Jenjie Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 Traffic and Dust Problems Overshadow Pemberton Festival's Big Name Line-Up Over the weekend, the Pemberton Festival brought artists like Jay-Z, Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails and the Flaming Lips to play to more than 40,000 festival-goers in the B.C. wilderness. But it also brought a fair share of chaos as well. According to several news reports, the inaugural music fest was marred by kilometres-long traffic jams, chaotic parking lots, choking clouds of dust, overflowing toilets and overworked medical tents. After many fans got hung up on the 30-kilometre stretch of highway between Whistler and Pemberton— some for over five hours — they were greeted by parking situation that left many scratching their heads. “Getting here from Whistler was a nightmare,” festival-goer Adelle Papp told CBC News. “Then we paid $90 for parking, and we just stumbled on it. There was no one directing traffic, nothing.” Exclaim! correspondent Amanda Ash, who covered the festival for us, faced a different obstacle of her own when he bus turned over, forcing the passengers to escape through the emergency exits. “Our bus flipped last night because they didn't make the roads big enough to fit two cars. Awesome,” said reported. “I’ve never had to use the emergency escape before last night. It's kinda funny after the fact (especially since parts of this festival are a total disaster, as I'm sure you've already heard) but during the whole tipping process I thought I was going to die. Haha.” Amanda also gave a more detailed account of the traffic jam, adding, “There's only one road in and one road out, so traffic was a nightmare. Tour buses were late (obviously). I missed half the festival on Saturday because I was stuck in traffic for over three hours. Another reporter was stuck in traffic for six hours yesterday. Police couldn't get in and ambulances couldn't get out. Oh, and the place looks like a makeshift refugee camp because there were only a handful of garbage cans. All the papers on Friday pretty much said it was a gong show.” Once everyone managed to pass all the traffic hurdles, many had to play the waiting once more, with line-ups to get a beer, use the toilet and even get a bottle of water being almost as long as those on the highway. And while this may be expected for a festival of this size, concertgoers had to do it all while inhaling clouds of dust kicked up by crowds on farmer’s field-turned-festival site, forcing many to cover their faces with scarves to avoid inhaling the dust. Over at the first aid tent, Dr. Samuel Gutman told the Vancouver Sun that the dust had been causing a lot of problems for some festival-goers. “With the dust, we’ve seen lots of respiratory illnesses, and lots of hay fever, which makes sense, given the floor is spread with hay,” he said. He said, the medical team treated about 250 cases a day, with the roving response teams taking care of about 600 to 800 people a day. “To give you a persecutive, at Lion’s Gate, which is a main trauma receiving hospital, we’d see 120 a day,” Gutman told the Sun. “Friday we did over a hundred IVs. We actually completely exceeded our stock.” Also, it seems the security wasn’t as tight as promised, causing many music fans to come out with complaints. "Security was giving up," concertgoer Chris Betts told the Canadian Press. "There were no checks and no one seemed to know who was in charge." Another Pemberton audience member told the CBC: "It was kind of like going to a war zone. It feels like entering a refugee camp: tents, blowing dust and bright lights." Yet, despite the problems, Pemberton Festival organizers are already talking about doing it all again next year. “In our inaugural year, there are obviously kinks and we have identified those issues and we have been taking notes and figuring out how we can improve,” festival producer Shane Bourbonnais of Live Nation told the Province newspaper. “We have already started looking at ways of fixing them, working toward a much smoother festival for next year.” http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=115&csid2=844&fid1=32743 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busybeeburns Posted July 29, 2008 Author Share Posted July 29, 2008 Coldplay @ Pemberton Festival-Life in Technicolour + Violet Hill-2008-07-27 <embed src="http://blip.tv/play/AcWMI4f2FQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="510" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasluvsjonny Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 ^ First, that is some high quality video :stunned: Second, you left some discriptions out Ian...need to add "drunk Canadains singing Lover Boy, badly" and "I'm dead sexy" :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimixxx Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 That's a great vid :D Pity that stupid girl who works there decided to ruin the view, but still ace! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BostonSportsTD Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 haha thos people were ridiculous. but the part with coldplay actually in it was very good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlaatje Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 this is during the song LOST and he falls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdgEZ-ehE04 might i add he falls sooo really funny i know i'm not suppost to laugh but... :laugh3: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasluvsjonny Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 this is during the song LOST and he falls: might i add he falls sooo really funnyThose bullets finally got him. :laugh3: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimixxx Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 http://www.flickr.com/photos/kottur/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaycee Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 Great show - i tried to get near the front but got squashed, drenched with water when someone threw it, and crowd surfed over, so I gave up. I'll post some videos (from the safety of the VIP compound of to the side) in awhile! 3000 km drive in the past 6 days - 13 km long traffic jams - took us 4 hours to get into the festival site on Sunday - they REALLY need to make some major changes! It's a small town of 1000, with 40,000 people arriving on one 2 lane road!!!! It was VERY dusty too, and long lineups for everything - toilets, food, drinks, etc, etc, etc. But Coldplay made it all worth while!