So after my first Bamboozle experience when I said I would never spend $6.50 for a sausage sandwich again,
I bit the bullet and decided to try another Bamboozle festival at the
Giants' Stadium parking lots. After all, I did have fun last year and
plus Snoop was gonna be there. I'd wanted to see him since the 90s.
I
got a late start and then hit traffic so I didn't get there until
after Sebastian Bach played with the Sleeping Ft. Thank goodness I'd
seen him before or I'd have been pissed. I met up with my friend and
we started to strategize. I knew going in I wanted to see the biggest
name bands in order to feel like I really got my money's worth. With
that in mind we started off by catching Story of the Year. This is
another band I had wanted to see for a while now. They were pretty
good but the performance marred by one of the guitar amps that kept
cutting in and out. Then we wandered around and heard a little of
Streetlight Manifesto but neither of us really were into it. I managed
to get a few free demos from the Victory Records tent and then eyed
some burritos from afar.
Next came Red Jumpsuit
Apparatus. I saw them last year and the crowd was good but their sound
was pretty bad. It started off much the same this year. You couldn't
hear the lyrics and the sound was pretty muddled. It got a little
better as the set progressed, however. But then they went and covered
"Hero" by the Foo Fighters. Now, anybody who knows me knows I love the
Foo Fighters, but when you have only 30 minutes to perform and you are
already a pretty well known band there is no need to do covers. After
a few more songs I cut them a little short and decided to meet up with
my friend who had moved on to see Maylene & the Sons of Disaster.
Boy,
am I glad I caught them. They're like a Southern-grunge-metal
Christian band. Definitely the highlight of the early afternoon and it
always kicks ass when you see chicks in the pit.
Then I
grabbed a couple of beers and went to see another band that I had
wanted to see for a long time, Less Than Jake. The Cops theme "Bad
Boys" started playing and they all came out in police uniforms with
mustaches and big dark sunglasses. Hilarious. They played a few songs
I knew including the famous "Johnny Quest thinks we're sellouts." I
garnered some awe from a hot chick by knowing all the words to that one
but not nearly as much as was given to the guy in front of us who had
the sweetest mullet I had seen in a long time. The chicks friend was
wasted and kept pointing it out to anyone within listening distance.
Good times.
Then I moved on to Mindless Self Indulgence.
I had heard some of their stuff before and wasn't really impressed but
I figured they were worth a try. Again I was pleasantly surprised and
I not only liked them but they were one of the major highlights of the
day. The lead singer's between song banter was hysterical and I
thought they sounded awesome too.
It was finally time to
break down and get that expensive sausage sandwich and then since I
lost cell phone contact with my friend I decided to see a band I had
seen many times before but is a festival legend, MXPX. They're still
good and I was glad to hear "Responsibility" live again.
Then
I wandered over to where I knew my friend would be to check out A Day
to Remember. Another band I haven't heard of. The crowd was nuts. I
wasn't that impressed but they were decent. I'll have to check them
out on iTunes.
The next stage over came Kill Hannah.
Although the dude singer sounds like a chick, I kinda dig these guys.
And of course I enjoyed the hit "Lips Like Morphine."
At
the disappointment of many of my friends I then went to see Alien Ant
Farm. Now this is a band that I really got into in college but after
their first album they kinda started to suck. Still, I had missed them
at Warped Tour 2001 so I had to catch them this time. Thankfully they
played a lot of old stuff and actually sounded really good...topped
off with, of course, "Smooth Criminal." Maybe there's hope for a
rebound.
Part II (added 8/12/15 when I realized it was still not complete)
I wrote down that I saw Men Women and Children, but I have no recollection of them. The first main stage act I saw was Paramore. I had heard some of their stuff on TV and from students. I really didn't want to like them because they were kind of pop, but I was impressed by them. First of all Hayley Williams has a great stage presence. She is a petite female with orange hair and colorful sneakers. She interacts well with the crowd, moves around a lot on stage, and really had a good singing voice. The rest of the band wasn't too shabby either if you like power-pop or pop-punk.
I then moved to the other stage to see Jimmy Eat World. I really enjoyed them more than I thought I would too. The crowd was huge so I was quite a ways away from the stage. The band had a lot of fans feeding them and their energy came back at us two-fold. They rocked the entire set with notable tracks Big Casino, Work, Pain, The Middle, A Praise Chorus, and Sweetness. Again, I did not expect them to be as good as they were and I instantly became more of a fan.
Finally, after a bit of a wait, came Snoop Dogg on the stage that Paramore had been at earlier. He came out with his huge microphone with the blingy knuckleguard. I was exhausted by this point so I didn't stay for the whole set, but I was happy with hearing "Drop It Like It's Hot" and "Gin and Juice" among others.
