Ramble On: Day One of the musical orgasm

It was like a Jewish concentration camp...in reverse.
I entered the grounds of the Pemberton Festival via a bus, after a long drive from Edmonton to Pemberton through the Lillooet road. We had camped overnight in a parking lot near the entrance, and the next day after the tickets were dealt with, we were waiting for a shuttle bus to pick us up.
Three buses came fairly quickly within half an hour, but apparently the day before some people were waiting for over 8 hours for a bus and some gave up and started marching to the entrance in the dark.

After packing in our bags and packing into the stuffed bus, we all started cheering and singing "This is the song that doesn't end" for one round only. People were running along the road beside the bus frantically trying to throw their packs in. We were happier than pigs in shit: all we had left to do was set up our camp, which was a lot more difficult than it sounds.

We were dropped off at the entrance of the gate, but our campsite was a 10-minute walk away because all the closer campsites were already taken by people who arrived the day before. It was hell dragging all our crap to the site, some people simply wrapped up everything they had in a tarp and dragged it along the road.

Within minutes I knew that we had a serious case MERRITT MOUNTAIN FEST LEFTOVERS.

After we set up our camp I headed straight to the main stage because mother fuckin' Metric was opening!!!!!! I was there two hours early, and one hour before the Festival was to officially start the guards opened up the gates and all die-hard Metric fans rushed to the stage hoping to get a front row spot.

And I did!!!! I nearly soiled myself, I wasn't expecting it to be sooo easy to get to the front row.
Waiting for the set to start it was obvious some in the crowd were already wasted. We started singing the national anthem and chanting "Metric" until some drunk-o yelled "FUCK CANADA" and each head turned in his direction.

Metric's set was more than amazing, and I was inches away from Emily Haines. She looked a lot different than I expected her to look, and was probably pushing 40, along with the other band members. For the last song Haines stated how much she enjoyed us singing the National Anthem, and then asked us to sing along to "Metric's national anthem" ("Live it Out"). They played an awesome slower version and I proudly belted out each word of the song. Emily then left the stage as the rest of the members sang the outro, and then surprised everyone in the front row by running along the front of the stage.

Although Metric's crowd was pretty big, Wolfmother drew most of the drunk hicks to the stage. I stuck in there in the front row and was completely blown away. Lead singer Andrew Stockdale was nothing what I thought he would look like, and I couldn't believe that amazing voice came out of such a tiny guy. I was told beforehand that Stockdale was an asshole who was known for throwing temper tantrums during concerts, but he seemed like a humble guy who was enjoying himself as much as we were. He was constantly looking over the sea of faces in the crowd and made eye contact with us several times. (yay!)

But the bassist was superbly lame and thought tilting the keyboard over while he played it was "cool."

Next was Serj Tankian, I'm not a huge fan but I was excited to see the lead singer of System of a Down so close in the flesh, so I decided to stick around in the front row. I was disappointed to say the least. Serj is creepy, not freaky like in his SOAD days. He chose possibly the worst song to open up with and merely moved his arms around and smiled this creepy smile. All his band mates were wearing black top hats, but not Serj of course, he was wearing white (how original). Honestly, I left after the first song, and was walking away while he started singing "Empty Walls" but I don't regret it.

I took a break from getting squished in the mosh pit and came back to watch half of Interpol's set. and this I regret. The energy was amazing and the crowd was started to grow past the main stage area and back near the concession stands. People were dancing and sitting far back from the stage and watching the big screen, and I had no choice but to stand amongst them because I couldn't push my way closer to the stage. I was truly blown away even though I have been told many times how awesome Interpol is. The lead singer would constantly look at the scenery of the mountains behind the crowd and you could tell he was impressed.

And then...Nine Inch Nails took the stage. It was FUCKING CRAZY. I tried to get up close, but I almost broke my wrist. I barely even remember those minutes of standing near the stage because it was such a blur, I was concentrating hard on trying to see Trent Reznor while getting shoved around like a rag doll. The lights and the sound were more than impressive, since they were the headlining act for Friday. Although it was a great show I was disappointed at how fat and sober Trent Reznor looked, and that he didn't play "Heresy." Shame on you, Reznor.