Coldplay triumphantly closed last night’s Pemberton Festival in British Colombia. Pictures of the event are here. Reviews and videos are below [will be updated as it happens...]

Setlist is below…

Coldplay heats up stage

Sunday, 11:00 p.m. - Coldplay is hot.

The mega-band is halfway through its set right now and, while it’s tough to match Jay-Z’s ability to hype the crowd, Chris Martin and Co. are doing an admirable job. Even Matin joked, “We’d like to thank Jay-Z for letting us open for him.”

But the crowd, many near the front sitting on shoulders and all armed with cellphones, are having none of that. After all, they’re getting the best of both worlds and, overall, it’s tough to complain after so many quality acts on stage.

Multimedia editor Mark Yuen and I are packing up our gear as we get ready to call the inaugural Pemberton Festival a wrap. That means it’s time to point the car south and head back to Vancouver. It’s been a long weekend, and it’s going to be an even longer journey back home.

So, officially now, that’s all folks!

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/

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Coldplay was worth the wait

The highly-anticipated performance by Coldplay at the inaugural Pemberton Festival north of Whistler, B.C., had to be anticipated for just a little longer on Sunday, as extreme traffic delays on the highway finally had an impact on the performances. American funk/hip hop/alt-rock band N.E.R.D. arrived late for their show – minus three of their five musicians – and took the stage 35 minutes late, putting the rest of the mainstage schedule off-balance for the remainder of the day.

Coldplay, it must be said, was worth the wait. The headliners – and the driving force behind the festival – put on a powerful show. Frontman Chris Martin exhibited more than his typical enthusiasm and what seemed like genuine appreciation that people came to the remote festival and stuck around long enough to hear his band, which took to the stage at 10:20 pm on Sunday night.

“You braved hours of traffic and rain – all to take a chance on a new festival,” he said, adding that the consensus was that the event has been “a great success.”

Too bad for distractions during Coldplay’s set: people departing in an attempt to avoid another long journey home, the slow-moving traffic visible behind the stage, the ever-present bass coming out of the B-Live tent across the field (particularly annoying during what should have been a Coldplay highlight: a short set on a tiny stage that included an acoustic version of The Scientist).

But overall, it was a strong show, with highlights that included Clocks, In My Place, and everybody singing along to Yellow.

Coldplay was preceded by an extraordinary performance by Jay-Z. For just over an hour, the New York hip hop star had the place in a tizzy – fans waving their arms in tribute and bouncing like crazy (the temporary wooden floor I was standing on felt positively trampolinesque). Some female fans showed their appreciation by flashing the crowd on the giant video screens – to great approval.

Jay-Z’s urban lyrics set against the silhouette of the darkening mountains as he sampled everyone from Amy Winehouse to the cast of the musical Annie, was something to experience. Even he seemed impressed.

As the show wrapped up, like a teacher handing out gold stars at the end of class, Jay-Z sent some shout-outs to audience members whose enthusiasm he had noticed. “You in the yellow t-shirt,” he pointed to a fan. “And you, baby girl.”

An unlikely highlight from earlier in the day was a stunning two-song collaboration between Dj Dopey and 16 members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. As the VSO played The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony, Dj Dopey ruled the turntable, and scenes from The Shining flashed on the screens behind the stage. The crowd in the B-Live tent ate it up. Future VSO subscription holders? Perhaps.

On unlikely combinations, the American Hasidic reggae almost-star Matisyahu closed out the smaller Lillooet stage with a spiritually-inspired performance that went with the gorgeous setting (at least the part of the show I managed to catch; there were scheduling conflicts with Dj Dopey and Death Cab for Cutie). In beard, yarmulke and side-curls, Matisyahu didn’t exactly look the Pemberton Festival part, but with musical talent like his, he fit right in.

N.E.R.D. – late though they were – got the crowd going with a high-energy, infectious performance. Okay, so they thought they were in Vancouver at first, and Pharrell Williams uttered the f-word more times than one could count, but their energy was almost unparalleled on Sunday (and then Jay-Z came along).

