Drake will be headlining this year’s Squamish Valley Music Festival, which is happening Aug 7-9.Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images
It's the latest competitive push at massive music festivals: offer plush accommodations, catered food and – be still campers' hearts – hot showers and flush toilets, and you'll attract the VIP crowd that loves big-name acts, but doesn't want to rough it with the masses.
Upping the comfort quotient was a top priority for this year's Squamish Valley Music Festival, which last year doubled in size from 18,000 attendees to nearly 35,000 fans who flocked to the grounds to see Eminem, Arcade Fire, Bruno Mars and other top acts.
This year, Canadian hip-hop star Drake, a harder-rocking Mumford & Sons and soul crooner Sam Smith are headlining, and the varied lineup includes Alabama Shakes, A$AP Rocky, Of Monsters and Men, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, The Kills, Kaskade, Brandon Flowers and dozens more. Also on the bill are homegrown favourites from Arkells to Mother Mother to Whitehorse.
For a hefty price – $1,299 plus fees for a weekend pass – festival-goers can now get access to private chalets (think private boxes at sports arenas) as well as a concierge service, upscale dining, premium cocktails, free Wi-Fi, great stage sightlines and more.
"We've made quite an investment in upgrading the VIP areas and the tickets are selling at a rate far beyond anything we've seen," says brand.LIVE senior VP Paul Runnals, who first launched the mega music festival six years ago. "It's going to be quite something – the furniture, the décor, everything – and people are going to be saying, 'What is that? And how do we get in there?'"
The fest has also expanded its art installations, adding a full art pavilion with social-media-friendly sculptures, murals and interactive pieces, and boosted the number of performers who play impromptu sets around the campgrounds and in town.
Of course, there are plenty of downsides to mega festivals, from parking woes to poor sightlines to painful sunburns, and even the cheap seats aren't cheap. (A single day pass is $150 and a weekend pass is $325.) So what keeps people going back?
"I think there's a tremendous power that can be realized when you're surrounded by that many people. There is an energy here that's palpable that you don't get with small crowds," says Mr. Runnals, who also loves the more intimate musical moments that happen when everyone wanders back to their campsites. "It's only when everybody is in that same moment together."
The Squamish Valley Music Festival is at Centennial Field, Logger Sports Grounds and Hendrickson Fields in Squamish Aug. 7-9.