You’ve never been to a 10th birthday party like this one. The Bamboozle, New Jersey’s longest running music festival (we miss you All Points West), hit the beaches of Asbury Park where music lovers of all ages, creeds and tanned skin tones came together to celebrate and check out a line up as diverse as ever. Rock, hip-hop, pop, and dance were all represented by some of the biggest names in music today.
An intriguing part of Bamboozle was that you could spend your entire day at the main stage and get a taste of all the genres. On the first day alone, you saw rapper Mac Miller followed by Incubus followed by the Skrillex wuub wubwub wub wub wuuuub wuuuub brostep light show. If you didn’t fancy getting crushed by a crowd that sometimes grew into the tens of thousands, the side stages were a welcome sight. You could have caught anything from Hot Water Music to DJ Pauly D and his immovable hair to local hardcore and hip-hop acts to painters and contortionists; a little something for everyone.
Even though New Jersey’s own Bon Jovi headlined the final night of the festival, it was Foo Fighters whom everyone raved about. Over 40,000 people watched them rip through a two-and-a-half hour set that featured tracks from Wasting Light and further back into their catalog including “My Hero”, “Learn To Fly”, and “All My Life”. This is also the same band who, upon finishing their set, hopped into a helicopter and flew to New York City to perform on Saturday Night Live with Mick Jagger three hours later.
As to whether Bamboozle will return to the shore for next year’s installment as opposed to their normal spot, the parking lot of MetLife Stadium, is anyone’s guess. But Asbury Park seems to be the best place for the festival to call home. It’s the town that Springsteen made famous and the home of The Stone Pony. Many Jersey-ites claim that Asbury is NJ’s rock and roll Mecca. So why not have a yearly festival for the older generation and the Hot Topic tweens to make a pilgrimage to?
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