Death on Two Wheels

Unfortunately arriving late and missing Oh Land, the first band I caught was five-piece Death on Two Wheels. The Georgia natives played a brief set of ’70s-styled rock and roll, featuring two rowdy guitars and complementing keyboards. In addition to some newer songs, the quintet played cuts from their eleven-track debut, Separation Of Church & Fate. Genuinely enjoying their time on stage, the energy trickled down to the crowd and warmed the room for a great evening of music.

River City Extension

The eight-piece River City Extension began at 9PM, playing thirty minutes of peculiar indie/punk/folk/rock filled with cello, banjo, horns, and various nontraditional percussion. Most of the cuts came from the band’s latest full-length, The Unmistakable Man, and were brought to life with an energy only hinted at on the studio recordings. “Something Salty, Something Sweet”, for example, is excellent on tape, but the song really begs for a live experience and singalong. Similarly, songs like “Mexico” and “Adrianne” simply explode on stage.

River City Extension

With handclaps, strings, and syncopated instrumentation, the penultimate “Our New Intelligence” seemed to be the night’s crowning moment and might have been the highlight of most CMJ shows. Somehow, though, the band topped themselves once again with their final song: “Bone Marrow Twist and Shout”. Grabbing their instruments and hopping down from the stage, River City Extension brought the party to the crowd. The octet slammed acoustic chords and unmiked drums on the floor, bumping elbows with anyone daring enough to dance along.

River City Extension

For years, The Gaslight Anthem remained New Jersey’s best-kept secret, but the torch has undoubtedly been passed onto Toms River’s River City Extension. Hopefully stints with acts like Dashboard Confessional (December 7 in Manhattan) and The Get Up Kids strip away that title, though: River City Extension is just too good to keep locked down in the Garden State.

(unidentified song)
Something Salty, Something Sweet
Mexico
Adrianne
Our New Intelligence
Bone Marrow Twist and Shout

Miniature Tigers

Just twenty minutes later, Miniature Tigers found themselves in a tough spot, having to follow the incredible River City Extension. The Brooklyn locals jumped into things with “Tropical Birds” and a half-hour string of other new songs from their sophomore full-length, Fortress. Soaring harmonies and quirky acoustic riffs lay the foundation for most of the band’s output, which seems rooted in experimentation in mind-altering drugs: songs like “Coyote Enchantment” couldn’t be written any other way.

Miniature Tigers

“Lolita” seemed to come out of nowhere with a beautiful, elegant piano introduction, but things returned to status quo when the band jumped on the use of a rainstick and a bizarre “woo-hoo-hoo” vocal hook. Status quo, of course, is anything but; the band thrives on unconventional song structures and methods. Frontman Charlie Brand delivers everything with a convincing, unassuming demeanor, and it works. Miniature Tigers deserve high praise not just for their experimental indie-pop but also for their tightly executed live performance.

Tropical Birds
Rock N’ Roll Mountain
Bullfighter Jacket
Egyptian Robe
Coyote Enchantment
Dark Tower
Lolita
Mansion of Misery

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band

“Trouble” kicked things off for Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band, the five-piece racing through the excellent 2006 cut.  “You’re My Incentive” went next, with Devine modifying various lyrics (“but your man slept with the waitress” replacing “as your man hits on the waitress”, for example) to reflect an even more desperate and dire tone. The spacious “Carnival” sounded great, with bits of improvisation tossed into each of the song’s constantly shifting structures; a massive feedback outro lead directly into “Another Bag of Bones”. Before “You’ll Only Up Joining Them”, Devine revealed that the setlist was hand-selected by various members of The Goddamned Band, with guitarist Russell Smith selecting the Put Your Ghost to Rest track. The band played through a faster version of the song before jumping into the rarely seen “The Shift Change Splits the Streets”.

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band

The brand new “Big, Bad Man” was accompanied by Kelly Pratt, who remained on stage to provide horns for a handful of songs including “Fever Moon” which relies on a well-crafted trumpet solo to stitch the song together. Devine added some strange barking to “Murphy’s Song”, clearly enjoying every minute on stage in his hometown in front of friends and family. The lyrically stunning “Noose Dressed Like a Necklace” was supplemented with a bit of Devine’s signature cynicism: “They want you to whistle why you work — your life away.”

