Bamboozle 2009

As the spring and summer weather settles in and more and more people can be found outdoors, there is only one thing to say "Tis the Season"--for music festivals that is!
Bamboozle is a yearly festival held at the Meadowlands, better known as Giant's Stadium, in Rutherford New Jersey. Similar to other festivals like Warp Tour, it contains music from the emo/punk and pop/rock genres, but Bamboozle seems to stand above of the rest for a variety of reasons. Beyond the clouds of marijuana smoke, crowd surfing, mosh pits, and drunken fools lies a true appreciation for the music. Traditionally many music festivals are centered around pointless teenage to twenty something year old illegal antics that attract crowds for the wrong reasons. A prime example of this is Dave Matthew's Band's yearly visit to Connecticut. When Dave comes to town, (although some people do enjoy his music), the average Dave goer is there for the experience. They pay 50 + dollars to tailgate before the concert and be too drunk to understand the lyrics by the time the concert starts. Personally, I think that is ABSOLUTELY ridiculous and is why I enjoy Bamboozle so much more.
Every year Bamboozle has over 70 bands for only 70 dollars and it is nearly a ten hour festival. Although it spans over two days, usually the first weekend in May, I would suggest only picking one day to go, don't go both! If you do feel adventurous and invest in both days, be prepared for over 20 hours of standing in hot sun!
With mostly up in coming to moderately popular bands, the concert goer gets to choose between four stages who to watch. At night, the main headliners come on and bring in the crowds. This year Fall Out Boy and Third Eye Blind were the headliners and were amazing. I am partial to Third Eye Blind because they are my favorite band. I was super excited that they played several old songs including "Motorcycle Drive By" and "Graduate" from the first cd that came on the scene in 1996.
Other bands made the line up even better. This included We Three Kings, Bayside, Bloodhound Gang, New Found Glory, Cartel, and Boys Like Girls. Overall, as the music festivals are in full swing, Bamboozle is totally worth it. If you are interested in bands like these, definitely look in Bamboozle 2010.