Live: Bamboozle 2007, NJ, US
Saying that there was a lot of variety at The Bamboozle festival would be a major understatement. Where else can you see brand new no-name bands alongside multi award winning acts that have been around over a decade? And where in the world would you be able to see MC Hammer these days apart from the 'where are they now?' segments on MTV, I ask you?! Honestly, I thought he was dead.
My Chemical Romance
Bamboozle was very similar to the Big Day Out Festival back home in Australia, so I wasn’t worried about the whole 'festival' atmosphere. I was so incredibly excited to be in New Jersey, especially seeing I’d be watching my favorite Jersey boys, My Chemical Romance. Nothing can possibly beat a show in front of a home audience. I was also very honored that I got to see them at the only show they haven’t cancelled recently (due to a terrible bout of food poisoning the boys sustained). You never would have known how sick guitarist, Ray Toro, and drummer, Bob Bryar, were. They put on a fantastic performance. It was also the first time since 2005 that I got to see my favorite member, guitarist Frankie Iero, perform, so it was very special to me.The boys played their entire new album, The Black Parade, in their alter-ego personas, then came back after a short break to play a few songs from their previous albums. Having seen them six times now, I can easily say that this was their best performance for me. You could feel their energy and enthusiasm, and it was obvious that they were so happy to be home. The most memorable songs would have been Gerard’s acoustic version of Cancer, which didn’t leave a dry eye in the house (including his own, if I was not mistaken). I also thoroughly enjoyed The Sharpest Lives as they did not perform that at their Australian shows earlier this year. I would definitely give My Chemical Romance’s performance a 9/10.
Linkin Park
The other standout performance of Bamboozle was of course the other headliners, Linkin Park. The friend that I went to the festival with really summed up their performance in a way that stood out to me. He said, “They’re tight”. Their music, stage presence and performance, and vocals were just spot on every minute of the show. I’m embarrassed and even ashamed to admit this, but they were actually better than My Chemical Romance. To compare the two groups is wrong, I know, seeing they are different styles, but to break it down into on-stage performance alone, Linkin Park were far superior. I was shocked to discover that their first album, Hybrid Theory was released 10 years ago now. It is one of my favorite albums of all time, so that is really showing my age. The band sang a lot of songs from that first album, and even sang one of their most popular songs, Pushing me Away, in a beautiful acoustic style, which amazingly enough suited the usually-heavy song very well. The crowd were singing so loudly and enthusiastically that it really helped to make this concert for me – even to their new songs. I didn’t have Linkin Park’s new album before I went over to the USA, as it had not been released, but the new songs that I heard during the performance, being Given Up, What I’ve Done and No More Sorrow were instant hits for everyone, and instant favorites for me. Needless to say, I would give Linkin Park’s performance a perfect 10/10 – I could not fault them.Verdict: All in all, I would love to go back to The Bamboozle Festival again. Although the venue is not fantastic, and there was definitely not enough areas to sit down or eat, that’s really the nature of the weekend festival and we all coped pretty well I think.