Wish I could say the same for Seattle’s Death Cab for Cutie. Perhaps it was festival fatigue setting in, but they just didn’t do it for me – or the crowd. After N.E.R.D. – and Dj Dopey – the performance simply felt lacklustre. Too bad, because they’ve got a lot to offer.

Highlight of the final day: a crowd crazy in love with Jay-Z.

Low point: the backlog caused by earlier traffic delays meant Coldplay didn’t wrap up their set until 11:40. And then, festival fans set out for what would no doubt be another long journey home.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com

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Coldplay Closes Down Pemberton Music Festival

The difference between Jay-Z’s steez and Coldplay’s is night and day. Where the rap star showed up with his band in natty suits and baggies, the Englishmen went for that ever-popular military officer’s style favoured by bands dating back to before the Beatles.

It was all colourful and happy. Chris Martin even looked like he’d been out in the Sun. Not so other members, but that’s what you hope for in pasty pop stars.

Always the most interesting element in the band, Martin has come a very long way from those early days when the band was filming videos at the Commodore Ballroom when Parachutes was breaking.

They are a huge group. One that has developed quite a potent live presentation too.

From the shifts in the arrangements to highlight the dynamics of the vocal harmonies and soaring crescendos in the bridges to the way that alll four members played off of one another, it was a spirited performance.
While I still find the group’s songs skew towards women who would like to be Gwyneth Paltrow, there is no denying that the anthemic nature of its arena rock is the sort of thing that — as reporter Claire Ogilvie noted — you can close your eyes to and re-live the moment.

That, Jay-Z did not create with his far more funk it up and get busy with it show. That he nailed his show was pointed out by Chris Martin too with a good deal of humility.

The well-oiled Coldplay machine moved from strength to strength. When tthe whole unit moved stage forward to sing in a line, it created a dramatic tension that could really be enhanced by the lasers and images of the band put up on the two screens on either side of the stage. And drummer Will Champion doubtless enjoyed a chance to be seen from the waist up as he ratatat’ed out a beat on one of those electropad kits. “Speed Of Sound” followed and was one of the evening’s highlights as guitarist Jonny Buckland chimed out the tune’s hook and Martin finally got behind the keys.

Guess which song was played when the whole stage and audience was bathed in yellow light? Yup, you got it; the first big hit “Yellow.”

Around this time, a woman nearby commented that ‘is it just me, or have they gotten prettier as time goes by?’ Yes, they have.

It’s amazing what image consultants and crazy wads of cash can do for your looks. I’m still waiting to give it a try; anyone else?

The big production moment came when the entire band suddenly dropped off the main stage, travelled down the long corridor to a small platform stage near the soundboard and hauled out acoustic instruments for a very intimate take on “The Scientist“ that was pretty classic.

“We were thinking, what could we do in Canada that we’d never done before,” said Martin, noting that the event had been an overwhelming success. Very true.

A success that wasn’t over yet either as the Crystal Method was just preparing to start spinning the the Bacardi B-Live tent in a matter of minutes.

All in all, a really fantastic three days.

Thanks are in order for all the concert-goers who kept it on the up and up, not turning any of the minor inconveniences into cause for misbehaviour and to all the hard-working volunteers on site. And, most of all, to Pemberton for letting us all come up and, admittedly, make a real mess all over someone’s farm and have a ball. We know that the bug population is going to miss all the extra food, but the fun’s gotta end at some point.

See you next year?

http://communities.canada.com/

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Coldplay closes Pemberton

Anticipation builds up in the rows and rows of people waiting for the End. As in Coldplay; the group credited with providing the raison d’être for the Pemberton Music Festival.

It’s almost 10:20. The re-scheduled start time was 10:10. Every time any movement occurs on stage there is roar. Then: release.

There is almost a sense of relief when the cascading waves of guitar rain down and the band kicks into “Violet Hill.” The first single from the group’s new album Viva La Vida. The stuttered two-step rhythm of the song gets the foot-stomping up and folks are fuh-reek-in. When the second tune is “Clocks,” followed by “In My Place” you know that the band is going for broke. Jay-Z upped the bar a lot.
Now it’s time to prove they’ve got what it takes.

