Article and Photos By Giselle Portuondo
Bob Bryar (My Chemical Romance)
Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance)
Mike Ski 3(THE AKAs)
Aaron Gillespie (The Almost)
Danny Stevens (The Audition)
Shawn Harris(The Matches)
Brian (And Then There Were Machines)
Let’s put aside all the “Dirty Jersey” jokes and other things you’ve ever heard, because on May 5th the state of New Jersey was home to one of the best, if not the best Pop/Punk rock festivals I have ever been to—or even heard of for that matter.
It all started back in 2003 when The Bamboozle Festival was held as an annual event featuring local bands in Asbury Park. In 2005, Emo and Punk bands became more of the emphasis of the festival. Fast forward to May 2007 and The Bamboozle Festival swelled in popularity and size—it was held in none other than The Meadowlands Sports Complex. Now bigger than ever, the festival spanned two days, featured 150 bands, nine stages, a Ferris wheel, lots of dirt, 40,000 fans and some really good chocolate chip cookies.
The Bamboozle has everything you could ever imagine. And the performances range from bands such as Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, Hellogoodbye, Circa Survive, Linkin Park, and yes, even MC Hammer showed up at this year’s Bamboozle.
Thousands of fans gathered in the Meadowlands Sports Complex for the Bamboozle Festival. The clock hit noon, the doors opened and more than 40,000 fans rushed in and went straight to one of the nine stages featuring their favorite bands. As for me, I hit the Riot Squad Stage first and rocked out with bands such as The Look, The A.K.As, Drive By, and The Almost. This is how my day began, and so I grabbed my best friend and my sister, lots of water, and I was set to have the time of my life.
From thereon out it was madness. We went to the Main Stage and watched Hellogoodbye, who put up a great performance, rocking out with tunes from their latest album Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! Then we rushed over to the Monster Stage and had a blast with Saves The Day and The Starting Line, who both gave amazing performances. After that I had to run back to the Riot Squad Stage to see Moneen perform tracks from their album The Red Tree. Phew!
The sun started to set, and even though my feet were feeling the effects of running from stage to stage, it was hard to just sit and relax when only a couple of feet away a pretty insane performance was taking place. One of my favorite bands, The Almost, hit the Riot Squad Stage. They sang most of the songs from their new record Southern Weather in one of the best act of the night.
At around 9 p.m. everyone started moving towards the Main Stage. My Chemical Romance was minutes away from starting their set. And well, if you thought MCR put up a show when they come here to South Florida, oh you have no idea what went down as they took the stage at their home state of New Jersey, opening their set with “The End.”
The Black Parade took over. Fires, explosions, sound effects, elaborate sets, costumes, you name it, and it was on that stage. Following up with crowd favorites such as “Mama” and “Teenagers,” As The Black Parade, the band did not disappoint, they ended their set with “Famous Last Words.”
After that front man Gerard Way talked about a band that was about to come on the stage: “Personally I think their language is atrocious, and they don't know how to dress." The boys came back on stage as themselves (MCR) and performed some of their older tunes from Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, and the Jersey crowd was happy to hear favorites such as “Cemetary Drive” and I’m Not Okay” and many others. MCR finished their set with “Helena” and in what must have been a choir of more than 40,000 voices singing along with the band. MCR said their goodbyes and headed back to their buses. Slowly everyone began to spread out and head home. The shows were amazing, and the fans left happy but of course very tired.
I was pretty exhausted by the end of it all, and couldn’t wait to get to the hotel and just hug the bed. The Bamboozle went beyond my expectations. I have never had so much fun during a festival, and next year they will hit the Jersey scene again, it’s definitely worth the trip.
But you can still get a taste of this year’s Bamboozle. Brian Pohl, the coolest guy working in Riot Squad Records, told me that they had put together a CD compilation titled Everything Will Be Much Better Once I Get These Clowns Out Of My Head. It features live and studio tracks from bands such as Taking Back Sunday, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Circa Survive and many more. This is a MUST have, so go to the store and grab it , and/or check out more info on The Bamboozle Festival and Compilation on the web at www.thebamboozle.com and www.myspace.com/riotsquadrecordlable.
And hopefully I will see you next year for Bamboozle 2008.
Traveling to track your favorite bands? Tell Giselle at outloud@outloud.com