Oh, say it IS so! Weezer will headline day two of the 2011 LIVE at Squamish Festival, running Saturday August 20 and Sunday 21.
Festival organizers announced the full line-up Monday. It will include Saturday headliners Metric, along with John Butler Trio, Girl Talk, Kyprios and Sweet Thing.
Sunday's line-up will include Weezer (of course), Major Lazer (made up of Diplo and Switch), the Zolas, Bend Sinister and Dubtribe Sound System.
More artists will be announced over the coming weeks but Paul Runnals, founder of the festival, says the performers announced on Monday are this year's "marquee acts."
"There are going to be more locals and some Sea to Sky corridor stuff, a couple more DJs and that sort of thing," Runnals says. "We'll flush out the rest of that over the coming weeks."
He says that organizers are "skewed" musically in the direction of indie rock - a bill both Weezer and Metric easily fit - but like last year, they wanted a strong electronic component.
"A lot of it comes down to who's available in the market place, that the dates can line up with and that makes sense for the kind of experience that we want to create," Runnals says, noting that it can be incredibly difficult wrangling acts for festivals, especially for a newer product lacking the partnerships, name-recognition and audience size of established festivals such as Coachella or Bonnaroo.
"You may have multiple offers in play at any given time and it's sometimes a week or two or three for an artist to come back and say, 'Yes,' or 'no', or 'not like that, like this.' So you're constantly shuffling and juggling and trying to keep the integrity of the music programming together, but you don't control it," Runnals says.
He adds that they may at some point aim to expand the festival but right now they're not aiming to re-create the 2008 Pemberton Music Festival. In the next five years, he says he'd like to max the festival out at 20,000 people, but for now organizers are taking the baby-steps approach in order to maintain the support of the community and the District.
"The small-to-mid-sized vibe is actually a nice, approachable vibe and it's family friendly, people can drive up to Vancouver really easily, they can drive down from Whistler very easily, there's no dramas with parking or traffic," he says.
Last year's festival brought in 13,000 people over the two days and was considered a successful first-time event, both for the festival and for local businesses. Runnals says that, with this year's line up and the date change away from the Labour Day weekend, he's expecting "much, much bigger numbers."
Like last year, organizers are holding open auditions for bands that want to play the festival. Those wishing to enter the running must upload a video, MP3 or MP4 along with a photo and bio, to the website - under the "Metro Presents" tab - which will then be voted on by the public between April 26 and May 6. The top five picks will then be voted on by a panel of judges, who will decide who gets to play the festival. The winner will also win $250 for travel expenses as well as free accommodation at the artists' camp ground.
Tickets go on sale Friday through www.liveatsquamish.com. Early-bird pre-sale tickets are $199 for VIP weekend passes, $119 for regular weekend passes and $79 day passes. Regular ticket prices will be $179 for weekend passes and $99 for single day passes. Admittance is free for children under 12.
On-site camping passes are $150 and include three nights of camping and on-site parking, along with exclusive access to the festival.
The festival site will be held between Loggers Lane and Highway 99, just north of the RCMP headquarters on Finch Drive. The festival will allow re-entry but the website says security has the right to refuse re-entry for intoxication.