It has been an incredible experience up here in this beautiful valley this weekend. Here’s looking forward to next year where I imagine we might see a little group from Hanna headlining. Just a hunch. If I’m right, you read it here first.

http://communities.canada.com

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Jay-Z some more

What makes a rapper start laughing out loud?

When the ladies in the crowd start doffing their tops and shaking what the good Lord gave them. Actually, the guys operating the jumbotron cameras love that, too. I mean, why put the headlining act up on screen for people to see when there is someone auditioning for Girls Gone Wild around?

Eventually, the boobies got boring and Mr. Beyonce started to soak up the attention from all of those people who were singing along to everything.

Just to show that he didn’t mind Coldplay having the closing slot, he even gave out a few compliments.

The UK quartet was going to have a tough time coming on after this high-energy greatest-hits performance.

http://communities.canada.com

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Pemberton Festival ends on a bang with Coldplay, Jay-Z

PEMBERTON, B.C. — Explosive back-to-back sets by Jay-Z and Coldplay capped the closing day of the inaugural Pemberton Festival, an ambitious three days of music set in a dusty B.C. mountain valley that, minus a few snags, was a resounding success.

The sun had just set behind the mountains on Sunday evening as Jay-Z took the stage to a roar of cheers - and quickly stole the show.

Backed by a brass band, the legendary producer and rapper worked the 30,000-person strong crowd into a frenzy. The ground shook as the audience thrust their fists in the air to hit after hit, including “99 Problems” and his breakthrough “A Hard Knock Life.”

“To come up and here and get this much love, don’t think I don’t appreciate it,” Jay-Z shouted to the thundering crowd.

“I appreciate each and every one of y’all out there.”

And while songs from Coldplay’s latest album, the critically lauded ‘Viva la “Vida or Death and All His Friends,” were interspersed throughout the band’s closing set, it was crowd favourites that took centre stage.

The band rushed to an impromptu stage in the middle of the audience for an acoustic, singalong rendition of “The Scientist,” and the crowd swayed and sang in unison to hits including “Clocks” and “Yellow.”

Singer Chris Martin even referenced the traffic problems that had plagued the festival, singing “When the festival traffic moves at a snail’s pace,” in “Fix You.”

A rainy Sunday morning threatened to turn the trampled sheep field into a giant mud pit before the clouds began to lift and music fans, many of whom had spent the previous three nights camped in fields surrounding the stages, gathered for the highly anticipated final day.

The promise of seeing such diverse acts as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Crystal Method and Nine Inch Nails in a beautiful mountain valley drew about 40,000 people to the remote community of Pemberton, B.C., 150 kilometres north of Vancouver.

For Seattle-based Death Cab for Cutie, the lineup was the deal breaker in deciding to play the festival during a break between European and Australian tours.

“I can’t imagine another time in our life where we’re going to get to say, ‘Stick around for Jay-Z,’ ” laughed drummer Jason McGerr.

The promise of a massive party appealed to others. About half of the festival-goers camped on site, in a sprawling campground that formed a horseshoe around the concert grounds. At times it looked like a refugee camp, with dusty tents and bright spotlights, save for the booming of a late-night DJ tent that echoed well past 2 a.m.

While talk of long waits on the narrow highway between Vancouver to Pemberton, chaotic parking and an impractical shuttle system dominated talk on the festival grounds on Saturday, a calm settled over the site on Sunday.

Rob Hepburn, 24, of Vancouver, said he’s able to look past a few organizational missteps.

“I think everyone understands that this is the first year the festival’s going on, and we’re all just excited to be here. The setting’s so great that everyone’s just willing to forgive it,” he said.

His brother, Jeff, flew in from London, Ont., for the show.

“At times it didn’t seem like they had complete control, but it’s to be expected. It’s their first time through, a lot of kinks to figure out and a lot of people to police.”

Still, the traffic chaos continued into Sunday. It took up to eight hours for some people to make the usual 20-minute trip between Pemberton and the nearby resort town of Whistler.

While it was clear that security was disintegrating Sunday, as concert goers openly flaunted smuggled-in alcohol and others boasted of walking in without tickets, a co-operative spirit of good cheer seemed to maintain order.

At a news conference on Sunday afternoon, organizer Shane Bourbonnais of Live Nation said his crew has “learned a lot of lessons.”

