The Bamboozle: Some Thoughts
I remember when the Bamboozle released the lineup to the first festival back in 2006 and thinking that I would be crazy to miss it. It is not often that you have a chance to see so many great bands in one day, including Lifetime. I mean, Lifetime was playing! Lifetime, a band that had not played together in about ten years. They were one of my favorite bands in high school, but I only caught them once before they broke up and it was on their last tour. I was not going to miss a chance to see them play. Of course, little did I know, Lifetime was to formally reunite, record and release a new album, and go on extensive tours…but I digress.
While I cannot be sure, I am fairly certain that at 29, I am more than a full decade older than the average Bamboozle attendee, so I think a “review” of my day would be a bit unfair to the organizers, the bands and the fans. On the other hand, I would like to share my thoughts on some of the bands that I had a chance to catch.
However, before I go any further, I would just like to say that there a couple of things about the Bamboozle that really piss me off and I don’t care if my rant is unfair or not. First of all, who designed this festival? Absolutely terrible! Did someone in a boardroom actually have a “eureka” moment and decide that a parking lot would be a good place to host a weekend-long emo/punk/hardcore fest? There are numerous reasons why this is just absolute piss-poor. Have you ever walked around on cement for three or four hours? It doesn’t feel too good on your feet. Now string three of those occasions together and you will start to get an idea of what its like walking around the Giants Stadium parking lot for a full day is like. By 6:00, your dogs will be aching! Want a place to sit? Whoops! There is a problem in itself. You see, the organizers didn’t think to create areas for people to sit, so you’ll have to clear some garbage out of the way and sit on pavement and lean against a friend. If you feel like waiting in line, you can move your way into the Bamboozle TV Studio (inflatable dome with an indoor football field) and find a nice cool atmosphere and find a place to sleep on Astroturf…which is, admittedly, very nice.
Ok…now, what happens in a crowd at a hardcore/punk show? That is not really fair actually. You see moshing and crowd surfing may have started in the hardcore punk scene, but we all know that you can find someone crowd surfing at the jammiest of hippy shows, the folkiest of acoustic shows, and the hip hoppiest of rap shows. Fine, that might be a stretch and all, but kids will be kids and having these 100,000 (or however many were there) squished together on unforgiving pavement is simply not a bright idea. In fact, I would say it’s an absolute idiotic idea. I cannot image it would feel very good to drop six feet on my face, landing with no defense.
Honestly, I have never witnessed so many small kids crowd surfing in my life. 
One after another, non-stop for a full set. Worse, the way that these kids would pass each other was crazy. A girl would land on a group and their heads and shoulders would drop about a foot. Instead of pushing the surfer up and passing her along, they would uniformly shove with all of their might. The girl would then fly about three feet in the air and about eight feet forward, crashing into the next group of unsuspecting individuals. That is, of course, until this poor girl lands into a group not strong or packed enough to catch her and {whoops}…you get the idea. To say that I saw a few bloody kids is a slight understatement. I firmly believe that the circle pits were often the safest place to hang in the crowds during many of the sets.
Moving back to this design. Six out of the nine stages are literally lined up next to each other, which is great to keep the party pumping. One set finishes and the crowd shifts to the left. Wonderful. Oh, except, how are you going to do soundchecks and instrument tuning? Right. Problem. Numerous times during the day, I heard bands commenting about the bands next door playing (not complaining really, just making comments).
Then there is the problem with the two main stages. They face each other! It actually works most of the time. The bands are scheduled to start when the band on the other stage finishes their set. The problem is, and I’m sure anyone who has ever been to a large festival can attest to this, something always happens that delays a set along the way, causing a clash. When two bands are playing at the same time, the sound systems just simply do not work…unless you like it when live sets clash (sounds like a Fox show: “Next up on Fox, ‘When Animals Attack,’ followed by an all new series ‘When Live Sets Clash’).
