A Great Big Pile of Leaves

Unsigned locals A Great Big Pile of Leaves opened the evening with a pleasing blend of jazzy guitars and an indie-rock approach. Anchored by three-way vocal harmonies, the Brooklyn trio (rounded out with an additional guitarist for live performances) played a rock-solid twenty-five minute set that began with “Alligator Bop”, the first song on their excellent 2010 debut, Have You Seen My Prefrontal Cortex?. Though most of the band’s set came from that album, A Great Big Pile of Leaves also tossed in two cuts from 2007′s The Firery Works EP, including “workeatsleep”, a technical beauty driven by a nicely worked finger-tapped guitar lead. “We Don’t Need Our Heads” finished the band’s six song setlist.

Alligator Bop
Vampires in Love
This is a Country Song
workeatsleep
A Few Screws Loose
We Don’t Need Our Heads

Saves the Day

“Anywhere With You” kicked things off for Saves the Day just after 7PM. The New Jersey four-piece drew singalongs from an eager crowd, all the while sounding as tight as they’ve ever sounded. Things picked up immediately with “Firefly”, frontman Chris Conley launching into the song’s instantly-recognizable first words: “I said I’d walk you home after our third round of pouring whiskey down the barrel of our guts!”

Saves the Day

Through Being Cool‘s “Shoulder to the Wheel” is always a welcomed part of any Saves the Day setlist, but it was the brand new songs from the upcoming Daybreak that were most interesting: “1984″, “Let it All Go”, and “Z”, the last featuring a stunning guitar solo. The quartet’s forty-five minute setlist included tracks from most of the band’s discography, including powerful performances of singles “Rocks Tonic Juice Magic” and “At Your Funeral”.

Anywhere With You
Firefly
Shoulder to the Wheel
1984
The End
Cars and Calories
Let It All Go
Third Engine
Freakish
Eulogy
Can’t Stay the Same
Z
Rocks Tonic Juice Magic
At Your Funeral

Say Anything

Say Anything occupied Best Buy Theater’s stage between 8:15 and 9:15PM. The six-piece, with The Starting Line’s Kenny Vasoli filling in on bass, played fourteen songs across their entire discography, digging all the way back to their first full-length, Baseball, with “Colorblind”. Though Say Anything brought intensity to the stage and routinely engaged the crowd, the Max Bemis-fronted project lacked the songs to back the band’s otherwise ferocious punch. Say Anything’s catalog ranges from trite and uninteresting (“Woe”), at best, to downright grating (“Wow, I Can Get Sexual, Too”). Luckily, the band did spend a few minutes of their hour-long set with Chris Conley covering “Crawl”, a track recorded earlier in the year by the Bemis/Conley collaboration Two Tongues. Former bassist Alex Kent returned for …Is a Real Boy leadoff “Belt”, wrapping up Say Anything’s time on stage.

Crush’d
Little Girls
Woe
Baby Girl, I’m a Blur
Less Cute
Yellow Cat (Slash) Red Cat
Alive With the Glory of Love
Crawl (Two Tongues cover)
Wow… I Can Get Sexual, Too
Spay Me
She Won’t Follow You
Colorblind
Do Better
Belt

Motion City Soundtrack

After a short set change, Motion City Soundtrack began with “The Weakends”, the song’s instrumental introduction building excitement in the crowd, finally boiling over with frontman Justin Pierre’s clever lyrics and equally quirky demeanor: “Quicksand is a coat of arms / looseleaf and some liquid fiction / Last Rites every Friday night / am I weaker with the lights on?” It was the next song, though — longtime favorite “The Future Freaks Me Out” — that brought the audience to full attention with enormous hooks and commanding vocals.

Motion City Soundtrack

“Capital H”, another standout track from the excellent I am the Movie, kept things rolling for Motion City Soundtrack. The five-piece sounded as strong as ever, and, with a healthy Pierre leading the charge, made a case for perhaps their best performance to date in New York City. Exhibits A and B: new cuts “Pulp Fiction” and “Her Words Destroyed My Planet”, two My Dinosaur Life songs performed flawlessly live. Lesser seen songs, like “Point of Extinction” and “Perfect Teeth”, illustrate the difficulty in picking out a Motion City Soundtrack setlist: their discography is packed with distinguished punk-pop romps. Fleshed out songs like “Hold Me Down” showcase the band’s thicker, slower sound, while the set-closing “My Favorite Accident” exemplified the band’s lighter, simple-synth-driven sound.