“Every great festival has its hiccups at the beginning,” he said.

“Obviously there are always kinks. We’ve identified all those issues, we’re taking notes and figuring out how we’ll improve on those issues.”

Bourbonnais said he’s already heard from seven bands interested in headlining the stages for the next festival.

The weekend also featured rising Canadian acts such as Buck 65, Wintersleep and Kathleen Edwards alongside the international heavy-hitters.

Canadian band Metric was one of the first to take the stage Friday, and singer Emily Haines says the mammoth festival marks a change in Canada’s music scene.

“The days of Canada being sort of insular and disconnected from the rest of the world culturally is over, and festivals like this are the first sign of that,” she said.

http://canadianpress.google.com/

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Music festival enjoys epic debut

Sunday began with rain and the threat of the site turning to a mud pit, but thankfully without early-morning sound checks ricocheting off valley walls.

The crowd swayed to Vampire Weekend. N.E.R.D.’s bouncy tunes preceded Death Cab for Cutie’s introspective rock and Coldplay provided a fitting weekend climax with cigarette lighter-lit epic rock.

http://www.metronews.ca/

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The world’s most palatable rock-and-roll band came to the sold-out Wachovia Center in South Philadelphia on Friday, working hard to please.

An hour and half spent with Coldplay is like enjoying a light summer meal, spread out on the lawn on a humidity-free late July evening. Chris Martin and his bandmates make for mildly engaging company, and even when they aim lasers to the rafters, the bombast goes down easy. Airy melodies carry the day, and it never threatens to become a hot and sticky situation.

At the Wachovia, the British foursome - which includes guitarist Jonny Buckman, bass player Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion - took the stage half-obscured behind a scrim, with Martin strumming an acoustic guitar on “Life in Technicolor,” the vaguely exotic instrumental that leads off the band’s formula-tweaking fourth album, Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends.

Then, the curtain came up to reveal the backdrop of Eugene Delacroix’s bare-breasted Liberty Leading The People - nudity, at a Coldplay show! - and the arena-sized entertainment began.

Sporting the silly blue and red military outfits that signal they’re all on the same soft-rock team, the foursome kicked off with “Violet Hill,” the dark and stormy first single off the Brian Eno-produced Vida. The rockers then proceeded to march through agreeable past hits like the mass singalong “Yellow” and momentum-gathering “Speed of Sound.” They also performed nearly all of Vida, the album that moved more than 700,000 copies in its first week of release.

Martin is a high-energy, ingratiating performer whose music is in its comfort zone when he’s bouncing on his piano stool on pulsing songs like “Clocks,” with verses that can’t help but hurry toward anthemic choruses before settling down to share intimate confidences. If you pay too close attention to the lyrics on ballads like “Fix You” and “The Scientist,” you might think you had wandered into a Hallmark-card pep rally.

And although the band’s tendency toward grandiosity can’t help but come off as U2-lite, Martin’s self-deprecating charm diminishes the cloying quotient. “Even objectively, this is a tremendous reception, and we’re incredibly grateful,” the well-spoken rock star told the crowd.

And to prove that Coldplay is a band of the people, the foursome closed the set with two acoustic songs played in the midst of the crowd, including a quite lovely “Death Will Never Conquer,” sung by Champion. That interlude went so well that Martin received several fist-bump congratulations from fans. “Don’t tell Fox News!” he quipped.

Mount Airy-raised Santi White - who has risen to ultimate hipster status as Santogold - warmed up with a half-hour set that did its best to connect with a half-full house. The Brooklyn-based White fronted an eight-member ensemble that expertly navigated the New Wave, dub, reggae and electro-pop textures of her Santogold debut. It wasn’t her crowd, but White was greeted warmly enough by the audience, even if she had to shout “Philadelphia!” twice to get a response that “sounds like my hometown.”

Singer-songwriter Jonah Delso - from Westhampton, Burlington County - won a WMMR-FM (93.3) contest to open the show. Delso did 20 solidly crafted minutes of piano-cushioned pop songs like “Elevator” and “Before I Go Away” that dovetailed nicely with the unfailingly pleasant sounds of the headliner.

http://www.philly.com/

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Mega-stars Coldplay wrap Pemberton Festival with a bang

Dazed and exhausted festival-goers had to wait until 10:15 p.m. Sunday night to witness the biggest act of them all, British mega-stars Coldplay.