“Hand of God” kept the set rolling, but the biggest crowd-pleaser of the evening was undoubtedly a great performance of “Just Stay”. “The Burning City Smoking” was the night’s highlight, though, with Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band pouring their souls into a song about “shitty journalists and shitty leadership”. Brother’s Blood cuts “Yr Husband” and “I Could Be With Anyone” dwarfed their studio counterparts, the latter featuring live beatboxing from keyboardist Brian Bonz.

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band

Monty Love joined Kevin Devine and the Goddamned Band for “Cotton Crush” before the sextet performed a very different version of Make the Clocks Move leadoff “Ballgame”. B-side “She Stayed as Steam” ended the setlist, but the band returned with “You Are the Daybreak” and a seven-minute version of “Brother’s Blood” to wrap up the evening at 12:20PM.

Trouble
You’re My Incentive
Carnival
Another Bag of Bones (Time to Burn)
You’ll Only End Up Joining Them
The Shift Change Splits the Streets
Big Bad Man
Fever Moon
Murphy’s Song
Noose Dressed Like a Necklace
Hand of God
Just Stay
The Burning City Smoking
Yr Husband
I Could Be With Anyone
Cotton Crush
Ballgame
She Stayed as Steam
You Are the Daybreak
My Brother’s Blood

Kevin Devine and the Goddamned Band performed for just under ninety minutes, offering the crowd what might have been their best performance to date. Everything clicked, and, despite a hit-or-miss CMJ audience, the six-piece was simply fantastic across twenty songs spanning eight years of recordings. Devine announced that he would be finished playing in New York City for the year; the night’s performance undoubtedly created anticipation for his inevitable return in 2011.

All photographs by the extremely talented Kenami.

Kevin Devine and Goddamn Band

After performances by The Dig and Bad Veins, Kevin Devine and Goddamn Band began their nine-song setlist with “Brother’s Blood”. Along with “Carnival” and “Another Bag of Bones”, the Goddamn Band extended the songs to include extraneous jams and solos. The older “Cotton Crush” went fairly straightforward, as did Devine’s current single “I Could Be With Anyone”. The four-piece’s highlight came in the final song with a truly incredible cover of LCD Soundsystem’s “New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down”.

Brother’s Blood
Carnival
Another Bag of Bones
Cotton Crush
I Could Be With Anyone
Buried By the Buzz
Just Stay
She Stayed as Steam
New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down (LCD Soundsystem cover)

Thrice

Thrice kicked things off with “All the World is Mad” and “The Weight — the first two songs from Beggars — before shifting gears and tearing through the title track from their 2003 Island Records debut, The Artist in the Ambulance. Two Vheissu cuts followed: the spiraling “Of Dust and Nations” and the pulsating “The Earth Will Shake”. The Alchemy Index‘s “Firebreather” sounded great — drummer Riley Breckenridge nailed the song’s strange time signatures.

Thrice

The crowd responded well, but many fans clearly came to hear only the band’s older, metal-influenced material. Frontman Dustin Kensrue interrupted cries for “Deadbolt”, from 2002′s The Illusion of Safety (paraphrased): “Ah, the “Deadbolt” issue. We can talk about it if you want — “Deadbolt” was tired; it’s taking a nap. If you’re patient we’ll play one later from that album that has similar metal qualities.” Kensrue’s speech quieted the crowd, and, for the first time at a Thrice concert in recent memory, no one screamed for the song for the rest of the evening.

Thrice

A series of slower songs followed, including a solid rendition of the piano-led “For Miles”, which was absent the night before. “Silhouette” promptly returned the band to their heavier roots, with bassist Eddie Breckenridge’s guttural screams (“Your eyes!”) accenting the song’s already-pummeling breakdowns. Two heavy, fire-themed songs from The Alchemy Index followed (“Burn the Fleet”, “The Messenger”) before Thrice returned to their relatively softer side with the newer “Doublespeak” and “In Exile”.