Finally, it is time for my biggest issue with this festival. I think it is very bizarre spending a full day watching punk and hardcore bands (I’m not so into the current emo trend or power-pop stuff) discuss politics, the environment, the war, and other important issues, while walking around an extremely corporate environment. I have never seen so much garbage accumulate in one day and, my guess is, 85% of it ends up covering the pavement. You know when you leave a show and the promoters stand outside, handing you flyers or sampler CDs? Well, imagine literally hundreds and hundreds of these folk scattered around a festival handing out free schwag from the beginning of the day, until the last band plays its final notes and the kids empty the scene. The whole festival grounds were covered with those shiny postcards, advertising some crappy new album that these kids in their fluorescent, graffiti-filled shirts didn’t give two shoes about. At one point, I was watching the overtly political Anti-Flag talk passionately about something important, while some college kid picked up sampler CDs from the ground. He would empty the pack, the CD sliding gently from the cardboard into his hand. I watched his arm sling back and then shoot forward and the CD, glistening against the setting sun, fly into the air before disappearing into the hordes of kids. Then this dude dropped the cardboard slip back onto the ground and picked up the next one, while his female companion laughed along. After a few minutes of this, I had to leave.
You know, I always wondered to myself, who would throw bottle caps or other objects in a crowd? Personally, it just bursts my “so-called bubble” when vendors unscrew and steal my water/Gatorade caps at shows. I can’t handle the full 20 or however many ounces of liquid in one sitting and I usually wear a backpack or jeans with large pockets to stash my drinks for later. We can blame kids like this sampler-tossing jack-ass for this modern concert worker faux pas. I almost didn’t attend this year’s Bamboozle because in 2006, I witnessed hordes tossing cups full of soda/beer on stage at artists.
Why does this bother me so much? Well, we have great festivals like Rothbury attempting to run the first “green” fest this year and create [close to] zero waste. Just about all of the festivals that we feature at Consequence of Sound attempt to limit the amount of waste they create. Many feature speakers, voicing opinions and facts on important issues. Many have vendors or other attractions, purely to educate the consumers. What kind of festival does not at least partake in a recycling program? I remember the first couple of Warped Tours and how eco-friendly they were (I am not saying that they no longer are. I just have not attended one in about ten years.) It is as if the Bamboozle completely disregards these issues and, to the contrary, creates so much excessive waste that it just made me a bit sick to play a role in the scene. For the record, I do not place any blame on the individual artists/bands.
On the other hand, the Bamboozle certainly can put together a large number of artists on a single bill. I counted 91, plus one hand puppet (Triumph the Insult Comic Dog). And that was just on Sunday alone (the only day I attended). Compare that to Coachella’s measly 39 on Sunday. Yes, I agree that quality overrules quantity any day when it comes to music festivals, but 91 is still an impressive number. Moreover, at $49 a day, the show is a bargain. Truthfully, I imagine that the festival organizers fully accomplish what they set out to do.
On with the bands……{Come back to Consequence of Sound on Thursday to read about mostly great and…well, frankly, some not so good bands.}
where is that picture of lifetime from, the church?
“I remember the first couple of Warped Tours and how eco-friendly they were (I am not saying that they no longer are. I just have not attended one in about ten years.)”
Bamboozle is litterally a two day modern Warped tour with a few more bands on the lineup.
Trust me, Modern Warped Tour is just as bad when it comes to corporate sponsorship, excessive waste, parking lots, and stage set ups.
i have been going since 2006, and i have to say, a lot of the people suck their. i usually end up at the ska bands, find a few guys or girls that know how to skank fairly well, and open up a pit, then 50 kids run in and start windmilling. i understand most of them dont know what to do, but thats why you wait and watch other people do it. i punched a kid in the face this year when streetlight manifesto played on saturday because i told him nurmerous times to stop throwing down, and he wouldnt. another thing, the bands were soo good in 2006, 2007 sucked a lotta balls, with the exception of circa survive, muse, and a handful of other bands. then this year turned out really nice, except there were so many bands that really sucked. i know that they have to cater to other peoples needs, but when did bamboozle go from hardcore/punk/ska to powerpop and emo? they need to start a festival like that in the NYC NJ area
oh and another thing i like about bamboozle is that if your in a pit, with the exception of emmure this year, everyone is your brother man. they’re like family. they should start hellfest up again.
ocko - yup, it is the church. That’s actually not my photo (unlike the majority of the photos that I use). I found it on Lifetime’s myspace page shortly after the show and downloaded it. It’s a cool shot, especially b/c I was there that night.
I have one from the Bamboozle 2006, but it’s not as good of an action shot and doesn’t really do them justice.
You a Philly local?
I am. I went to bamboozle 06 for the sole purpose of seeing lifetime. I ended up seeing them then, at the FANTASTIC church show, and then at the electric factory (which was weird) with bouncing souls.
I went in ‘07 and had a pretty great time. I got around the water bottle hassle by bringing my own bottle in and sticking the cap in my pocket.