The eager masses threatened to knock over fences and storm restricted areas to get closer to what many consider the biggest band in the world.

But the soothing — in comparison to Jay-Z– sounds of front man Chris Martin and his merry band of men seemed to bring joy and harmony rather than hostility. Thankfully.

Considering Coldplay has always trumpeted causes having to do with peace and humanity, it was a fitting mood to close this epic event.

The band appeased the crowd early on in the set by playing older favourites like Clocks and A Rush of Blood to the Head, but relied heavily on material from the new album, Viva la Vida or (Death and all His Friends) throughout the rest of the show.

Heavy doses of piano — such as on Speed of Sound — and bits of orchestral string arrangements — particularly on the new album’s title track — help with Coldplay’s appeal to the easy-listening masses, while their grand guitar ambitions give them ample rock cred.

The most stunning moment of the night’s set was when Martin stayed quiet and allowed the tens of thousands of people to sing the opening verse of the band’s breakout hit, Yellow.

The repeated refrain, “Look at the stars, look how they shine for you,” was marvelously fitting considering the dark and open skies above (even if clouds blocked the stars).

The band’s big, symphonic sound and their messages of hope and peace were a fantastic ending to a festival that certainly had its issues, but seemed to make the majority happy.

As Martin himself said: “The overwhelmingly positive consensus is that it’s been a great success.”

Review: Vancouver Sun

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Mega-stars Coldplay wrap Pemberton Festival with a bang

PEMBERTON — Dazed and exhausted festival-goers had to wait until 10:15 p.m. Sunday night to witness the biggest act of them all, British mega-stars Coldplay.

The eager masses threatened to knock over fences and storm restricted areas to get closer to what many consider the biggest band in the world.

But the soothing — in comparison to Jay-Z– sounds of front man Chris Martin and his merry band of men seemed to bring joy and harmony rather than hostility. Thankfully.

Considering Coldplay has always trumpeted causes having to do with peace and humanity, it was a fitting mood to close this epic event.

The band appeased the crowd early on in the set by playing older favourites like Clocks and A Rush of Blood to the Head, but relied heavily on material from the new album, Viva la Vida or (Death and all His Friends) throughout the rest of the show.

Heavy doses of piano — such as on Speed of Sound — and bits of orchestral string arrangements — particularly on the new album’s title track — help with Coldplay’s appeal to the easy-listening masses, while their grand guitar ambitions give them ample rock cred.

The most stunning moment of the night’s set was when Martin stayed quiet and allowed the tens of thousands of people to sing the opening verse of the band’s breakout hit, Yellow.

The repeated refrain, “Look at the stars, look how they shine for you,” was marvelously fitting considering the dark and open skies above (even if clouds blocked the stars).

The band’s big, symphonic sound and their messages of hope and peace were a fantastic ending to a festival that certainly had its issues, but seemed to make the majority happy.

As Martin himself said: “The overwhelmingly positive consensus is that it’s been a great success.”

http://www.canada.com/

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Pemberton Festival: Coldplay

You all know that I think Chris Martin is one of the ultimate best British frontmen around. He’s at once sexy, coy, charismatic and captivating. Coldplay, along with Live Nation were the brainchild behind the Pemberton Festival, and Chris Martin helped hand-pick the location along with some of the lineup.

Because of N*E*R*D’s tardiness, the rest of the main stage’s set times were bumped up by almost an hour. Instead of going on at 9:30pm, Coldplay took the stage at 10:20 and played till 11:40, well past the venue’s 11pm outdoor curfew.

Chris was sweating like a beast by the third song (Clocks) - as usual he was really working hard on stage. I loved the accompanying black and white visuals during Viva La Vida that showed footage of Chris, Guy, Jonny and Will as a string quartet performing those sections of the song. A very nice touch.