Thrice

“Image of the Invisible” briefly featured spastic vocals from Kevin Devine before Kensrue thanked the crowd “for their patience”, making good on the earlier promise to play a cut from The Illusion of Safety. Thrice tore into “To Awake and Avenge the Dead”, sending the audience absolutely wild. The encore drained that energy, though, with “Stand and Feel Your Worth” just a few moments later — the track just does not work as the first song in an encore. Fortunately, Thrice concluded with a wonderful performance of “Beggars”, the title track from the band’s latest full-length.

All the World is Mad
The Weight
The Artist in the Ambulance
Of Dust and Nations
The Earth Will Shake
Firebreather
A Song for Milly Michaelson
Circles
For Miles
Silhouette
Burn the Fleet
The Messenger
Doublespeak
In Exile
Image of the Invisible
To Awake and Avenge the Dead
Stand and Feel Your Worth
Beggars

Thrice

Thrice performed a similar setlist in New York City (dropping “Hold Fast Hope” and “Come All You Weary” and replacing those cuts with “Burn the Fleet” and “For Miles”) and sounded fantastic in back-to-back nights. The band’s eighteen-song performance touched on the band’s last nine years as a band, appeasing fans of both the band’s heaviest moments as well as their softest. Few bands carry out setlist dynamics as well as Thrice; the quartet is nearly unparalleled in their live performance.

The Dig

The Dig began at 7:30PM, supporting their latest album, Electric Toys, released earlier this month. The four-piece tightly cut through twenty minutes of indie/dancey hooks and melodies, but did little to distinguish themselves in a genre overpopulated with similar acts. Still, the band’s brief setlist sounded tight, and their crisp live performance was certainly enjoyable and refreshing for an opening band.

Bad Veins

Ohio’s Bad Veins played just after 8PM. The duo — vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Davis and drummer Sebastien Schultz — performed well, playing a variety of cuts from their self-titled debut, released last summer through Dangerbird Records. As just a two-piece, much of their sound was pumped in through “Irene”, a backing tape player positioned in the middle of the stage that provided additional keys, bass, and other sounds to the band’s live set. Despite the use of pre-recorded sound, though, Schultz’s solid drumming brings the music to life and makes Bad Veins an interesting act to catch in a live environment.

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band kicked things off at 8:50, opening with a jam-enhanced version of the title track from their latest album, Brother’s Blood. The band stuck heavily to that disc, continuing on with “Carnival” and “Another Bag of Bones”; the former was extended with a brief portion of Leonard Cohen’s “Democracy”. “Cotton Crush”, from Devine’s 2005 effort, sounded strangely thin and out of place compared to the more fleshed out cuts from his newer album. The Goddamn Band performed only as a four-piece, so the Brian Bonz-lead intro of “I Could Be With Anyone” was dropped, and the song actually sounded much less gimmicky without its beat-boxed intro.

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band

Brother’s Blood bonus track “She Stayed as Steam” surprisingly made the nine-song setlist, but it was the closing cover of LCD Soundystem’s “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” that highlighted Devine’s forty-five minute performance. Devine transformed a less-than-impressive original into a beautiful work of art, essentially eliminating any need for the studio version found on LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver. A fine complement to Devine’s own “The Burning City Smoking”, lines like “your mild billionaire mayor’s now convinced he’s a king” echo with a weathered wisdom that Devine somehow manages to convey at only thirty years old. The song remains a live-only cover in Kevin Devine’s catalog for now, but with a history of recording a number of covers throughout his career hope remains that the song might one day be available for purchase.

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band

Guitarist Mike Strandberg followed Devine’s lead through most of the set, spicing up the normally straightforward singer-songwriter cuts. On songs like “Buried by the Buzz” it worked great, with drummer Mike Fadem providing a foundation to The Goddamn Band’s jams; cuts like “Just Stay”, though, work better with Devine alone with an acoustic guitar. With a more focused-attack, Devine could be unstoppable with a backing band. Unfortunately, though, his precisely written songs wander when he picks up an electric guitar — with such an extensive collection of remarkably executed studio cuts, it’s hard not to want more out of Devine’s live act.

