Pemberton Music Festival: July 16-19, 2015
Another year and another epic Pemby Fest in the books! After last year's incredible introduction to the beauty of the scenic Pemberton Valley and the plethora of talented bands and artists gracing the 5 stages I knew that I'd be heading back again in 2015.
As amazing as the first year was, it came with a few hiccups due to the insane lugging of all our camping gear from the parked car to the site and the difficulty of keeping a large group all together. Anyone who has ever camped at Pemberton knows the struggle of getting all your shit from your car to the campsite. This trek includes a massive staircase traversing the highway, a long, bumpy trail, and a ridiculous security checkpoint. Last year, being the noobs that we were, we struggled through all of this, bringing way too much stuff and not enough devices to carry it with. Nonetheless this brought our crew together as we ended up with one of the best setups in the whole campsite and everyone quickly forgot this ordeal and had a blast. Once inside the festival grounds, our relatively small group of 13 managed to stay together relatively well with only a couple people getting lost at points but it could certainly be improved upon.
Armed with these memories from last year, my crew came better prepared for the great shitty lug by bringing a dolly and sled to pull gear with, leaving our gear on the right side of the highway to avoid the dreaded staircase, and discovering a new, flat way to get around to where our site was (close to where we were last year, even better set up). The trek still sucked, and likely always will, but each year we learn more and can prepare better. And, of course, as soon as that first beer is cracked/shot-gunned/bonged the bad memories quickly fade away. Then there was that wonderful "aaaahhhh" light bulb moment I had a few months ago when I discovered the one and only Molly Kermit at my friend's house. My idea was to attach the stuffed animal to the top of a hockey stick and use him as our crew's mascot. This worked incredibly well as all you had to know was to head to the right side and look up for Molly Kermit (pictured below) at all of the best shows and there we were! This year nobody got lost and even friends of mine that I didn't know were going found us after I posted him on social media.
So armed with our epic mascot our crew of 30+ converged on the Pemby Festival grounds ready to watch some incredible shows and have a ton of fucking fun! Here's my Top 5 Most Fun Shows:
5) The Black Keys - Gold On The Ceiling
After venturing into the grounds for a couple shows it was quickly decided that the late afternoon/early evening of Friday would be spent at our campsite. In the wonderful shade of the essential canopy, beers were bonged, bean bags were tossed and ping-pong balls were thrown as everyone got pumped up for the night's main stage headliner, The Black Keys. I was lucky enough to see them a few years earlier at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver, just as they were taking off and becoming huge (they will never play a medium-sized venue like that again as arenas and festival headlining slots have become the norm). They rocked hard and put on a helluva show so I was excited to see more of the same. As KiD CuDi was finishing up his set from the closest stage to our tents we stumbled towards the grounds.
We arrived shortly before they came on stage and, surprisingly, got quite a good spot in the crowd. With Molly Kermit bobbing overhead the whole crew was hummin'! Since it wasn't insanely packed I was able to take the best group pics of the weekend (below). These pics would later be used to prove to a friend that he did in fact see The Black Keys! (You know you've had a ton of fun when ;p...) The Keys played a solid set of mostly new material from their most popular albums Brothers and El Camino as well as the new hit "Fever" and a few classics such as "Strange Times" and "Leavin' Trunk". They definitely put on a good show but I was a little disappointed by the complete lack of old stuff (nothing before 2010) and only one track from the newest album. They also never performed as just the two of them (always with full band) like they did at the Orpheum. Thanks to being with a huge crew this show was a blast but I had initially hoped that it would make my top 5 musical performances list and not just the fun list.
4) Tiësto - Adagio For Strings
With the crew still hummin' after The Black Keys we all decided to make our way over to the dance tent to catch Tiësto. Now I must admit that when the lineup first came out the influential DJ never even crossed my radar as someone I may go see; I figured that'd be the perfect time to go back to the campsite for more beers until a later show or catch something else. Boy was I wrong. By the time we got there he had already just begun and the crowd was fucking massive. Now I know why The Black Keys had a relatively small crowd. There are three massive arches that comprise the Bass Camp which can hold a few thousand under them. We were in an absolutely crazy part of the crowd and I felt that we did pretty good to move up closer when we could, yet we never came even relatively close to getting under those arches! For the next hour and a quarter I danced my ass off to the pulsating trance, dazzling lights and hectic drops created by the Godfather of Trance and EDM; as someone pointed out to me he's basically the Elvis or Beatles of that genre.
The looks of sheer joy on the faces of people all around me was a sight to behold, and soon enough Molly Kermit did his job and the other half of our crew had found us in the throng of ravers. Not knowing much beyond a few remixes I found myself recognizing a lot more of his songs than I thought I would. Near the end, my good friend who has seen Tiësto on 3 different continents turned to me and yelled in my ear that this song was "Adagio For Strings", his most popular track. I was definitely digging it and since it's the only one that I know he played it's the one I chose. Say what you want about the dumbing down of music to a few blips and bleeps and nonsensical, over-hyped drops, this dude knows how to put on a show. The fact that I have him ranked above one of my favourite bands really says it all. Check out the short clip below to get some sort of feel for what it was like. You can also see Molly Kermit to the middle right of the screen if you look hard.
