So a few weeks ago I went to Pemberton Music Festival in Pemberton, BC. Now that I’ve had a few weeks to digest the trip it’s time for me too look back at all the good and bad!

THE BAD

The Walk I heard about how horrible the walk was last year but that this year was going to be better for people. It wasn’t. Everyone had big bags and general camping was so far from general parking it was kinda ridiculous. You have to carry your stuff though Premium camping, over the highway over a high set of stairs; so if you though you were being smart by bringing a wheel-barrel you weren’t, around the entire festival ground all while travelling on either wood chips (they sucked) or unlit grass sections. Our walk from car to camp spot was at least 45 minutes there and back. The way it’s all laid out I don’t really see there being a better alternative to what they have now so be prepared for multiple shitty trips if your going next year.

Expensive Food We ran out of food pretty quickly so on the last two days we had to buy food from the festival because you are not allowed to take your car from general parking once it’s parked. It was all around $20 for either a burger, poutine, thai food. It was just really expensive, I’ve heard most festivals are so don’t run into our problem and plan ahead on food for what your going to be eating each day it will save you $$$.

Weather Conditions Did I tell you it was HOT! Basically before 7pm our main focus was making sure we were hydrated. Not the festivals fault but assuming that It’ll be around the same time each year, mid July expect conditions to be the same. Luckily we found out about this ice cold creek about a 15 minute walk away from camp, go there! It’s beautiful, relaxing, and the water is cool. It’s a nice getaway from the festival. So stay hydrated drink lots of water and buy a bag of ice each day to keep it ice cold!

Showers and Charging Stations The line up for showers each morning was about a two hour wait plus it costed $5 per shower for GA Camping and to charge your phone to 100% each day took about two hours as they were connected to big batteries that everyone was using. So my best advice would be to shower at night like I did around 2 am when the last concerts are done for the night. For one it’s free and there’s no line, another pro tip would be to go with a buddy and take turns as charging stations were right outside the showers. So as one of you showers the other one is watching the phones charge!

Volunteers It was bad when you actually needed help, or needed info about something the volunteers were basically useless and were for the most part kept out of the loop by the organizers and since everyone there is a volunteer, they are all useless! Just ask fellow festival goers for advice for help it’s seems that they knew more.

Water Refill Stations I was a scumbag and didn’t stand in line to fill my water once. Instead I just walked up to the person who was in line first and asked them to fill my water for me after they finished filling theirs. I did this because the lines were TOO DAMN LONG! I came here to enjoy the festival not stand in line all day for water. So next year I hope they just add more refill stations all over the place aka every province should have a refill station and this would solve the problem.

The Wood Chip Flooring From what I heard the whole point of them was to prevent the walk being muddy if it rained, it didn’t. A good precaution but should be improved as all it did was kick up dust so your squinting and coughing the entire time. Also what’s the point of taking a shower if before you even get to the festival grounds your covered in dust?? It sucked because the main walkway from the campsites to the festival entrance were covered with this stuff.

The Festival Entrance for GA Camping There was only one. Why? The grounds were so big it was like a fifteen minute walk from my campsite to the entrance of the festival grounds but if there were an entrance on the other side everyone on the far side could enter the grounds in 5 minutes. Simple fix add more entrances. DUH!



THE GOOD

The Venue After you get through all walks back and forth from your car to camp site the actual festival grounds were great. They had four musical stages and one comedy stage. The stages were backed by beautiful mountains everywhere you looked you were staring at a gorgeous view. None of the stages bled into one another, I enjoyed my experience at every stage. The water spraying tent was a life saver, such an awesome thing and was a good way to cool off without going back to camp! I never tried the water slide, premise was cool but water spraying tent was just better in every way #nolines. The festival grounds were also kept pretty clean by staff, the campsites are another story.

The Line Up Get at me Squamish Fest because this year Pemby line up was just too saucy! Acts like Bassnecter, Kid Cudi, Father John Misty, Billy Talent, A$ap Ferg, Matt and Kim killed it to name a few. I went to around 26 concerts over the weekend, I only disliked one, Earl Sweatshirt because it was (refer to above) TOO DAMN HOT!

Security Now for the most part you’d want security when there is over 150,000 people coming to a festival over a weekend but I only saw about 5 the entire time and it was good that way. You had freedom and there is something about festivals which bring out the best in people so security/cops just weren’t needed.

After the lights went down Now we only got to experience this the last night because we were so tired all the other night. What I’m referring too is all the fun antics you get into during the evening from DJs that was set up in our province to the Pemberton Exclusive Chicken Fights. If your into late night antics Pemberton is for you but for the love of god get some rest, your gunna need it!

The People The other festival goers were all amazing! Everyone was there to elevate everyone elses experience, for example some people walked around with huge water guns just spraying people down and keeping everyone cool, I was sprayed down a few times; much appreciated! I never met one fowl person everyone there was there to have a good time and that’s what we did. It’s also a great place if you’re shyer because everyone is just more talkative, so if you’re looking to practice those skills Pemberton is the place to be!

The Experience Pemberton was my first musical festival and I thought it surpassed all my expectations but since I’m a rookie at this festival game I had to ask experienced festival goers if they enjoyed it and it was a resounding yes! They said it was one of the best festival you could go to. The line up was killer, the venue was amazing and the people were uber friendly, you can’t really ask for more!



Conclusion

Yes there were both good and bad about this festival but like most there are. I know this festival changed my life and I can’t wait to experience more, I already know I’m going to return next with all the new things I learned to make my experience even better. Hopefully this Good and Bad Guide helped you if your planning on going to Pemberton or any other festival!

P.S If you enjoyed this blog post, I hope you stick around for more posting and all my other shenanigans. Have an awesome day everyone!