Brother’s Blood
Carnival
Another Bag of Bones
Cotton Crush
I Could Be With Anyone
Buried By the Buzz
Just Stay
She Stayed as Steam
New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down (LCD Soundsystem cover)

Thrice

Beginning with the bassy rumblings of “All the World is Mad”, Thrice wasted no time jumping into material from the band’s latest full-length effort, Beggars. Pushing forward towards the stage, the audience sang along to the song’s catchy chorus in deafening numbers: “Something’s gone terribly wrong with everyone, all the world is mad / Darkness brings terrible things, the sun is gone, what vanity, Our sad, wretched fires”.

Thrice

“The Weight” was executed with precision, and, like most of Beggars, sounds much better in a live environment than recorded. Powered by guitarist Teppei Teranishi’s cutting lead, “The Artist in the Ambulance” was the blast that finally got the crowd dancing. The night’s highlight came early in “The Earth Will Shake”, one of Thrice’s strongest cuts; the song showcases the band’s terrific storytelling, dynamic song structures, and riotous singalongs. “Firebreather” and “The Messenger”, from The Alchemy Index‘s fire disc, went back to back and concluded Thrice’s opening assault of heavy songs.

Thrice

The reworked “A Song for Milly Michaelson” and “Circles” slowed things down temporarily; for “Doublespeak” frontman Dustin Kensrue grabbed a tamborine, and, despite its softer, piano-anchored verses, the song once again sparked the crowd’s fury with it’s heavy chorus: “There’s a jackboot toe tap keeping time while the children dance and play / Honey, if you think you’ve seen a crime, you just look the other way”. The abrasive qualities of “Hold Fast Hope” only sounded better in a live setting, and launching right into “Silhouette” only confirmed what the entire crowd was thinking: Thrice is nearly unparalleled in their genre when unleashing their heaviest songs. Whereas many heavy bands rely on blurred distortion and general cacophony, Thrice executes with maddeningly precise accuracy.

Thrice

“Come All You Weary” showcased the band’s slower, bluesy side; “Image of the Invisible” and “To Awake and Avenge the Dead” wrapped up the band’s setlist with back-to-back full-crowd singalongs. Thrice’s encore began with a surprisingly bland take on “Stand and Feel Your Worth” but concluded with a stellar performance of “Beggars” at 11:30. Kensrue poured his heart and soul into the song’s final words: “Tell me what can you claim, not a thing – not your name! / Tell me if you can recall just one thing that’s not a gift in this life?”

All the World is Mad
The Weight
The Artist in the Ambulance
Of Dust and Nations
The Earth Will Shake
Firebreather
The Messenger
A Song for Milly Michaelson
Circles
Doublespeak
Hold Fast Hope
Silhouette
Come All You Weary
In Exile
Image of the Invisible
To Awake and Avenge the Dead
Stand and Feel Your Worth
Beggars

Thrice

With about eighty minutes to pick and choose from nearly one-hundred songs in their catalog, Thrice did an exceptional job of mixing up new cuts — six from Beggars — with older, heavier favorites like 2002′s “To Awake and Avenge the Dead”. With such an extensive catalog of top-tier songs, there will undoubtedly be unfortunate omissions in any setlist the band constructs, but Thrice structured things well to showcase their diverse songwriting style. With first-class musicianship executing such a quality discography, Thrice easily surpasses their peers in a live environment and remains a must-see band.

All Thrice and Kevin Devine photos by the amazing Erica Livoti.

All the Day Holiday

All the Day Holiday kicked things off just after noon with selections from The Things We’ve Grown to Love, the band’s stellar debut full-length released on Linc Star Records last year. Opening with the airy “Cheers (You Still Love Me)”, the four-piece explored intricate and spacious melodies but remained grounded by the rock-solid percussion of drummer Mark Ventura. The band’s soaring vocals were provided only by rhythm guitarist Daniel Simmons, who managed to sound not only pitch-perfect throughout the set but also enormous — it’s hard to believe no one else is contributing backing harmonies. “Cities” closed the band’s excellent set, and before the clock even struck 1PM the bar was already set high for remaining bands.