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephBerryman Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 Will look right into it, Guy seemed normal-ish. As headliners I think Coldplay got a helicopter in to avoid the line. Other bands didnt. I think we were infront of Wintersleep on the way in. They need to widen the road next year 4 lanes is essential as it would have cut wait times in half. The show was brilliant though, aside from drunk people. Took us 3 hours to get into Pemberton (5KM) then after the concert it was 2 hour wait to the airport (5KM) and another 2 out. Then 6 hours to whistler (30km) Yikes! the traffic i endured was a cakewalk compared to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColdplayCold Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 Chris Martin Falls On Stage...LOL Hopefully he didn't get injured. I thought he was drunk for a second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altimax98 Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 That was pretty funny, but he didnt miss a beat. Thats impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uwwedoogie Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 hey you robbed my avatar :P:P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaycee Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 Here is a video of 42 and Fix You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMFL-ubnTH0 And some photos of the main stage, and the long lineup on the road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRYSTAL Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 great kaycee, any one have videos for chinese sleep chant and god put a smile upon your face? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 Pics from Rolling Stone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaycee Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 great kaycee, any one have videos for chinese sleep chant and god put a smile upon your face? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY2rvOwepDo There you go! Chinese Sleep chant (missing first few seconds) and GPASUYF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRYSTAL Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 thanks kaycee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimixxx Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 Roadie #42 - Blog #17 July 30, 2008 11:02 pm #42 becomes a mountain person We arrive in Whistler pretty dazed and confused. The travel has been fairly brutal once again - but hey,nobody said it was easy... All I knew about this in advance was that it's a festival. I think I vaguely got the idea that there would be some trees. But the van ride from the airport to Whistler lays it all out before us in glorious technicolour. Mountains, lakes, glacial streams, it's all here. The road hairpins its way around the mountains revealing another breathtaking vista with every turn. By the time we reach the hotel, pretty much the entire crew have decided that they're going to knock touring on the head and retire here to write their memoirs. OK, maybe that's just me, but it's pretty much as gorgeous as planet earth gets here, so suddenly the sleep deprivation seems a little more worthwhile. The fact that the hotel itself is an out of season ski-lodge can't help but bring to mind 'The Shining'. This doesn't improve when I meet Production Assistant Marguerite in the lobby at 3am for the load-in. She tells me there is only one road in and out, which has been closed due to an accident. I decide to go back to bed, but the first sign of a little bloke on a trike shouting "Red rum" and I'm off. Cutting to the show itself, I can't not mention standing at the side of the stage to watch Jay-Z's set. Notonly is he more than able to blow a crowd away, but the punters are right up for it. As for his band - well any tighter and they'd have imploded. He "bigs up" our boys generously before he leaves and walks away from a job well done - not to mention leaving the bar set rather high. Never ones to shy away from a challenge, our fellas throw themselves into it with abandon. It's one of those size crowds where you start to wonder whether the people at the back can see for the curvature of the earth, but they're clearly trying to project right to the very back. As they steam into In My Place, every part of Will's drumkit is bouncing,rocking and swinging in an almost cartoon-like slo-mo explosion. It looks like he's literally trying to break his kit to pieces - and may well succeed! Inevitably, the hits get the rowdiest response. Festivals are ever thus. It's telling, though, that despite the prospect of utterly horrendous traffic and the temptation of leaving early, the crowd hardly dwindles until the outro is run. It's been the first run for the Pemberton festival, as well as the first festival show for us on this tour. I reckon we all did pretty damn well. http://www.coldplay.com/newsdetail.php?id=86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRYSTAL Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 apart from Chris falling down does any one have Lost full video? and yeah also speed of sound. because these are the only ones i haven't seen left over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephBerryman Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 oh my goodness...Whistler is gorgeous! That's my next vacation spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenjie Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 darned #42. he always wait for me to go for breakfast/lunch/home/bed before posting, after i've been refreshing Coldplay.com on and off for hours. I'm starting to get a complex :laugh3: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busybeeburns Posted July 31, 2008 Author Share Posted July 31, 2008 http://www.flickr.com/photos/n-r-t/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busybeeburns Posted July 31, 2008 Author Share Posted July 31, 2008 http://www.flickr.com/photos/amvanimere/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busybeeburns Posted August 1, 2008 Author Share Posted August 1, 2008 New pics @ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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