Pitchfork

Sure, smaller, more intimate gatherings are very, very nice. But this whole "enormous European-style summer music festival in North America" thing also appears to be a winning formula, given the current crop of promising upstarts rubbing shoulders with the juggernauts of the last several years.

One such fresh-faced youngster packing a wallop is the just-announced Pemberton Festival, which will bring thunder to the mountains near Pemberton, British Columbia July 25-27.

That thunder? Deep breath: Jay-Z, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails, the Flaming Lips, Interpol, Death Cab for Cutie, My Morning Jacket, Vampire Weekend, the Fiery Furnaces, Black Mountain, Metric, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist, Mates of State, Booka Shade, Secret Machines, M.A.N.D.Y., Buck 65, Brazilian Girls, MGMT, Chromeo, Sia, MSTRKRFT, and others, with more to come.

Also the Tragically Hip. This festival is in Canada, after all.

Like every other festival held in the middle of nowhere, Pemberton isn't exactly easily accessible by public transportation. To make up for the environmental sin of its very existence, the festival will be powered mostly by hydroelectric means, carpools of four or more will be rewarded with free parking, and there will be a farmer's market, making the "totally crunchy" burrito that dreadlocked gentleman sold you in the parking lot not only tasty, but locally-grown.