Cheers (You Still Love Me)
Autumn
Real Time
Greener
2000 Winters
Cities

Steel Train

New Jersey natives Steel Train took the Skate and Surf Stage next, though it was unfortunately difficult to hear the band for most of the set, making normally-solid songs such as “Firecrackers” and “Kill Monsters in the Rain” a chore to listen to. Even a cover of “Dancing in the Dark”, which should have been a great moment being performed right outside Giants Stadium (the de facto home of Bruce Springsteen) was tough to get into. The band closed with a brand new song from their upcoming album and failed to connect with the crowd during their thirty minute set.

(Unidentified song)
Turnpike Ghost
Firecrackers
Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen cover)
Alone on the Sea
Kill Monsters in the Rain
(New song)

fun.

Following Steel Train’s set, frontman Jack Antonoff raced to the Sony Stage to perform with his other band, fun. The six-piece began with “Walking the Dog” but didn’t fall into rhythm until their second song, “I Wanna Be the One”. Excellent harmonies anchored pop-masterpiece “All the Pretty Girls”; “Barlights” had the crowd singing along to the band’s bouncy beats. Frontman Nate Ruess gave one of the best performances of the entire weekend, but the band inexplicably cut their set short and closed with “At Least I’m Not as Sad (As I Used to Be)”.

Walking the Dog
I Wanna Be the One
All the Pretty Girls
Barlights
At Least I’m Not as Sad (As I Used to Be)

MC Chris

While taking a break from the excessive heat, I caught geek-rapper MC Chris on the Zumiez South Stage. Aside from plugs about his association to Aqua Teen Hunger Force, MC Chris’s set included cuts across his decade-spanning discography including “Drinkin’ Blunts”, “Wiid is By My Side”, “Nrrrd Grrrl”, “006″, and “Fette’s Vette”. Certainly not an act to take seriously, the performance would have been much more enjoyable if the geek-rapper didn’t rely so heavily on sampling throughout his set — it wasn’t just choruses, even verses were piped in with MC Chris just rapping along with himself on tape.

Polar Bear Club

Upstate New York’s Polar Bear Club played at 2:45 on the side stage to a fairly small crowd. Frontman Jimmy Stadt poured his heart into the set, which drew across both of their full-length albums but focused primarily on Chasing Hamburg, the band’s sophomore effort released by Bridge Nine Records in 2009. Songs like “Another Night in the Rock”, “Boxes”, “Election Day”, and “Burned Out in a Jar” showcased the band’s blend of melodic hardcore and post-hardcore rock. “Living Saints”, the band’s latest single, finished Polar Bear Club’s enjoyable set.

Good Old War

Good Old War played next on the Zumiez North Stage, opening with “Window” from their 2008 debut, Only Way To Be Alone. “Weak Man” was well-performed, and “Breaking Down”, a rare cut found on a split with Cast Spells, was an interesting surprise. “Coney Island”, the band’s very first single, received deservedly roaring applause. Anchored by the band members’ excellent voices and complementing harmonies, Good Old War somehow manages to sound even better in a live environment than they do on their excellent studio output.

Good Old War

Guitarist Dan Schwartz switched between an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar throughout the set; Tim Arnold’s keys and additional guitar fleshed out the surprisingly big sound the Philadelphia three-piece creates. Good Old War’s self-titled album, for sale in June, contributed three songs to the band’s solid eight-song setlist, including “My Own Sinking Ship”, which featured drummer Tim Arnold stepping out from behind the kit and playing accordion.

Window
Weak Man
Breaking Down
I Should Go
Looking for Shelter
Here Are the Problems
Coney Island
My Own Sinking Ship

Minus the Bear

Minus the Bear took the stage at 4:40PM, beginning with two cuts from 2007′s Planet of Ice: “Knights” and “Throwin’ Shapes”. “Pachuca Sunrise” was enjoyable, and Omni lead single “My Time” sounded great. Indeed, the Seattle five-piece sounded crisp and experienced during their seven-song setlist. Unfortunately, though, song selection left much to be desired with new, unreleased (and largely unheard) songs taking up about half of the band’s set time. Thankfully, the band dug back to their debut full-length (the exciting Highly Refined Pirates) to close their set with “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse”.

