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At the end of day two of the Pemberton Festival, as I dusted off my keyboard (and I do mean that literally) to write this, I was still trying to shake off the drive that started the day: close to two-and-a-half hours to get from Whistler to Pemberton (a drive that normally takes 25 minutes) and then almost another half-hour waiting in the mosquito-ridden parking lot for the shuttle to get to the festival site. Yes, the transportation woes continued for the third straight day at the inaugural Pemberton Festival (as one of my shuttle-mates remarked: “Really good organization here. Can't wait for the Olympics.”) Fun!

Well, nothing like a day of excellent music to help those white knuckles unwind – starting with Sam Roberts, the indie darling from Montreal whose performance was so cool, as it wrapped up with one monumental (in both length and quality) jam, the skies opened up. The shower in no way put a damper on Saturday's main stage opener; it was in fact welcomed by the dusty crowd (stores in town were having trouble keeping mouth-and-nose-protecting bandanas in stock).

It was a good day overall here for Canadian music. Buck 65, backed by a turntable and his laptop (and calling himself “the loneliest man in Pemberton” as he had the stage all to himself), coolly conquered the complicated verbiage on tracks like Indestructible Sam and The Centaur, while offering descriptive dance moves to go with the smart, irreverent lyrics (the guy can shake his booty, it should be noted).

He also dispelled any illusions of glamorous backstage conditions, particularly the washroom situation. “The toilet looks like a moose took a dump in there,” he remarked, wondering aloud if perhaps Roberts or The Tragically Hip's Gord Downie were responsible.

The Vancouver group Black Mountain, also on the smaller Lillooet stage, sounded terrific. Too bad more people weren't there to hear the indie up-and-comers: The Tragically Hip went 25 minutes long, keeping fans over at the main stage for a good chunk of Black Mountain's set.

As for The Hip, it was a classic performance. As Downie made his way through hits including Courage, Ahead by a Century, Poets and New Orleans is Sinking, he was at his beloved weirdest, paying particular attention to the microphone stand (disassembling and handing pieces of it out to the audience, at times).

Too bad Downie felt the need to shout his way through the normally-gorgeous Grace, Too – squealing and grunting at times. Also Blow at High Dough was missing from the set list, leaving a gaping crowd-pleasing hole in the program.

However, The Hip show was great overall and the boys from Kingston, Ontario clearly should have been the second-to-last act on the main stage, instead of third-last. They packed in a huge crowd, much larger than the audience The Flaming Lips, who followed The Hip, managed to attract.

That may have had something to do with The Lips' sound. It was atrocious: muddy and not nearly loud enough. It was by far the worst sound of the weekend (in fact, the sound is generally surprisingly good for an outdoor venue of this size).

The Lips did deliver, however, on spectacle. There were Teletubbies and other assorted characters on stage, huge white balloons and confetti raining down on the crowd, and the entrance of the weekend (so far): frontman Wayne Coyne did his boy-in-the-bubble routine, rolling out into the audience inside a giant plastic ball.

The sound was no doubt partially to blame for the fans' lack of enthusiasm, which Coyne seemed to notice. He kept urging the crowd to rev it up. They didn't.

Headlining day two were Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: a surprise choice, given their era (really, some of the festival attendees may have been conceived to Petty's music back in his Free Fallin' heyday). But it worked. Petty, who seemed genuinely thrilled to be on the Pemberton stage, had the crowd singing along to hit after hit:– I Won't Back Down, Mary Jane's Last Dance, Refugee.

Petty's voice sounds great, but again the sound just wasn't loud enough. While it was great to hear everyone singing along to the chorus of Free Fallin', it's a problem when the audience completely drowns out the musician. One other Petty complaint (sorry, couldn't resist): the pauses between songs were just a little too long. The set needs to be tighter.

Day two's highlight: Canadiana! Low point: flame-out on The Flaming Lips' sound (and did I mention the traffic?).

Performances to look forward to on Sunday: a couple of little acts – Jay-Z and Coldplay. Also the U.S. musician Matisyahu, who offers the unlikely fusion of Orthodox Judaism and classic reggae. He'll close out the Lillooet Stage.