The GREAT Bamboozle.

The decision has been made.  I WILL be attending this year’s Bamboozle tour. Call me an emo-scenester all you want, but it will be me who has the last laugh while I am watching Weezer, Saves the Day, MGMT, Motion City Soundtrack and Minus the Bear (among many others) rock the f*ck out at the Meadowlands in NJ on May 2nd.

Courtesy of TheBamboozle.com.

What started as a three-day music festival in Asbury Park, NJ in 2003 has now evolved in to a country-wide tour. In addition to New Jersey, The Bamboozle roadshow now stops in Chicago and California. The line-up varies from state to state, and to be quite honest, New Jersey has the best line-up. I’m not just saying this because I’m partial to New Jersey (it’s my home-state and I first started going to The Bamboozle there in 2005), take a look at the line-up and decide for your self:

May 1st:

Saves the Day

Paramore

Drake

Angels & Airwaves

Bullet for my Valentine

Relient K

(This is just a list of my personal favorites, click here for the full line-up.)

May 2nd:

Weezer

MGMT

Girl Talk

Say Anything

Motion City Soundtrack

Kevin Devine

Piebald

Hey Monday

Minus the Bear

OK Go

(This is just a list of my personal favorites, click here for the full line-up.)

When I first started going to The Bamboozle in ’05, my friends and I would get tickets for all three days. Decked out in our studded-belts, converse and band-tees, we would hop around the festival seeing all of our favorite musicians, chasing cute boys in bands and trying to get autographs and pictures with as many band members as we could. Right before Fall Out Boy became huge, they performed at The Bamboozle in 2005. It was easily one of the best performances that I have ever seen AND I somehow managed to get a picture with drummer Andy Hurley.

Andy Hurley from Fall Out Boy. Courtesy of FriendsorEnemies.com.

Gosh I was so much cooler back then than I am now. Too bad I lost the picture, though.

Not wanting to (completely) relive my punk-kid days, I am only going to this year’s Bamboozle on Sunday, May 2nd. I don’t think my body can handle mosh-pits and crowd-surfing to that extent anymore.

I must stop and vent for a second though- it really bothers me when people won’t go to concerts of bands they love because of the “young punk-kids” that are going to be there. Yes, middle-schoolers with multiple piercings and mohawks are annoying, but should that stop some one from seeing a great performance? NO.  Just throw blunt-objects at them, sit back, relax and enjoy the show like I do!

Despite the masses of black-nail polish-wearing 14 year-olds who can’t even tell you what I Am The Movie is, I still plan on having a great time and seeing all of my favorite bands.  Check back in May for a full Bamboozle report!

And, for your viewing pleasure, I have included a few select pictures from my High School band-stalking days:

Motion City Soundtrack Concert in 2005. Me and my friends Ali, Lauren and Jackie with Justin Pierre, lead singer of MCS.

Me with Matt Watts and Tom Gryskewicz of the Starting Line at the Nokia Theatre in 2005.

Ben Jorgensen of Armor For Sleep and I outside of the Surf Club in Ortley Beach, NJ summer 2004.

I Gotta Have Patron, I Gotta Have The Beat.

 

Weezer and Lil’ Wayne go together like peanut-butter and jelly.

Don’t believe me? Try it.

Courtesy of YepYep.com

 

There is just something about Weezy’s raspy but yet smooth-as-sugar voice that when combined with Weezer’s powerful instrumentals and choruses makes me turn the volume all the way up on my speakers.

Courtesy of RollingStone.com

Produced by Mole Star, the 10-track album mixing popular Weezer and Lil’ Wayne songs, cleverly titled Weezyer, was released on the Internet January 2009. Fans were able to download the entire album at Weezyer.com, but according to the Mole Star the website had to be taken down due to lack of support and funding. Mash-up lovers can still listen to Weezyer in its entirety here.The creator of Weezyer made a Facebook fan-page, Myspace, blog and website to promote it,  but still posts about disatisfaction with the project’s popularity.

Weezyer was leaked on the Internet months before Weezer’s latest alubm, Raditude, was released on October 27, 2009. Raditude contains a track  featuring Lil’ Wayne , one of my fall 2009 favorites, Can’t Stop Partying. Who’s to say that this collaboration wasn’t inspired by the genius that is Mole Star? Rivers Cuomo must have stumbled upon Weezyer on the Internet and knew that a verse done by Weezy in Can’t Stop Partying was needed to amp up album sales.

Regardless of who thought of it first, Weezyer is 100 percent worth the free listen. I am not just saying this because I love mash-ups, Lil’ Wayne and Weezer. Weezyer is a complete rager in my headphones, as well as a work of art. Rap and rock are two totally different sounds but have one IMPORTANT factor in common:  They both make for excellent party music. Twice the fun when combined.

Courtesy of Myspace.com/MoleStarMusic

With that being said, download Weezyer, add it to your party playlist, go on a liquor-store shopping spree and invite over 100 of your closest friends.

My favorite tracks: A Milli + Troublemaker, The Dope Nose is Poppin’ Bottles, Got Money in the Sun and Stuntin’ Like My Daddy in Beverly Hills.