And during Yellow, incidentally the only song the band performed off their debut album Parachutes, Chris got lots of help from the crowd, who were eager to join in. It’s a very hard song to sing along to…the lyrics are simple, yet everyone seems to forget the proper order. And sometimes he mixes it up. I would have loved to have heard Sparks or Everything’s Not Lost…or even Don’t Panic or Trouble, but alas, there was no time.

At one point the band stormed down the security-only catwalk to the soundboard and performed an acoustic version of Lost and then The Scientist. Jonny, Will and Guy all surrounded Chris with their acoustic guitars. It was like a band of brothers - this new kinship that the band really feels like sharing with the rest of the world. Then, just as suddenly as they’d appeared at the soundboard, they were back on stage, blasting into an explosive version of Politik.

I can only assume that the band wasn’t able to supply the crowd with an encore due to the late start time - they ended with Death And All His Friends. It’ll be interesting to see what other setlists look like when the band continue their tour in support of the album for the rest of the summer. Full setlist below!

Setlist

Life In Technicolour (intro)
Violet Hill
Clocks
In My Place
Viva La Vida
42
Fix You
Chinese Sleep Chant
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
Speed Of Sound
Yellow
Lost!
The Scientist (Acoustic)
—–
Politik
Lovers In Japan
Death And All His Friends
The Escapist (outro)

http://blog.muchmusic.com/

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Coldplay and Jay-Z closed this year’s edition of the Pemberton festival yesterday (July 27th) – an event which had been plagued by travel chaos.

The headline acts both performed on the main stage at the three day festival in B.C. Mountain, which was in its first year.

Their appearances came at the end of an event which had been dominated by talk of long queues, inadequate parking facilities and dusty campsites.

One festivalgoer told the Canadian Press that “at times it didn’t seem like they (organisers) had complete control”.

But most seemed accepted that the event would learn from its mistakes and return in 2009.

‘Fix You’ Lyric Change

While Jay-Z stuck to a set packed with his greatest hits, including ‘99 Problems’, Coldplay treated fans to a number of new songs from their latest record ‘Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends’.

During a rendition of ‘Fix You’, frontman Chris Martin changed the lyrics in reference to the event’s travel problems, singing: “When the festival traffic moves at a snail’s pace.”

Other acts who performed over the course of the three days included Death Cab For Cutie, Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker and Nine Inch Nails.

www.gigwise.com

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Coldplay show solidarity in Pemberton’s dust

If you remember one thing when packing for next year’s Pemberton Festival, let it be this: bring a bandanna. If the 2009 edition is anything like this year’s inaugural event, that simple garment might just save your weekend.

When the wind kicked up on Day 3, for instance, people wore theirs Zapatista-style to guard against inhaling their weight in dust. With the midafternoon sun beating down, doo rags all over the site were pulled over scalps Aunt Jemima–like, or rolled into headbands to keep the sweat out of people’s eyes.

A few fashionable types knotted their bandannas jauntily around their necks, while two of the site’s filthiest brutes used them as face cloths, soaking them in four-dollar bottled water and birdbathing in plain sight of all.

The bandanna was a fitting symbol of the first edition of Pemberton, a smaller counterpart to American festivals like Bonnaroo and Coachella, but one that scored a typically Canadian victory in its own modest way. When Coldplay wrapped up the weekend’s main-stage activities, it felt less like an ending than the start of something special.

Earlier in the day, the Fiery Furnaces’ Eleanor Friedberger opened the Lillooet Stage sporting high-waisted navy-blue slacks, a checkered cowgirl shirt, and a red western bow tie, looking like the kind of woman John Ford might have cast if he’d made ’70s art-porn.

Swinging from terse spoken-word verses to howling choruses, the singer was a cross between Laurie Anderson and PJ Harvey, vamping over guitarist Jason Loewenstein’s blues riffs and her brother Matthew’s smeary runs across the keys of a vintage Fender Rhodes. The band’s dizzying brand of carnival-rock seemed to confuse some onlookers, but it delighted a contingent of Pemberton’s rarest species: the bearded Main Street hipster.

When his face flashed on the big screen, Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig bore an uncanny resemblance to Crispin Glover, but from a distance, wearing plastic-framed sunglasses and a faded jean jacket with the sleeves rolled up, he looked more like a thrift-store version of Tom Cruise circa Risky Business.