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack’s encore began with a surprise that excited parts of the crowd while simultaneously leaving hordes of teenage girls in the dark: Nine Inch Nails’s “Head Like a Hole”. With thundering bass and rattling drums, the Minneapolis natives delivered a respectable rendition of one of Trent Reznor’s finest songs. Of course, Motion City Soundtrack didn’t leave their massive teenage fanbase hungry, treating New York City to one of their best (and undeniably most popular) songs, “Everything is Alright”, to finish the evening at 10:45.

The Weakends
The Future Freaks Me Out
This Is For Real
Capital H
Attractive Today
Pulp Fiction
LG Fuad
Broken Heart
Time Turned Fragile
Point Of Extinction
Perfect Teeth
Her Words Destroyed My Planet
A Lifeless Ordinary (Need A Little Help)
Last Night
Hold Me Down
My Favorite Accident
Head Like a Hole (Nine Inch Nails cover)
Disappear
Everything is Alright

Dignified sets from A Great Big Pile of Leaves and Saves the Day warmed the Best Buy Theater crowd, but it was Motion City Soundtrack — armed with more than hour of time on stage — that delivered the night’s finest performance. Performing nineteen songs across each of the their full-length albums, it’s tough for anyone to outshine Motion City Soundtrack. With a stellar live show built on a vigorous touring schedule, and the release of one of 2010′s best records, it’s hard to see Motion City Soundtrack slowing down any time soon. Everything is alright.

Saves the Day

In front of an eager hometown crowd, Saves the Day began with In Reverie leadoff “Anywhere With You” just after 7:30PM. Fan-favorite “Firefly” went next, much of the crowd singing along to frontman Chris Conley’s high-pitched vocals. The invigorating “Shoulder to the Wheel” followed, with the audience dancing along to the decade-old Through Being Cool cut. “1984″ — the first of three brand new songs played this evening — sounded great, building excitement for the band’s next full-length, Daybreak.

“Let It All Go” and “Z”, the other Daybreak songs tossed in the setlist, were also impressive. It’s been some time since Saves the Day has released a studio album, but if these songs are any indication, the wait will be worth it. Of course, the band’s older songs stand up well: 2001′s Stay What You Are contributed many of the night’s highlights, including “Cars and Calories” and “Freakish”.

The New Jersey quartet sounded great through their forty-five minute set, only stumbling when Say Anything frontman Max Bemis jumped on stage to butcher vocals on the penultimate “You Vandal”. Thankfully, though, Saves the Day recovered with a solid performance of perhaps their most well-known song, “At Your Funeral”. Much of the sold-out crowd knew every word: “And at your funeral I will sing the requiem / I’d offer you my hand, it would hurt too much to watch you die.”

Anywhere With You
Firefly
Shoulder To The Wheel
1984
The End
Cars and Calories
Let It All Go
Third Engine
Freakish
Eulogy
Can’t Stay The Same
Z
You Vandal
At Your Funeral

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack began with a somewhat sloppy performance of “The Weakends”, frontman Justin Pierre sounding uncharacteristically weak in his vocal delivery. “Everything is Alright” similarly sounded off, and Motion City Soundtrack’s less-than-stellar performance remained a mystery until Pierre attempted to speak into the microphone, revealing his barely audible, scratchy voice — a side effect of a lingering cold. Bassist Matt Taylor stepped up to provide additional vocals throughout the evening, though, and somehow Motion City Soundtrack managed to perform a respectable sixteen-song setlist.

Of course, without Pierre at full strength Motion City Soundtrack’s live show greatly suffered. The once-lively frontman was out of character, barely engaging in his normal banter, and the five-piece raced through their set, spending just fifty minutes on stage. The band’s instrumentals, however, were tighter than ever, and song selection was top notch with more than one-third of the set drawing from My Dinosaur Life, one of 2010′s best records: “Worker Bee”, lead by the packed Starland Ballroom singing the tune’s introductory verse, was absolutely fantastic. “Her Words Destroyed My Planet” received a slight change, with gang vocals replacing the song’s kazoo-lead chorus.

