Review: Bamboozle Festival @ Asbury Park, NJ

Dave Grohl on the big screen!

Bamboozle Festival @ Asbury Park, NJ - May 19, 2012
Review: Geanna B. and James MacFie

3 days. 7 stages. A bajillion bands. 

Hold on to yo’ butts, everybody – it’s about to get nostalgic as shit up in here.

From the deep lava pits of yesteryear’s Surf and Skate Festival came The Great Bamboozle, rising above the dirty Jerz like a golden Phoenix and demanding sonic booms to flood Asbury Park with a siren song of intense punk rock. And dubstep, apparently. Always an eclectic lot, the festival has taken on many iterations over its 10 year existence, holding shows in the northern New Jersey Meadowlands, as touring acts across the country, and all the way over on the left coast of California. Returning to where it all began, this anniversary brought the ‘boozle back to the shore - to a crowd of thousands on the beach, motherfuckin’ rain or shine. 

The Promise Ring Reunite For Bamboozle Festival ( + Irving Plaza Show In May)

By Geanna Barlaam

If you were angsty in the late 90's, you were probably listening to The Promise Ring. After their split in 2002, the band reunited briefly a few years later, and are now back on tour with a small handful of US city dates. I did a little dance in my chair after seeing they were slotted to play Bamboozle, the often shrugged at Asbury Park music festival this spring. Sure, I'd go down to the Jersey Shore for a fist pump and a Jager Bomb to let my tragic emo heart bleed out on the sand.

But now it seems it won't have to come to that after all (!!), since they've scheduled a date at Irving Plaza for  May 20, right here in our very own city! Tickets will go on sale January 28th at noon, so try and drag your ass out of bed and join me for what will surely be a single tear jerker of an evening.