Koenig’s preppy quartet believes the world needs more Paul Simon, and as the sun broke through the clouds over the Mount Currie stage, that seemed like a very good notion indeed. The more they ripped off Simon’s Graceland, the better the New Yorkers sounded, their splashes of West African guitar and jaunty rhythms inciting joyous sing-alongs and the kind of silly dance moves people usually keep to their living rooms. Vampire Weekend was followed by N.E.R.D., which trades in a weird brand of lifeless juvenile rap-rock that wasn’t fooling anyone, not even the rubes visiting from Alberta.

Back at the Lillooet Stage, the guys in Wintersleep ambled on-stage looking like the university students who adore them—shaggy, sunburned, and utterly nondescript. Still, the campus favourites were the weekend’s most resilient act, having made the journey overnight from Louisiana, where they’d had their gear stolen. Borrowing equipment (and an overall sense of lameness) from fellow CanCon rocker Sam Roberts, the Nova Scotians scored with “Weighty Ghost”, the kind of jangly number to which the only sensible response is to sway, very slowly. Near the back, a couple of beefy guys did just that, their arms thrown around each other’s necks, beerily reciting grisly lyrics about death and decay.

Halfway between the two main stages, a Jackson Pollock–style painter tossed colours haphazardly at a pair of human canvases, two bleary shirtless dudes looking to cover up the muck and sweat of three days of camping. Beyond them, Bellingham–spawned Death Cab for Cutie was proving it’s become an ideal festival act—just muscular enough to get people’s attention, and just catchy enough to hold it.

Over on the Lillooet Stage, charismatic Jewish-American rapper Matisyahu cut a striking figure, dressed all in black except for the electric-blue Asics on his feet. The New Yorker—who looks more like he should be presiding over a bar mitzvah than riding reggae beats—spun all the hippie fairy princesses into wild dervishes, his sing-song patter like Sean Paul for the socially conscious.

If you blinked you might have missed DJ Dopey’s brief collaboration with members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra inside the Bacardi B-Live tent, where club kids went for stiff drinks and funk- and soul-oriented beats from local heroes Sean La-La, Vinyl Ritchie, and Oakland’s DJ Shadow.

As the sun fell over Mount Currie, Jay-Z turned in a performance that concertgoers will tell their grandchildren about. Backed by a 10-piece band in matching black-and-white formal wear, the man born Shawn Carter hopscotched across his catalogue, offering a master class in vocal technique, rhythm and timbre held in delicate balance throughout. A raging mosh pit erupted during the guitar riff-driven “99 Problems”, which the band turned into a cover of “Back in Black”, proving that Hova’s biggest crossover hit is not just a great rap single, but perhaps the best rock song of the decade.

After racing without banter through his staggering number of street anthems, Jay-Z concluded with a heartfelt thanks to the crowd, picking out a couple of dozen disciples for special mention—like the superfan upfront who rapped along with every word, the lunatic who danced with his crutches swinging wildly in the air, and, especially, the pixie who bared her breasts for the big screen.

While the rap fanatics retreated, everyone else rushed forward for Coldplay, whose brand of triumphant pop is tailor-made to the scale of an outdoor mega-festival at night. Lead singer Chris Martin was in fine form, nailing all his soaring parts and bounding giddily across the stage, ever the endearing, self-deprecating fool. When the Englishmen launched into “Viva La Vida”, he seemed to want to leap out of his skin, basking in the peculiar satisfaction that must come when 40,000 strangers are singing your own words back to you.

If you looked closely, you could see he was wearing bandannas, too, wrapped as arm-bands on his jacket, as if in solidarity with every dust-caked survivor below.

http://www.straight.com/

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Superstar Jay-Z steals the show as Pemberton Festival is branded a hit

He wasn’t the only A lister in town, though. Chris Martin and his band Coldplay delighted the audience with a string of their best-known songs - including Yellow and Clocks

After three days of performances from the likes of indie outfit Death Cab For Cutie, rockers Nine Inch Nails and N.E.R.D, big guns Coldplay and Jay-Z descended on British Columbia to close the first ever Pemberton Festival in style on Sunday.