“Time Turned Fragile” and “Better Open the Door”, two lesser-seen 2005 cuts, were nice, unexpected additions to the evening. Though the crowd was composed largely of Say Anything fans, most of the building sang along to songs like “LG Fuad” and and “My Favorite Accident”, and of course, “The Future Freaks Me Out”, which closed out the Minneapolis quintet’s time on stage.

The Weakends
Everything Is Alright
Better Open The Door
Worker Bee
Broken Heart
A Lifeless Ordinary (Need A Little Help)
My Favorite Accident
This Is For Real
Last Night
LG Fuad
Time Turned Fragile
Attractive Today
Pulp Fiction
Her Words Destroyed My Planet
Disappear
The Future Freaks Me Out

Even with a sick frontman, Motion City Soundtrack delivered a solid performance backed by top-tier song selection. New songs like “Her Words Destroyed My Planet” and “Pulp Fiction” are some of the band’s best live cuts, and it’s hard to complain about the inclusion of the band’s older staples — like “The Future Freaks Me Out” or “Everything is Alright” — when that material is so exciting in a live environment. The evening was wonderful; after excellent performances by Motion City Soundtrack and Saves the Day, there was no need to stick around for an uninteresting set from the subpar Say Anything.

Reel Big Fish performed at noon, sticking heavily to their older, most well-known songs. In fact, only two of the band’s eleven songs were written in the last decade despite the band releasing more than fifty original cuts over the last ten years. The band’s sophomore album (issued in 1996, which contains re-recordings from their 1995 debut) contributed five of the set’s eleven songs, including absolutely stellar performances of “Beer” and “Sell Out”. Pretending to walk off stage after every song (“thanks, we’ve been the Reel Big Fish!”) in the first half of the set, the California natives set a jovial, lighthearted tone early.

With songs like “She Has a Girlfriend Now” — sings frontman Aaron Barrett during the song’s potent ending: “I never thought it would end like this just because I’ve got no tits / I’ll shave my legs, I’ll wear a bra, I”ll even cut my dick off for you”) — the band thrives on a playful setting, but doesn’t rely on it. Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” was undoubtedly in jest, but the band’s cover of the Norwegian mega-hit “Take On Me” is as solid as any cover recorded in the last twenty years. And there lies Reel Big Fish’s true appeal. While many of their So-Cal peers understand the fun side of music, few execute with Reel Big Fish’s precision and musicianship.

Everything Sucks
Thank You For Not Moshing
Another F.U. Song
Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison cover)
Your Guts (I Hate ‘Em)
I Want Your Girlfriend to Be My Girlfriend Too
Snoop Dog, Baby
She Has a Girlfriend Now
Sell Out
Beer
Take On Me (A-Ha cover)

The Dillinger Escape Plan

Starkly contrasting the ska antics of Reel Big Fish, The Dillinger Escape Plan played a loud, brash, and to-the-point eight song setlist constructed largely from the band’s latest release, Option Paralysis. Beginning with 2004′s “Panasonic Youth”, the New Jersey locals tore through a career-spanning setlist that drew the biggest response with Calculating Infinity‘s “43% Burnt”. There’s no questioning the band’s unbelievable technical ability or vocalist Greg Puciato’s unrestrained vehemence, but it remains to be seen why the frontman ditches his trademark screams for an embarrassing attempt at traditional singing on songs like the closing “Farewell, Mona Lisa”. The Dillinger Escape Plan were likely the most potent heavy act of the day — that is, when the band stays fierce and unrelenting.

