The Pemberton Festival was a three-day summer music festival inaugurated in 2008. It was held in Pemberton, British Columbia, a village just north of popular ski resort Whistler. Produced by Live Nation Canada, the festival featured primarily rock and indie rock 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, 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.

Pemberton Festival

On January 19, 2010, Live Nation announced the cancellation of the 2010 event.

Pemberton Festival

Festival Site

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

Pemberton Festival

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, Jay-Z, Nine Inch Nails, Tragically Hip, 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.

The full line-up:

Interpol

Serj Tankian

The Flaming Lips

Coldplay

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

Death Cab for Cutie

My Morning Jacket

Jay Z

The Tragically Hip

Sam Roberts Band

Metric

Black Mountain

Vampire Weekend

The Crystal Method DJ Set

DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist

Booka Shade

Junkie XL

Dave Seaman

Wintersleep

Buck 65

Secret Machines

MSTRKRFT

Deadmau5

Brazilian Girls

The Fiery Furnaces

Mates of State

Grand Ole Party

Nine Inch Nails

Carolina Liar

Airborne Toxic Event

Monte Negro

Low Vs Diamond

Annie Stela

M.A.N.D.Y. Tommie Sunshine Chromeo 3OH!3 Kevin Shiu Timeline Tony Pantages N.E.R.D. Minus the Bear Matisyahu Inward Eye Kathleen Edwards Wolfmother Shearwater

References

Rock festivals in Canada

Music festivals in British Columbia

Recurring events disestablished in 2009

Electronic music festivals in Canada

Music festivals established in 2008