Pemberton Festival Photos Friday: Nine Inch Nails, Blondie, Grimes
byWe hopped off the shuttle at the impressive Pemberton Festival grounds yesterday and immediately stopped to take in the panoramic view. Mount Currie on one side, evergreen-covered slopes on the other, vast green fields, and stages in every corner pumping out crowd-pleasing beats.
Photo credit: John Bollwitt for Miss604.com
Pemberton Festival officially began on Wednesday but Friday was the first full day of concerts as thousands enjoyed everything from Blondie covering the Beastie Boys to Kendrick Lamar’s impressive (albeit late starting) set, and the sun popping out from behind the clouds when Soundgarden took to the Pemberton Stage.
Pemberton Festival Tips and Info
There are at least a half a dozen beer gardens (with cocktail bars) on site along with multiple washroom areas (collections of porta potties), hand washing stations with running water, and water bottle refill stations. You can bring in your own empty water bottle and fill it up for free throughout the day.
Food options for the masses include strings of vendors setup all over the grounds offering everything from poutine in a bucket to gluten free Thai and dim sum. Breakfast all day at Tin Lizzy is being served with a side of perogies, and the Super VIP attendees can even enjoy a slice of Bearfoot Bistro on site.
Aside from hearing word of long marches from the parking lots to the campgrounds when campers checked in, things seemed to go smoothly and all were in relatively good spirits. Funky fashions, flower headbands, hula hoops and Frisbees, families on picnic blankets, toddlers on shoulders (with earmuff sound protection), random dance parties, and the dude who wore a half-speedo.
Pemberton Festival Photos Friday
I was on site all day with John and he braved the mulch-covered photo pits of every stage to capture some of the electric atmosphere:
Minus the Bear
Photo credit: John Bollwitt for Miss604.com
Blondie
Photo credit: John Bollwitt for Miss604.com
Trailer Park Boys and Jim Breuer
Photo credit: John Bollwitt for Miss604.com
Grimes
Photo credit: John Bollwitt for Miss604.com
Empire of the Sun
Photo credit: John Biehler on Flickr
Photo credit: John Biehler on Flickr
Photo credit: John Biehler on Flickr
Nine Inch Nails
Photo credit: John Bollwitt for Miss604.com
View the rest of John’s photos for Miss604 on Flickr »
At the end of the night we took the shuttle back to Whistler at night and although the line was long, it moved quickly once the coaches began to pull up. Festival staff handed out free bottles of water to those waiting which was appreciated.
Friday Night Incident
Toward the end of the night there was a suspicious death in one of the campgrounds and organizers issued this statement. This morning IHIT posted several updates on Twitter stating that the suspicious death cause was not yet confirmed and foul play was not confirmed. Thoughts go out to this young man’s family at this time. IHIT recommended festival goers should call their families to check in with them and let them know they’re okay.
Statement from Organizers: We appreciate everyone’s concern about last night’s incident. RCMP will make a statement as soon as information is available later today. RCMP’s assessment is that the site is safe and secure and the event is well-organized. Meanwhile, please let friends and family know you’re ok.
Photo credit: John Bollwitt for Miss604.com
Saturday’s acts include The Flaming Lips, Snoop Dogg, Metric, The New Pornographers, Deadmau5, and more including big names in comedy. Follow Pemberton Festival on Facebook and Twitter #PembyFest for more information.
