Pemberton Festival

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Whistler is nestled high in the mountain tops and is home to 9500 people. Pemberton is one of the suburbs 20 minutes drive north from Whistler Village Square, where I
live and has a population of 2200. This year Whistler, or more accurately, the small mountain suburb Pemberton, hosted it's first ever outdoor music festival and between
50-60 thousand people attended and camped in the dust, rain and humidity. Instead of 20minutes to get to Pembi, it took between 1 1/2 - 6 hours! The Festival had
terrible organisation, was over priced and under staffed. The service station ran out of petrol, the liquor store ran out of liquor and the grocery store ran out of food.
Who cares about that though when you have the most magnificent mountain backdrop, some of the world's best artists/entertainers and a bunch of great mates
to soak it all up with!

Day One - Friday, 9AM - My kiwi flatmate Rachel and I both have to work. All's good though as no one we want to see is on until the afternoon anyway. We meet at
5pm and because they cancelled the bus service and put a $90 shuttle service in place of the bus, we decide to hitch. We're only walking for 2 minutes, if that, before
we're picked up by a lovely local couple - Candian and Australian - and proceed to drive to the gig. Hitching is very safe here. Whistler is very safe. We've driven an hour
and we're still not there yet but the time we've had to get to know one another has been great and we learn our chauffeur is 7mths pregnant and her husband has just had
a knee operation entitling him to a disabled access pass! SWEET! We have just been granted access to the front gate instead of parking a 1/2 hour walk away! The
entrance is in view and we proudly flash our disabled access pass to all the traffic controllers trying to dissuade our entry!!!
6.30PM - We're assisting our chauffeurs and their backpacks, chairs etc. into the festival and bid them farewell once they've found their friends. Hurrah! We made it
just in time for Interpol & Nine Inch Nails, both of whom were awesome! NIN were in top form and playing all their classics as well as their new stuff. We've found some
of our mates by this time so are doing the usual festival mix and mingle and around 1AM we are accosted by our Boxing Instructor (yes, I'm taking boxing classes...
I want to be the next welter weight champion!) who chaperones us to his very own after party which has spread itself across his and the neighbours on either side houses.
2AM - It's time to leave. We still need to hitch a ride home and we both have to work at 9AM and thankfully are picked up around 2.30AM by 2 blokes who I soon recognize
as being customers I served that very morning - French Toast and Eggs Benny! HAHA! It's been an exciting, adventurous, spontaneous, fun-filled, beautiful day and around
3.30AM Rach and I hit the hay in anticipation of repeating it all again tomorrow!

Day Two - 4 1/2 hours sleep later and I am rising to the sound of my alarm. I hear Rachel amble out the door and soon follow for another day of serving festival goers
morning cocktails and hangover breaky's. 5PM and I'm making my way home to meet Jed, Capucine and Suzie who is giving us a lift to the Festival. Amazing! No TRAFFIC!
Reports on the radio were saying between 3-6 hours and we make it in an hour! Just in time for the end of The Flaming Lips set. After their set, there's a bit of a wait for
the next big act so we wander around the festival grounds, seeing what and who we can see! It is the second day of beautiful sunshine and approx. 27 degrees with a
nice refreshing breeze. The pomegranate ciders and sangria are going down nicely, but not too quickly... their $7 a pop and it takes an hour to get one. As previously
stated, their organisation of such an event needs definite improvement, but being their first time, it's understandable to have so many teething problems. Come 9.30PM
the main act begins...... TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS! Tom Petty is adored in this country.... I didn't even really know much about him or his music other
than the fact that he was in the Travelling Wilbury's. Now I KNOW who he is and am happy to say I LOVE his music..... I just never knew that the songs I liked were his!
Their set is incredible and more enjoyable because of the company I'm with. Capu and Suzie could only come this one day and Tom Petty was all they wanted to see.
It was great to be with them whilst they were enjoying it sooooo much. Their energy definitely rubbed off on me and Tom Petty left an impression!
MIDNIGHT again and the dance tents are still going off but there's now a 4 hour line up to get in. RIDICULOUS! Didn't I pay $270 for a 3 day pass for access to all areas?
So we go to find our friends in TENT CITY, chill for a bit, then Jed and I decide to try to scam a final shuttle home. We manage to catch one to the main part of town
(which consists of a small grocery store, 2 servo's and a diner) and hitch with 3 guys around 1.30AM and make it back to Whistler in time to catch a last drink and boogie
at Maxx Fish with all the La Bocca staff for Francois' farewell party before he goes back to France! The party moves to Aaron's house for an hour or so session of Rock
Band, then moving on again to my house for a spa, wrestle event and carrot party..... apparently when entertaining drunk people and you have no food in the house, it
is totally acceptable to peel carrots and pass them around for all to munch on as a healthy snack....... it was the least I could do.
5AM - It is time to put myself to bed.