Knights
Throwin’ Shapes
Into the Mirror
Pachuca Sunrise
Hold Me Down
My Time
Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack‘s set began as it has since the release of the excellent My Dinosaur Life, with Justin Pierre reciting the album’s first lines: “It’s been a good year, a good new beginning / I’m through with the old school, so let’s commence the winning / I’ve been a good little worker bee / I deserve a gold star”, but on drummer Tony Thaxton’s cue the band quickly abandoned “Worker Bee” and cut straight into I am the Movie‘s “The Future Freaks Me Out”. The crowd was hardly phased by the transition and was actually quite ready to sing along to every word of the old favorite. “My Favorite Accident”, another song from the band’s quirky 2002 debut, quickly followed and Pierre had the crowd in his palm.

Motion City Soundtrack

Current-single “Her Words Destroyed My Planet” briefly slowed things down, but the song’s infectious chorus soon had the crowd bouncing around once again. Even at the band’s weakest moments — Even if it Kills Me cuts “This is for Real” and “Broken Heart” — Motion City Soundtrack still outperformed most of the day’s acts. At their best, such as on Commit This to Memory tracks “Attractive Today” and set-closer “Everything is Alright”, Motion City Soundtrack is punk-pop perfection.

Motion City Soundtrack

The Minnesota six-piece’s Moog-powered set flew by, even though the band performed for thirty-five minutes across ten songs. It was good to see newer songs like “A Lifeless Ordinary (Need a Little Help)” and “Disappear” making the cut, even if it meant pushing out former festival staples such as “Throwdown” and “Capital H”. Pierre was clearly losing his voice by the penultimate “L.G. Fuad”, but the band’s intimate connection with the crowd carried Motion City Soundtrack to the finish line.

The Future Freaks Me Out
My Favorite Accident
Her Words Destroyed My Planet
This is for Real
Attractive Today
A Lifeless Ordinary (Need a Little Help)
Broken Heart
Disappear
L.G. Fuad
Everything Is Alright

Mutemath

Louisiana’s Mutemath began with drummer Darren King duct-taping headphone monitors to his head, allowing him go rock out as hard as he wanted while still hearing the foldback. The tactic proved not to be strictly theatrical — on “The Nerve”, the first song from their latest effort, Armistice, King flailed around on the kit and barely kept the adhered headset in place. The album’s title track followed before Mutemath played a lengthy instrumental, “Reset”, from the band’s debut EP of that same name.

Mutemath

A plethora of instruments found their way into frontman Paul Meany’s hands, including a keytar and a homemade device known only as “The Atari”. Singles “Typical” and “Spotlight” were the biggest crowd pleasers, and the band wrapped things up with a fairly lengthy rendition of “Break the Same”.

The Nerve
Armistice
Reset
Typical
Spotlight
Break the Same

Piebald

To promote a series of reissues, Piebald reunited for Bamboozle to play all of their 2002 full-length, We Are the Only Friends We Have, unquestionably the band’s strongest album. “King of the Road” started the nostalgic trip down memory lane with frontman Travis Shettel recounting the band’s status circa 2002: “Andy went back to school, he got sick of Newbury Comics / Aaron still rides a lot, except now he’s just fatter / Alex took over for Alex Van Halen, after his major surgery / Jon, well, he got married to Laura and I teach their kid in first grade”. And with those opening lines Piebald was off to the races, attempting to fit the entire album into a brief time slot on the Zumiez North Stage.

Piebald

Spoiler alert, Piebald rolled through everything but “It’s Going to Get Worse Before it Gets Better” in front of an audience almost exclusively filled with fans old enough to legally consume alcohol — the first and only time such a crowd would assemble all weekend. Everyone pushed to the front for a chance to share the microphone on fan-favorites like “Just a Simple Plan” and “American Hearts”; The Hope Conspiracy’s Jim Carroll filled in on guitar for part of the set, allowing Shettel to leap into the crowd as necessary.

