The Pemberton Festival was a three-day summer

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

inaugurated in 2008. It was held in

Pemberton, British Columbia Pemberton is a village municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. This Pemberton Valley community is on the southwest shore of the Lillooet River and northeast shore of Pemberton Creek. On BC Highway 99, the ...

, a village just north of popular ski resort Whistler. Produced by Live Nation Canada, the festival featured primarily

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

musicians, with a small proportion of hip hop. Musicians played on one of two stages, picturesquely situated at the foot of Mount Currie and the surrounding mountain range. The site, a hayfield, was discovered by concert-promoter, Shane Bourbonnais, of

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...

, just down the street from his home. He emphasized event sustainability and environmentalism as priorities in running the festival. On January 8, 2009, Live Nation officially announced the cancellation of the 2009 event and instead, was going to focus on the planning of the 2010 comeback. On January 19, 2010, Live Nation announced the cancellation of the 2010 event.

Festival Site

The festival site was based on a large grass field located at the base of Mt. Currie which is over high.

Campgrounds

The campground was connected directly to the festival grounds and allowed people to travel to and from their campsites whenever they please.

Dance Tent

The B-Live dance tent sponsored by Bacardi featured one main stage, sitting areas, bars, and a large dance floor. DJ's playing mostly electronic dance music performed throughout the weekend. A custom live video remix wall and a thunderous sound system were also included. Limited access to the tent that had a capacity limit of 2,500 was seen as a large drawback for many electronic music lovers at the festival. Line-ups were long and many people didn't get to see the artists they wanted to see. But those that were lucky enough to gain access saw some of top DJ's of the day.

2008

The festival's inaugural year, was held between July 25–27, 2008, and was headlined by Coldplay,

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. Formed in 1976, the band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer S ...

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassis ...

, and the Flaming Lips. At first, the festival was only available as a full three-day pass, thus, festival-goers were encouraged to camp out on the festival's camping grounds, while additional accommodation was available in the form of neighbouring hotels, inns and lodges. However, as of June 13, 2008, single day tickets were made available. In total, 40,000 people were expected for the first year of the festival.Pemberton preps for 40000 music fans
/ref> The full line-up: *

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* Serj Tankian *

The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (keyb ...

* Coldplay *

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. Formed in 1976, the band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer S ...

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (keyboar ...

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Jay Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

The Tragically Hip The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as the Hip, were a Canadian rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1984, consisting of vocalist Gord Downie, guitarist Paul Langlois, guitarist Rob Baker (known as Bobby Baker until 1994), bassi ...

* Sam Roberts Band *

Metric Metric or metrical may refer to: * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics In mathema ...

* Black Mountain * Vampire Weekend * The Crystal Method DJ Set *

DJ Shadow Joshua Paul Davis (born June 29, 1972), better known by his stage name DJ Shadow, is an American DJ, songwriter and record producer. His debut studio album, '' Endtroducing.....'' was released in 1996. Biography Early years (1989–1995) DJ Sha ...

and Cut Chemist * Booka Shade * Junkie XL * Dave Seaman *

Wintersleep Wintersleep is a Canadian indie rock band formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2001.Heidi Ulrichsen"Wintersleep offers 'sneak peeks' of new album at Boreal" ''Sudbury Star'', June 30, 2014. The band's original lineup consisted of vocalist and gui ...

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* MSTRKRFT * Deadmau5 * Brazilian Girls * The Fiery Furnaces * Mates of State *

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* Monte Negro *

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* Annie Stela *M.A.N.D.Y. *

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* Kevin Shiu *

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* Tony Pantages *

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* Minus the Bear *

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* Kathleen Edwards * Wolfmother * Shearwater

References

{{coord, 50.32, N, 122.782, W, display=title Rock festivals in Canada Music festivals in British Columbia Recurring events disestablished in 2009 Electronic music festivals in Canada Music festivals established in 2008