Drew of I Call Fives said it best:

The Bamboozle

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Asbury Park, NJ

Where do I start when it’s been within 24 hours that you’ve just seen one of the greatest rock stars’ band play a 2-hour set until your ears started bleeding?

This year the Bamboozle was at Asbury Park, NJ, a change of scenery from the usual football stadium parking lot in East Rutherford.  It’s amazing how these big music festivals try to squeeze money out of you with their “convenient” shuttles and “private” viewing areas.  I got to the Bamboozle exactly an hour early before the gates opened (1 pm), with no traffic, and my friends and I found a parking spot right in front of the line.  I can now say I’m so glad my friends talked me out of taking the 20-minute shuttle buses from Monmouth Park to the Bamboozle for $10, which I’ve heard had long waits.  I am kind of bummed they talked me into going to White Castle for lunch, though, which was awesome, but still a disappointment.  Even though we were there an hour early, the line was still very long, but it didn’t even matter because of the beautiful weather.  The line was right along the boardwalk, so you could check out the beach and feel the breeze.  Once we got in with 3 “illegal” bottles of water in my backpack, I checked out the merch tables and bought a festival shirt as a memento.  The first band we saw, the Maine, was at the main stage about an hour after the gates had opened.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Maine, and I really like their new record, Pioneer, but the set they played just didn’t do anything for me.  John O’Callaghan, their singer, sounded like he had a cold as usual, and the sound not being good to start with didn’t help.  They played a couple crowd favorites, but they stuck mainly with their new rock n’ roll sound, playing songs mostly from Pioneer.  Even the songs that they did play from their older pop-punk record, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, you could tell they had changed to that raw rock sound that they are into more.  Their set mainly made me wish I went and saw The Story So Far at the Zumiez Stage instead.  Next up, was Motion City Soundtrack, at the Zumiez Stage, about a 10 minute walk from the main stage.  I truly believe Motion City Soundtrack, or “Mo’ City” as I like to call them, are one of the most underrated bands out there right now.  Again, I love the Maine, but they should’ve switched spots with MCS.  They played mostly fan favorites, along with a song from their up and coming album, Go.  The crowd was so into them, which I was really glad about, considering I’ve been listening to MCS since they were a “big band” at all.  Justin Pierre, their singer, was hilarious as usual, trying to be cool with his big Einstein hair and nerdy glasses.  Then my friends and I walked to the main stage, planning on staying there for about 5 hours, until the end of Foo Fighters’ set.  The All-American Rejects were playing.  I know so many disagree with me, but I just think this band is really overrated.  I liked their first album okay, but the rest of their material is just really poppy and generic to me.  The singer tried to be funny using profanity, but wasn’t.  Their set really didn’t do anything for me either.  Coincidentally my old friends from high school, Matt and Drew, were standing right in front of me during AAR, so I got to talk with them for a while.  Even though we weren’t very close at first, after AAR, the crowd moved up for Jimmy Eat World. Jim Adkins, in my opinion, has one of the best voices I’ve ever heard.  I saw this band open up for Paramore several years ago in D.C., and they were so great.  At the Bamboozle, they were even better.  I had so much fun watching them.  If everything had gone according to plan, I would be peeing my pants at this next moment, but actually, I wasn’t.  Blink-182, the once scheduled band to headline the Bamboozle, cancelled last minute because of Travis Barker having to undergo an emergency tonsillectomy.  Why that causes you to be unable to play drums is beyond me (I still love ya, Travis).  You could tell people in the crowd were pissed, mainly this fat guy (I’m not talking about myself) next to me replacing the chorus to “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” to “I’m really gay!”  It was cool to see My Chemical Romance play, but their set didn’t do anything for me either.  Gerard Way barely talked to the crowd at all, considering half of them didn’t want his band to be there in the first place.  They played a lot of obscure songs from their newer record, Danger Days, which didn’t get the crowd going.  The one’s the crowd did know, got them excited, but not nearly excited as they would from Blink opening with “Dumpweed.”  Plus, the drummer sucked.  Finally, it was time for Foo Fighters to come on stage.  By this point, I had lost my friends Chaz and Bill in the crowd, and was with my friends from high school who I didn’t come to the show with.  I was pretty much dead center of the crowd, with a great view of the stage.  I guess that’s what you get for watching 3 of the main stage bands before the headliner comes out.  When it hit 7:30, you knew the King had arrived.  Mr. Dave Grohl, the rock god himself, came out howling with his guitar in hand, running back and forth on the stage.  When they started with “All My Life,” the crowd was already going insane.  I was right in the line of fire for crowd surfers, and they were non-stop.  Mosh pits had already started going, and girls were already started tugging on my shirt to stay away.  Taylor Hawkins was beating the shit out of his gold drums, and Chris Shifflett was killing it on lead guitar.  Dave Grohl, knowing that he was a famous rock star, told the crowd that it was “not nearly as big as most Foo Fighters shows,” but still said he was excited to play 2 hours for us.  He said he had just found out the day of that they were the headlining band and people were expecting them to play a long-ass time.  There was a point in the show where Dave even went into the crowd and played, and afterwards, lied on his back exhausted but still rocking his guitar (and Polo Ralph Lauren underwear).  The crowd was reluctant to find out that even Foo Fighters were in jeopardy of canceling, when Dave Grohl told them that Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live, had asked him and his band to play with Mick Jagger that night.  He said that instead of having to cancel one of their performances, that they would take a helicopter to New York City to perform for SNL after their 2-hour set, because, how he put it, “That’s how the fucking Foo Fighters do things!”  I got to see Dave Grohl play drums during their song “Cold Day in the Sun” where Taylor Hawkins sang, which was really cool.  One of the highlights of my night, surprisingly, was a guy peeing in the middle of the crowd.  Yeah, that’s right, whipping his dick out in the middle of 100,000 people and pissing in the wind.  I had never seen anything like it, what a douche bag.  He flipped everyone off and left the crowd, before security could see him.  Right before I thought I was gonna collapse from standing for 8 hours straight, Foo Fighters ended with their smash hit, “Everlong.”  It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, next to Green Day at Jiffy Lube Live.  Considering they had played in D.C. a few months ago with $50 tickets, I’m glad I spent $75 to see them along with some other great acts.  I was so tired that I didn’t even see Motion City Soundtrack play a second set.  I recommend anyone who has never been to the Bamboozle, to check it out one year.

Bands I’m glad I saw:

Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World, Motion City Soundtrack

Bands I was disappointed about:

My Chemical Romance, The All-American Rejects, The Maine

Bands I wish I could’ve seen:

Never Shout Never, The Story So Far, Less than Jake, Anti-Flag, DJ Pauly D

ithinkpeace:

ithinkpeace:

Here’s an experiment. I am curious as too how many people from Baltimore really use this site, so I can check out their blogs. Reblog, or like if you live in Baltimore, even if I follow you already. 

63 fucking amazing Baltimoreans. Sorry that I haven’t gotten to all of your pages. Follow me, or whatever and I swear I will get to your page soon. 

propertyofzack:

PropertyOfZack is teaming up with The Cab and The Summer Set to give away a pair of tickets to see the bands on February 11th in Philadelphia, PA and on February 12th in Baltimore, MD on the Everything’s Fine Symphony Solider Tour. The contest will end on February 7th, so find out how to enter below!

To win tickets to the Everything’s Fine Symphony Soldier Tour you must do each of the following things:

• Follow PropertyOfZack on Tumblr.
• Reblog this post on Tumblr.