Piebald

By the time album-closer “Sex Sells and (Unfortunately) I’m Buying” ended, two things became readily apparent. It was obvious that Piebald was a fun, personal band that can put on an extremely high-energy and engaging performance. However, it was also clear that Piebald never again approached the high bar set with We Are the Only Friends We Have during the remainder of their career. This made the one-off Bamboozle set even sweeter: a great live band performing only their greatest material.

King of the Road
Just a Simple Plan
American Hearts
Long Nights
Fear and Loathing on Cape Cod
The Monkey Versus the Robot
Karate Chops for Everyone But Us
Rich People Can Breed
The Stalker
Look, I Just Don’t Like You
Sex Sells and (Unfortunately) I’m Buying

Kevin Devine

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band had the difficult task of following Piebald. “Cotton Crush” started things off on the right foot, and “Just Stay” finds Devine at his best, but the noisy noodling on tracks from his latest effort, Brother’s Blood, is just self-indulgent and largely unenjoyable. “Carnival” is too long, too unguided; “Another Bag of Bones” and “Brother’s Blood” would have been great in a more focused, even acoustic, attack. Devine routinely leaves his backing band behind, it’s unfortunate that this was not the case at Bamboozle: the singer-songwriter is one of the genre’s best, and he is a much better live act alone with his just his guitar.

Cotton Crush
I Could Be with Anyone
Carnival
Another Bag of Bones
Just Stay
Brother’s Blood

Girl Talk

On the opposite end of the parking lot, mashup artist Gregg Gillis — Girl Talk — was throwing a massive dance party. Seamlessly combining classic rock and modern pop hits, Girl Talk had the entire Sony Stage singing and dancing for forty minutes. Not content with spinning just his records, Girl Talk’s live show is a mash of the familiar tunes found on his albums and also a ton of other radio favorites. Girl Talk executes like a veteran DJ, feeling the crowd and adjusting the mixes appropriately, all while inviting dozens of fans on stage with him to dance along and, interestingly, to fire toilet paper into the crowd. Pool toys and other inflatable devices were launched into the audience near the set’s end, and, after forty minutes of nonstop dancing, grinding, and crowd-surfing, the general consensus was exhaustion — and a desire for much, much more.

Weezer

Following a set by MGMT, Weezer closed out the Bamboozle weekend. The hard-hitting “Hash Pipe” went first, followed by the comedic yet ridiculously catchy “Troublemaker”. Frontman Rivers Cuomo was genuinely entertaining through the entire set, even running through the crowd and high-fiving fans before climbing up the soundtent rafters behind the crowd. Weezer’s world-wide tour experience shows: the band understands how to make going to a concert a truly enjoyable experience.

Weezer

Two cuts from the band’s masterpiece, 1994′s “blue album”, went back to back: surprise radio-hit “Undone – The Sweater Song” received adlibbed interludes; “Surf Wax America” is an an absolute blast in a live environment. When the band moved into their newer material they did so with grace, selecting only the strongest cuts such as “Let It All Hang Out”. While the band’s newer material is not quite up to the standards set with albums like Pinkerton, it is quite enjoyable in concert.

Weezer

“Dope Nose”, from the criminally under-appreciated Maladroit, was an awesome surprise; bassist Scott Shriner provided lead vocals on the rare cut. “Why Bother?”, another rare song, also made the setlist with guitarist Brian Bell singing instead of Cuomo. “Say It Ain’t So” was absolutely massive and received an enormous applause from the crowd. “Can’t Stop Partying” wonderfully mocked the current auto-tune/dance genre. “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” is the best song Weezer has written in five years and was one of the night’s highlights.

Weezer

Things wrapped up with a great performance of “My Name is Jonas” and a crowd singalong to “Beverly Hills”. The band returned for their first encore with riffs of Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher”, and “Pork and Beans” was solid, but a shaky cover of MGMT’s “Kids” (with parts of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face”) dented an otherwise top-notch set. MGMT had just performed the song an hour earlier — did it need another treatment?

Weezer

The second encore began with Cuomo looping parts of “Island in the Sun” together and performing the song — drum, bass, and guitars included — by himself until the chorus. It’s definitely a strange way to perform the song, but it offered the crowd a different take on a decade-old song. Weezer closed the set properly by reaching back into their 1994 debut and tearing through “Buddy Holly”.

