For relative unknowns like Vancouver's Black Mountain, the opportunity to play on the same bill as Tom Petty and the Tragically Hip at the Pemberton Festival was a welcome opportunity.
In recent months, the five-member outfit has created a buzz by showcasing its psychedelic sound to members of Oasis and the Black Crowes in Los Angeles. The band has also appeared at numerous festivals in Europe.
But the chance to play before 40,000 concert-goers virtually in their own back yard is still a milestone for this emerging group.
They didn't disappoint, judging by the enthusiastic response from a very sizeable audience which came to watch a show that resembled a head banger's heaven.
"We are used to playing in dirty bars,'' joked drummer Josh Wells just before Black Mountain took the stage at around 7:15 p.m. Saturday, just after the Tragically Hip wrapped up.
This was a reference to the towering mountains that surround the Pemberton area.
With just two albums under their belt, Black Mountain's music is like the Doors, Black Sabbath, and Led Leppelin all rolled into one, explained Daniel Pender -- a devotee who came from Victoria to watch.
"What I like about them is they let the music breathe," he said.
During an interview after the show, Wells said the band members all live in the east Vancouver area on Main Street and Commercial Drive. "I spent a couple of years at McGee High,'' he said.
Black Mountain has been together for about five years.
Their next appearance in the Lower Mainland will be at the end of August in Stanley Park.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Peter Kennedy.