3) Weezer - Island In The Sun
Saturday took on a similar tone as Friday with the sweltering heat forcing us back to the shade of our campsite canopy. This time it was a few rounds of chandelier (an awesome cross between flip cup and beer pong that can be played by lots of people) that got the crew hummin'. And this time it was pop-rock group Weezer set to take the second biggest stage to the setting sun. With a crew only slightly smaller than the one that rocked out to the Black Keys a day earlier we drunkenly made our way into the grounds. Along the way we were serenaded by the classic guitars from legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper as he blasted out hits "I'm Eighteen", "Poison" and "School's Out" (with a wicked segue into "Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2") to close his main stage set.
We arrived a couple songs in and immediately began to partake in the massive sing-along. For anyone who went to high school in the 2000's, like the majority of our crew, seeing Weezer live brought back many great memories as they played hit after hit after hit. Songs such as "Beverly Hills", "Say It Ain't So", and "Buddy Holly" had the whole crowd singing and dancing; for a few of my friends this was the beginning of the end of their voices. About three quarters through the set Weezer played their good times classic "Island In The Sun". The laid back guitar groove and catchy chorus caused most of the crowd to throw their arms around each other and sway back and forth; a beautiful love-in to be a part of. The pic below is proof of those good vibes.
2) Missy Elliott - Sock It 2 Me
The final day of music was different from the rest as, due to the large number of must-see acts all night, it was decided that once we went in around 5pm we were in for the night. After everyone had split up to see different acts (for myself it was Dan Mangan + Blacksmith and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros) we all met under Molly Kermit at the main stage for one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend. Other than a surprise appearance during the Super Bowl halftime show, Pemberton is the only other show that Missy Elliott has played this year; her only show since 2012 according to setlist.fm! Like Weezer, Missy's set was full of memory-inducing jams from high school and earlier that everyone was singing along to. This was the nail in the coffin of those lost voices that I mentioned earlier.
The show began with a massive white curtain hanging from the rafters and several dancers dressed in all black and white masks standing at attention. Then Missy's voice belted out a huge "Whassup Pemberton!" as the curtain dropped to reveal herself and even more dancers; the crowd, rightfully so, went bonkers! Looking great in a black jumpsuit and long, dyed red hair, Missy commanded the stage with a charisma that was equally hip-hop macho bravado and down-to-earth girl next door. I was thoroughly impressed with her stage antics as she led a massive dance party while belting out classics such as "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Work It", and "Get Ur Freak On". Midway through her set she played a medley from her first album Supa Dupa Fly which included my chosen song "Sock It 2 Me". The pulsating Bwummp's sounded incredible live as the crowd went into a frenzy. Check out the video below for an idea of what it was like. We were slightly closer and on the opposite side.
1) Ludacris - Rollout
Back to Saturday night. Right after Weezer ended was one of the toughest conflicts for me: on the main stage were Canadian indie rock titans Broken Social Scene and at bass camp was southern rap superstar Ludacris. Initially I chose BSS as they were on a little earlier and there were a few other die hards in our crew hell bent on seeing them. We arrived just as they were beginning and were easily able to move right up close, about 5 people deep. Sadly there were only a few hundred people watching at this point. Now I've seen Broken Social Scene twice before and know they put on a great show; unfortunately nobody else seemed to know this. In the first 20 minutes they played 3 of my 5 favourite songs which was great and I kept checking over my shoulder to see if bass camp was bumping yet and it was still quiet, although a huge crowd was assembling. It was at this point that I made the brilliant decision to head over to find Molly Kermit and all the others. I maneuvered through the masses and arrived at Molly Kermit just as Luda was coming on stage; perfect timing.
Like at Tiësto the night before, the crowd was absolutely fucking massive! (The video below illuminates this to a T). But unlike Tiësto we were under the arches and part of the hectic, rambunctious crowd. He started out by proclaiming "I got too many hit songs. I don't remember them all" and launched into tracks such as "Stand Up", "Pimpin' All Over The World" and songs he guests on, Usher's "Yeah" and DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win". Midway through the set he let his DJ take over and spin classics such as "Up In Here" by DMX and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Luda then returned and exclaimed that "this might very well be the loudest motherfucking crowd I've performed in front of" before spitting on his own classics "Rollout" and "Get Back". Finally he saluted all the alcoholics, weed smokers, and women with real asses before warning that the last song, "Move Bitch" might induce a riot. It didn't quite cause one but it sure as hell was a ton of fun!
Honourable Mentions:
Duke Dumont played a high-energy set at the dance tent. I prefer his music to that of Tiësto's but with a really lame light/visual show and smaller crew it wasn't quite as much fun. Also Jack U, the mega supergroup of DJs Skrillex and Diplo were absolutely insane and had a similar crowd to Tiësto and Ludacris. We stayed way back for that one in order to get a good spot for Kendrick afterwards but everyone was still going bonkers.
Stay tuned for my top 5 musical performances...
