For those that braved the traffic, the dust, Suicide Hill, and more… you were rewarded with Teletubbies courtesy of The Flaming Lips, My Morning Jacket, The Tragically Hip playing over their allotted set length, two members of N.E.R.D arriving late (see above mentioned traffic), Jay-Z and Tom Petty. So, a mixed bag, methinks.

It took us two and a half hours to get to the Pemberton Festival… usually a 35 minute drive. Our intrepid driver took it upon herself to play chicken with oncoming traffic so we could jump the line. That was an adventure. Thank God for the police escort that finally arrived or we might still be sitting on the road with several already drunk (I saw a guy lift a girl in a move reminiscent of Dirty Dancing as we sat in a long line of parked traffic) festival goers.

The site, nestled in a valley in the Coast Mountains, was beautiful, but I think the organizers need to find some secret road to the protected potato field if they want smoother sailing next year. On the flip side, we did go to the top of a mountain yesterday which was not bad at all.

I recommend Whistler to anyone looking for some mountain adventures and excellent cuisine. As for Pemberton… it has potential, but they have some big hurdles to clear if they want to make it a premier festival. And I never even saw Chris and Gwynnie!

Did you go to Pemby? What’d you think? Email us at musicblog@sxsw.com

It’s nice to be home, lp

Original post by LP