The Bamboozle Roadshow - Toronto [June 16th,2010]

Where? Molson Ampitheatre in Toronto, June 16th, 2010. 

Lineup :
           Drive A, Forever The Sickest Kids, Good Charlotte, LMFAO, Third Eye Blind, All Time Low & Boys Like Girls

  Bamboozle was originally just a 2 day festival in NJ , but has now expanded into something a whole lot more, this includes Bamboozle Left which is held in California, the Bamboozle Roadshow that travels around the US and aswell as Hoodwink, which takes place before the big festival in NJ goes down. Hoodwink is where bamboozle selects bands to play and keeps them secret, as they perform under a madeup and and cover a different artist, ex) Jacks Mannequin played under the name "4 dudes 1 cup" a few years back.
  With this being said, none of the Bamboozle festivals have ever hit Canada.. Until now. I must say, I was pretty sure this show was going to sell out as soon as tickets went on sale with that kind of line up, I mean nothing ever comes to Toronto this big and doesn't sell out.. I was clearly mistaken. The show was not well promoted, as it was originally not a date when the tour was announced. It was tossed into the mix randomly and if you aren't like me, constantly looking at these dates hoping one will come close enough to the boarder that you could drive to.. you would have not noticed it was added. Live Nation only tweeted about it a few times until the day before the show when they were giving away free tickets, but apart from that, that was it advertising wise. This roadshow also had bad timing, the kids in the states have been off of school since May (when the roadshow starts) so the fact that this is a day festival worked out well for them. Us Canadians on the other hand are in school until June, so the fact that this show was right in the middle of the week didn't work out well for high school kids, who are the majority of the fans that would love to attend this. These factors showed to have played a big role in how people bought tickets because it was evident that a lot of kids who wanted to make it, was unable to, as the venue was not even a quarter full. Also the venue choice was poor. Molson Ampitheatre doesn't really have the space to hold a 2nd stage, and with the lack of ticket sales the 2nd stage for the Toronto show was canceled last minute the day before. The way the venue is run, there is only one merch table for all the bands ( where as at every other bamboozle roadshow the merch was ran by the bands & their merch guys while having their own tent). With the one merch stand instead of 7, it was really clustered and unorganized and none of the band members were hanging around the merch to meet fans because it was too hectic. Jonathan Cook from Forever The Sickest Kids attempted to do this, but got mobbed by fans and caused a blockage in the walk way, but I give the guy props for trying.

  Up first is Forever The Sickest Kids, they are a sextet from Texas. Their sound is full of energy and can get anyone up and going at a show. When they hit the stage they were all over Kyle Burns ran out first and he jumped around as if he was the lead singer, and the jumped behind the drum set as the other guys hit the stage. It's small things like this that can give the crowd a better feel as to how the band is going to be, because some bands can just walk out on stage and hardly move around making the crowd feel as if they were just stick figures who didn't care about interacting with the fans.This was a great way to start off the show, they always bounce around on stage and try to get the crowd involved by hyping people up. They even played their new song that was leaked which was a treat, I don't think they intended to play it on the road until the leak happened.  I was a little worried that they would play way too much of their new CD "the weekend : friday" but they played a good mix of new and old songs. Kyle Burns designed their back drop and stage set, which is nice to see how involved band members are. Their new CD "The Weekend : Saturday" hits stores in September, and from the sounds of the new song it sounds a lot better than Friday.

  Good Charlotte was up next. These guys have been in the music industry for 10 years, and they either get a lot of hate or a lot of love. But by far Joel Madden still has it in him, they played a good range of songs from their 2nd & 3rd album plus gave us a new song "Like Its Her Birthday". You could tell that these guys have been in the industry for a while because they have had a lot of stage practice and can play their shows really well, as opposed to a band who is just starting out may not sound so good live when they don't have the editing to back them up. Although one change I have noticed in Good Charlotte is the fact that they dont move and bounce around stage as much as they used to, but then again they have gotten a lot less popular. I remember the first time i saw them live it was a headliner and they had filled the Molson Ampitheatre on their own, and now they are opening for other bands who have not been around as long as them. But one thing is for sure, their set will always win you over.. or well most of the time it will change a hater into a fan because they sound a lot better live than they do on their CD. Their 5th album "Cardiology" hits stores in September as well. Be sure to check this one out as it will be very different from what you have heard from Good Charlotte before.
  After Good Charlotte, LMFAO hit the stage. I personally didn't think that i would enjoy them as much as I did. These guys are full of energy and really got the crowd going. I felt as if they should have been on first, even though they have a pretty big fan base, but their performance was amazing. It was filled with their robot mascot, a hype man on stage & 2 hype people in the crowd pulling everyone in to dance.. and of course the best part the two lego people who came out in the middle of the set. They played their 2 hits " I'm In Miami Bitch" and "shots". It was unbelievable to see what this uncle & nephew duo could do. After LMFAO was Third Eye Blind, who pulled up Alex from All Time Low to sing with them and had everyone from the tour sitting up on stage while they played. It was nice to see Rob Dyer from Skate4Cancer there.

  All Time Low was up next. They are headlining the Bamboozle Roadshow with Boys Like Girls and alternate every night who goes on last. As always All Time Low was full of energy, making penis jokes and just having a good time. They aswell played a good mix of new and old songs, and Alex even asked security if it was ok for the rest of the fans who didn't have pit tickets to come into the pit because it was so empty and wanted everyone to have a good time and be close to them. They had two backdrops, one said 'Get Low' and then unleashed their 2nd one after the first two songs, which had their faces on it and doodles all over their faces. If you haven't seen these guys in concert yet, I suggest that you do as their shows are always memorable. They are currently in the studios and plan to have their 4th album out by January 2011.

  And last but not least we had Boys Like Girls hit the stage. They came out with a bang and they went into their first single off the latest record "Love Drunk" Martin Johnson has a way of getting the crowd going. He was full of energy and was bouncing up and down from the moment they hit the stage up until the moment that they went off. As some of the bands that night stayed stationary, BLG really got everyone going as well which was a great way to end off the concert because after their set you felt full of energy and ready to go again ! In the middle of the set, Johnson came out and did a longer version of "Thunder" (pulling out the acoustics and then unleashing the full band).
  All in all, The Bamboozle Roadshow is amazing. It is really good to see all types of music come together and have respectful fans. Sometimes when there is such a wide range of different types of music being played at a festival, you see the fans clashing. But this was definitely not the case, you would see fans with each of the bands shirts all respecting and enjoy the music that each band had brought to the table.If you haven't checked out this tour and it's coming near you, I suggest that you go, as it's a lot of fun!

Some Helpful Hints for checking out the bamboozle roadshow:

* If you are a Good Charlotte fan, first 6 to the merch table on each date gets m&g if you join the street team by saying " i wanna rep GC" and handing out stickers.
* Stay by the merch table if you want to meet the bands, as they tend to hang around them every night, Benji Madden and Jonathan Cook have been known to be around there a lot.
* All Time Low stated when the tour started that each night they will only come out at the end and be at the buses or the exit if buses are not accessible