The Bamboozle

Day 3: live in Asbury Park (2005)

Brian Shultz

…and here's the final installment of Bamboozle.

• I ended up watching two Hellogoodbye songs after I'd missed Scatter The Ashes when the latter played earlier than their designated time. Super cheesy synth-pop-punk that Reggie And The Full Effect already mastered five/six years ago? I much rather would've watched strong atmospheric rock/post-hardcore that Cave In already mastered five years ago.
• I overheard most of the Gym Class Heroes' set. They smartly played the more interesting tracks off their recently released full-length, The Papercut Chronicles, though I'm sure they could've gotten the real Patrick Stump instead of a pre-recorded overdub to sing the chorus of "Cupid's Chokehold" (that line being a covered sample of the chorus in Supertramp's "Breakfast In America").
• After the band had played an illness-shortened two songs on the Long Island stop of last year's tour with Straylight Run and Hot Rod Circuit and I'd only caught three seeing them the day before, Say Anything played a full set on one of the outdoor stages. And my, it was fun. Apparently they played the same set as the day before, as "Spidersong," "Woe," "Belt," "The Futile," "Slowly Through A Vector," "Alive With The Glory Of Love," and "The Writhing South" was thrown somewhere in there if I'm not mistaken. It was a solid set that fully showcased the brilliant quirk of the rock, with Max promising an expanded set including the Baseball/Menora/Majora days on their upcoming headlining tour.
• While waiting for Say Anything I'd also caught two Days Away songs. Fortunately, they were two of the better songs off their debut full-length, Mapping An Invisible World, that being "Ideas" and one other I can't quite remember.
• It's no secret here that, though perhaps not avid, am a follower of Kane Hodder. On record it's not as obvious, but once you see the band live, you understand that the band's indie rock / hardcore amalgation depends a bit on the cheese factor. The lead singer was frequently galloping, skipping, and prancing around the stage to exert energy. He even started waving his hands like dove wings near the end of the set (think the end of the Happy Hands Club scene from "Napoleon Dynamite"). His whole presence was mildly awkward and overall pretty goofy, but his impressive range carried over to the performance well and the rest of the band were on point. They played amongst a few others "Aboard The Leper Colony," "Last Of The Anti-Fascist Warriors," and "I Think Patrick Swayze Is Sexy."
• The last few times I've seen Boys Night Out, the band had apparently taken the tempos of many of their signature songs (namely "I Got Punched…" and "(Just Once)…"), and altering them so we're left with an easygoing pop-rock / near power-pop track with some screams. It's a strange, laid-back feel that mostly works. And at the set here, they did just that, but it was the slowest I've seen them play the songs. It's probably just a testament to their bold statements of going under a complete makeover for their forthcoming full-length, Trainwreck, which promises to be a dramatic change in sound for the band. While they also added "Where We Breathe," "Sketch Artist Composite," "It's Dylan, You Know The Drill" (closer) and "The First Time Shouldn't Taste Like Blood," and the first verse of "A Torrid Love Affair," two new songs were played. One was a screamless, easygoing pop-rock track with a repetitively catchy chorus and the other was a track in the vein of Make Yourself Sick, but slightly more complex and overall stronger than most tracks on that album. How this album clashes with the last, we'll have to wait until July 26th to see. Oh, and the band was pretty good I suppose.
• For highly Alkaline Trio-influenced emo / punk-pop, Bayside isn't bad, and neither is their live show. They played amongst the few I saw "Masterpiece," "How To Fix Everything" (I think) and a new track from their upcoming followup to Sirens And Condolences, the already online "Existing In A Crisis."
• For the one or two Chariot songs I watched, they didn't quite seem to be the fun Botch ripoff I'd seen when I caught them on Underoath's headlining tour late last year. While the band unfortunately seemed stripped of both qualities here, it was fairly enjoyable and they have a ton of energy, constantly moving around.
• We saw one Mike Park song before leaving: the deathly catchy "A Girl Named Spike," which he preceded by talking about his "Degrassi" experiences. Even in that short timespan he seemed to exert all the nice, sincere qualities frequently spoken of around these parts.

Bamboozle is apparently set to return next year, so if the lineup does pique your interest, it might be a crapshoot in attending. If they set up the free stages again and the lineup just there gets your head nodding several times upon browsing, it could be worth attending just for the outdoor stages.