The presence of such massive names in the remote mountain town wasn’t just a thrill for the fans. Fellow performers were equally as delighted to be billed alongside them. “I can’t imagine another time in our life where we’re going to get to say, ‘Stick around for Jay-Z’!” enthused Death Cab For Cutie drummer Jason McGerr.

As the US rapper treated the screaming audience to renditions of hits including 99 Problems and Hard Knock Life, it was clear the star was enjoying proceedings, too. “To come up here and get this much love, don’t think I don’t appreciate it,” he shouted to the 40,000-strong crowd. “I appreciate each and every one of y’all out there!”

And Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, who guest starred on Jay-Z’s hit song Beach Chair, has nothing but praise for the US superstar - whose real name is Shawn Corey Carter. “He’s the best rapper in the world,” he declared.

http://www.hellomagazine.ca/news/20080728357/jay-z/coldplay/bc/1/

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My little review:

Starting off I slowly got aggravated waiting in line to get into Pemberton for what seemed like hours. I eventually got there. Wandered around the site for awhile. Wasnt as committed to getting front row so i stood on a barricade 45 feet back and got a good view of the stage.

“How you doing Vancouver!?…Ive just been informed we are in Pemberton! Doesnt matter Cause we are here in Canada” Good job generalising the second largest country in the world. N.E.R.D. only thing they were good for was putting the final nail in the traffic coffin; by getting caught in traffic and delaying their set 30 minutes . They proved to the organizers that traffic was BAD. the 30 minutes eventually grew to over an hour with reoccurring sound problems.

Death Cab was very good, 5 minuite bass solo was awesome. Good Energy, and like he said :The only time I will be able to say this in my life. JAY-Z is next!!!”

Hova provided an electric set with hit after hit after hit. I enjoyed his set a lot his last was the best Encore! “I love Canada you gotta tell boarder guard to be gentle on HOVA so he can come back!

Coldplay…from the first note of Life In Technicolor(the second time) to the last note of The Escapist. They were brilliant. Playing hit after hit that pleased the crowd of 30,000 strong.

“You all stayed?” Of course we did Chris, you guys are amazing. The first Sunday Singalong was Viva La Vida which was amazing. immediately followed by Fix You. “Lights will guide you hoooome and ignite your bones….and i will try to fix you” the crowd sang for chris as usual! “I want to thank you for taking a chance on a new festival that you didnt know if it was gona be shit or great. Its turned out great.”

Then the last part of lost! “Just because Im losing doesnt mean im…” Lost the crowd sang rather dismally. “Oh come on one more time and we’ll come all the way to the back. To which the back roared LOST!

The b-stage performance was cool. I got 10 feet from the Jesus Of Cool. And after that the best moment of the concert came. In the form of….POLITIK.

After Politik I could have gone home happy. We got Lovers with major confetti which was pretty cool…was hoping for fireworks as it being out doors.

“This is our last song tonight. Thank you for coming sticking through traffic! See You soon” Death and All His Friends, was brilliant.

The show blew me away. I sit here now praying for a 2009 N.A. tour with Vancouver stops to see them again in a more intimate setting and seats…those are a must for a good week.

Overall Im looking forward to next year, I’ve learned from this experience and will that those lessons to next years fest!

[thanks Malcolm-Edge]

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VIDEOS

LIFE IN TECHNICOLOR/VIOLET HILL [thanks backpackdave]
Another version of Violet Hill [thanks azardeus]

CLOCKS [thanks backpackdave]
Another version [thanks maggiethecat17]

IN MY PLACE [thanks azardeus]

VIVA LA VIDA [thanks backpackdave]
Another version [thanks cay87]

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FIX YOU

CHINESE SLEEP CHANT

GOD PUT A SMILE UPON YOUR FACE

SPEED OF SOUND

YELLOW [thanks CharMCope15]

LOST! (Chris Martin falls on stage) [thanks azardeus]

THE SCIENTIST [thanks ianmacktube]

Another version [thanks cay87]

POLITIK [thanks benmacinnis]

LOVERS IN JAPAN [thanks azardeus]

DEATH AND ALL HIS FRIENDS