Taking everybody by surprise, 2010’s inaugural LIVE at Squamish emerged as one of the few successful events in a year that saw one major festival after another take a dive. With that victory behind them, organizers brand.LIVE have pumped up the spectacle for this year’s bash, taking place this weekend (August 20 and 21) at the Hendrickson Fields and Logger Sports Ground in Squamish.

“I’d say in terms of programming, we’ve added a few more artists that have a bigger bang,” brand.LIVE communications director Gregory Hegger told the Straight of a bill that includes Weezer, Metric, Major Lazer, Black Mountain, Stars, and Brasstronaut, among others. “And the site itself has been expanded, so you’re gonna see a lot more festival-type stuff.”

Among that stuff is a third stage, the Belmont Barbershop, where artists including Kuba Oms will perform acoustic sets while audience members can get “ ’50s buzz cuts on site”. The Silent Disco, meanwhile, is just that: a dance party with headphones.

And on Friday night, LIVE has decided to turn its sound check into a free show featuring Matinee and My!Gay!Husband!. “It’s limited to 1,000 people,” Hegger said, “and the beer garden will be rolling!”