Day Three - 3 hours sleep and the alarm is waking me again. Off to work to do it all again, yet it's sunny, I'm happy and feeling good and excited for the third and final day!
5PM - I'm clocking off and running home to meet Jed and Georgia. We're not sure how we'll manage but we're hoping someone is kind enough to pick the 3 of us up together.
We're on the road 2 minutes and picked up by a Pemberton Local whose already tried to get home but was in traffic for 3 hours so came back to the village. He's more than
happy to pick us up so if the traffic's bad again, at least he has some company. Ten minutes down the road, we hit traffic. NO movement for 15 minutes.. not a good sign.
Stop, start, stop, start...... it's getting tedious, we've been sat in the car for an hour and Georgia and I need to empty our bladders of the cider roadies!
Traffic has been at a standstill for quite a while now. Car's are hosting their own little parties, people are out of their cars, chatting with their neighbours - the vibe is good.
Georgia and I decide to make a break for it and head into the forest to find a patch of grass. Midstream and in the thick of the forest, the cars start to move. Pants up
fly's done, buttons buttoned... and we're running through the forest looking for a short cut. No joy, so back out on the road and the cars are still moving. We have now lost
our ride, bags, G's boyfriend and ticket! The cars are slowing down again and it's an enjoyable and entertaining walk with passengers talking, high fiving and of course, taking
the piss! The cars start to move again, we let them pass and when they stop we run. We repeat this maybe 3 times before we spot a hill that we're never going to make
over in time to find our ride so we do a bit of car hopping! As the cars start to move, we hail a ride with someone new... when they stop, we hop out again and run like the wind!!!
We repeat this routine 2 times and now we have made friends with the cars as they have been documenting our journey, one's even been video taping the whole farce.
Finally we find them and are ready to get another pomegranate cider down us!
2 1/2 hours on and our ride has dropped us off for us to walk the final 1/2 leg of the journey to the entrance! Where's our friendly disabled access couple when we need them!
YAY! Inside! And off to catch the end of The Tragically Hip. Everyone's running late as N.E.R.D's tour bus got stuck in traffic and started 45 mins after schedule! Shame we
missed their set though. Everyone said they were amazing. We find our crew who have been there all day and get straight into the vibe!
Jay-Z then Coldplay is the order of the night. I'm excited to see both but don't expect much. Boy am I wrong! Jay-Z would have to be one of the best entertainer's I've seen.
He works with the crowd so much, it was great to see and hear him shout out to his fans etc. Coldplay closed the final stage and they were INCREDIBLE. I've seen them before
but not like this. What a show! And most excitable was I when they ran from the main stage, through the crowd and right by me!!! Yah!!! Up close for their acoustic set! It
was beautiful.
MIDNIGHT and the 5 of us who need to hitch decide to leave early to avoid traffic and hordes of other hitch hikers.
Georgia and Jed are lucky enough to be picked up by their mates after only 45mins. walking, leaving Sarah, Rachel and I to fend for ourselves. We reach the main part of town,
my heels are completely ruined, cracked like the Gobie Desert and oh so sore... that's what 3 days of being upright does to you! (It is a month later and my feet are still
disgusting). A bus makes it's way towards the traffic lights and is empty. 'Headed to Whistler?' Amazingly he says yes and welcomes 3 lovely, tired yet grateful ladies aboard
and we sleep the 45 min. ride home. Off the bus, straight home and off to la la land... no waiting!

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