodstock. Running July 25-27, the Pemberton Festival will feature such globetrotting acts as Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails and Jay-Z, as well as Canadian performers like the Tragically Hip, Metric, Kathleen Edwards and Buck 65. Laura Thompson from CBC Newsworld’s The Scene will be blogging the event for CBCNews.ca.
(David Donnelly)
It was all over the news in Vancouver how horrendous traffic was expected to be on Highway 99 this weekend. The infamously picturesque Sea to Sky is smack dab in the middle of a major facelift in anticipation of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It’s inconvenient timing for the thousands of music lovers who will navigate their way up the winding, narrow route toward the majestic Coast Mountains for the inaugural Pemberton Festival -- the hottest pop culture ticket in the country this weekend.
I drove up to Whistler the night before, hoping to beat the rush. Instead, I found myself in a convoy of similar thinkers, steadily rolling along at the strictly enforced speed limit, comparable to the pace of a snail. We all arrived eventually.
The Pemberton Festival seemingly came out of nowhere. Coldplay partnered up with concert giant Live Nation to handpick the sleepy spud town as the scenic backdrop for what is suddenly poised to be the biggest music event to hit Canadian soil -- maybe ever. Our answer to Britain’s Glastonbury and America’s Woodstock, there’s no question the event has put Pemberton, B.C., on the map. Forty thousand visitors will descend on the Lillooet River valley to witness an impressive lineup that includes Coldplay, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Jay-Z. With a population of 2,300, Pemberton hasn’t seen this many folks come through since the gold rush of 1858.
(Laura Thompson/CBC)
Rules and restrictions are aplenty and enforced by more than 500 security guards and a handful of RCMP officers. No outside alcohol allowed. For a drink, head to the beer gardens, Bacardi B-Live Tent, the Barn Dance Tent and the campground chalet.
Minimizing the environmental impact has been a high priority from the beginning. Hydro-electric energy will be the main power source for the show, car pooling is rewarded with free parking, local farm products will be sold to concertgoers and special cloth will protect areas of fertile farmland. Pemberton is a seed potato control zone, one of the few virus-free areas in North America. To ensure no outside contaminants will upset the delicate ecosystem, people are being told to leave root vegetables at home. Seriously.
A three-day pass is $259.50 -- needless to say, the economic impact will be significant. The fest is estimated to bring in $6 million or more for the region. Yet even if Pemberton is a smash success, it’s not guaranteed to return next year. The impact on the land is yet to be told, as is the effect on the community.
Day 1, the headliner is Nine Inch Nails. This industrial rock experience at the base of glorious Mount Currie is bound to be a once-in-a-lifetime situation. I’m also counting on Montreal/New York duo Chromeo and Australia’s Wolfmother to be great. Stay tuned.
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Comments
Olaf
Toronto
This years Pemberton Music Festival will feature a mobile web site exclusive to Rogers and Fido customers in Canada.
The site features an up-to-date schedule and stage information, artist biographies, ringtones, local information such as direct “click-to-call” taxi firms and shuttle bus booking, and driving directions from your current location.
To complement the mobile site, an SMS alert service is also available free to he customer, getting immediate notification to schedule changes, contests, promotions and general information.
The service can be accessed via a Rogers or Fido phone by texting ALERTS (sign up for the alerts service) or PEM (WAP Push to the mobile site) to 4849.
Posted July 25, 2008 01:43 PM
QS
"...poised to be the biggest music event to hit Canadian soil -- maybe ever. Our answer to Britain’s Glastonbury and America’s Woodstock, there’s no question the event has put Pemberton, B.C., on the map. Forty thousand visitors will descend..."
What? Big Valley consistently brings over 60,000 people each year. Saskatchewan's Rock 'N The Valley has hit 50,000, and SnowJam in Vancouver 55,000. Either the author's figure of 40,000 is wrong or there are a ton of events (not even considering indoor venues) that have been bigger.
I like how the picture of the author's face is bigger than the one featured in the article. Those big blue eyes make the article so much more compelling!
Posted July 25, 2008 06:21 PM
Rastas
It is 31 degrees at 3:45pm and the traffic from Whistler to Pemberton is taking over 90 minutes for a usual 20 minute drive. Metric is now on the main stage and Surge and NIN coming up later. It is all skin all the time in this heat and dust. It is going to be an awesome night.
Posted July 25, 2008 06:45 PM
Larry Cyr
Good morning,it is good to see (and hear) large festivals and still alive; I attended Stawberry Fields at Mossport (Bowmanville On) in 1970, I was 15. It was our Canadian Woodstock; I'm sorry you can't do it like we did, we won't let you be that bad; just ask Tom Petty. Enjoy your adventure and take care....Larry
Posted July 26, 2008 09:21 AM
Mr. X
Biggest music event to hit Canadian soil? Don't think so - Bluesfest in Ottawa a few weeks ago drew an estimated crowd of about 300,000.
Posted July 27, 2008 11:21 AM