Hash Pipe
Troublemaker
Undone – The Sweater Song
Surf Wax America
Let It All Hang Out
Perfect Situation
Dope Nose
Say It Ain’t So
Can’t Stop Partying
Why Bother?
(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
My Name is Jonas
Beverly Hills
Pork and Beans
Kids (MGMT cover)
Island in the Sun
Buddy Holly

Weezer finished the Bamboozle festival on a high note, leaving everyone excited for the possibilities of next year’s lineup. A reunion set from Piebald in addition to superb sets from Motion City Soundtrack,  Good Old War, All the Day Holiday, and Girl Talk were great parts of the day. I unfortunately missed MGMT, The Dear Hunter, and Moving Mountains — evidence of the number of quality bands playing Sunday afternoon. As the parking lot emptied, it was evident that it is hard to find a better two-day experience on the east coast for contemporary punk and indie influenced rock and roll.

All photographs by the excellent Dan Gonyea.

Scott Matthew, joined by Clara Kennedy, opened the evening. The duo performed acoustic cuts for about twenty-five minutes, trading extremely impressive vocal harmonies throughout the set’s duration. “Tonight You Belong to Me”, a 1920s pop song made famous through the years by a number of artists (including Fiona Apple recently), received excellent treatment. The two seemed awkward and somewhat out-of-place on stage, but there is no denying Kennedy’s amazing vocal abilities. Matthew and Kennedy closed their set with a splendid cover of Frank Loesser’s “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”.

The five-piece Linfinity provided direct support for Kevin Devine. The band’s eight-song set was enjoyable but not groundbreaking, even with an electric violinist adding interesting riffs to the song’s fairly standard structures. A slide guitar spiced up “Seesaw Love”; “Choo Choo Train to Venice” was exciting and groove-based. The lyrics and style seemed to indicate a country-influence, and for the final song, “MSG”, the lead guitarist even switched to a mandolin. The full set:

Southern Belles
Seesaw Love
Choo Choo Train to Venice
Holy Rain
Molly Mar of Rome
Miles
MSG

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band — a six-piece lead by Devine and rounded out by two additional guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and keyboardist Brian Bonz — opened with Put Your Ghost to Rest‘s “Burning City Smoking”, updating the lyrics to reflect the changing political issues since the song’s original 2006 release. “Yr Husband” followed, with Devine slamming through the song’s jolted chords.

The alliteration-laced “Go Haunt Someone Else” sounded great; Bonz beat-boxed the intro to Devine’s latest single, “I Could Be With Anyone”, which received great live treatment. The trippy “Carnival” begs for a live environment, and Devine and the Goddamn Band nailed the song.

Kelly Pratt joined the band to play trumpet on “Fever Moon”, sticking around to also provide the blaring brass to an excellent romp of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “Holland 1945″. Rarely seen “You Are the Daybreak” proceeded a fiery performance of “Cotton Crush”. Jam-heavy “Brother’s Blood” closed the schedule setlist; Devine and the band returned moments later for an encore of “Just Stay”. The full set, which equally balanced new songs with his back-catalog:

Burning City Smoking
Yr Husband
Go Haunt Someone Else
I Could Be With Anyone
Carnival
Another Bag of Bones
Buried By the Buzz
Fever Moon
Holland 1945 (Neutral Milk Hotel cover)
You Are the Daybreak
Cotton Crush
The Only One (Manchester Orchestra cover)
Brother’s Blood
Just Stay

The night was an absolute success, with more than two thousand dollars raised for charity. Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band sounded great across their varied fourteen-song setlist; a cover of Neutral Milk Hotel goes over extremely well in Williamsburg. With such an extensive and formidable catalog, Devine’s set will always feature glaring omissions; still, the singer-songwriter did well to include a little bit of everything throughout the show making the night not only rewarding but exceptionally enjoyable.

inTuneMusic is very interested in any submissions/corrections from this event including photographs, setlists, and audio/video. Please contact us, you will receive complete credit for any submission.