Panasonic Youth
Milk Lizard
43% Burnt
Room Full of Eyes
Chinese Whispers
Good Neighbor
Sunshine the Werewolf
Farewell, Mona Lisa

AM Taxi

The five-piece AM Taxi played next on the nearby side stage, showcasing their blend of Bruce Springsteen-influenced melodic punk rock. Comparable to The Replacements or The Gaslight Anthem, the Chicago natives ripped through a seven song set filled with songs from their recent debut, We Don’t Stand a Chance. Tight guitars, interesting bass lines, and rock-steady percussion backed frontman Adam Grier’s raspy vocals, with occasional keys provided by Luke Schmitt. The band appeared genuine and appreciative of the meager crowd they attracted, and during the penultimate “Shake, Rattle, and Stall” Schmitt traveled down to the audience to sell copies of the band’s album for just five dollars. The unique marketing tactic proved successful, and Schmitt sold every CD he had taken down to the crowd. The keyboardist returned to the stage for the band’s closing song, a solid cover of “Paint it Black”, and AM Taxi wrapped up their set to enormous applause from anyone lucky enough to have caught the up-and-coming act.

Dead Street
Woodpecker
The Mistake
Fed Up
Charissa
Shake, Rattle, and Stall
Paint it Black (The Rolling Stones cover)

Face to Face

Catching all of AM Taxi unfortunately meant missing part of Face to Face‘s setlist. Frontman Trever Keith was characteristically cynical throughout the set, at one point calling out fans of Bring Me the Horizon for idly standing around in the middle of the band’s set. Unquestionably one of the oldest bands in Monmouth Park that day, the California five-piece’s classic ’90s punk-pop was refreshing amongst a backdrop of neon-powered acts on nearby stages. Face to Face’s setlist included “Ordinary”, “Pastel”, “Velocity”, “A-OK”, “Complicated”, and a song from the band’s upcoming full-length, Laugh Now, Laugh Later.

The Riverboat Gamblers

Led by the charismatic Mike Wiebe, The Riverboat Gambers performed on a small sidestage in the mid-afternoon as Face to Face’s set wrapped up. The Texas quintet was exceptionally exciting, gathering a fairly large crowd that grew bigger and bigger as passersby noticed the intense live show. The band played a brand new song (“What Are You Waiting For?”) before wrapping up with Underneath the Owl‘s “Victory Lap” and Something to Crow About‘s “Hey Hey Hey!”; for the latter, Wiebe toppled a nearby trashcan, dragged it across the parking lot to the pit, and then climbed on top, demanding a circle-march around him for the song’s final moments.

The Swellers

The Swellers contractually finished their stint on the Warped Tour before the Oceanport date, but the band still set up a merch tent to make a few extra bucks before heading home to Michigan. In addition, the band teamed up with the Keep-A-Breast non-profit organization to perform a set of acoustic songs at 3PM. Barely miked and quickly improvised, the set consisted of four songs from the band’s latest full-length, Ups and Downsizing. Frontman Nick Diener was overwhelmingly cheerful and lighthearted, coming off extremely relaxed and accessible; his softer takes on normally swift punk-pop songs gave the tracks new life, displaying an honest, sincere vibe that feels missing on the band’s overproduced and lifeless album.

Do You Feel Better Yet?
Ups and Downsizing
Sleeper
Welcome Back Riders

The Mighty Regis

The Mighty Regis, a seven-piece Celtic-punk/folk-punk band from California, was next. Beginning with “Them Bastards” from 2008′s Another Nickel for the Pope, the band played a lengthy six song setlist. “Broken and Battered” was dedicated to Chicago Celtic-punks Flatfoot 56, whose singer Tobin Bawinkel would join the band later for a rousing cover of “Boys from the County Hell”. An unconventional take on “Danny Boy”, featuring Ryan O’Neill on pan flute, finished up The Mighty Regis’s set. Unfortunately, few saw the band put on one of the day’s best sets.

Them Bastards
The Brothers Rafferty
Broken and Battered
Celtic Storm
Boys from the County Hell (The Pogues cover)
Danny Boy

Alkaline Trio

The Flatliners played next, kicking their set off with “July! August! Reno!”. The Canadian punk quartet played a new song, “Common Collection”, next, but I left the sidestage afterwards to catch Alkaline Trio performing across the parking lot.  Opening with the rarely seen “She Took Him to the Lake”, the Chicago three-piece played a respectable collection of early-decade cuts, wisely opting to ignore the less-than-impressive offerings found on 2005′s Crimson and 2008′s Agony and Irony. “My Friend Peter” was a nice surprise, as was a totally unexpected and passionate Nomeansno cover that flew over the head of a crowd not-yet-born when the song was originally recorded in 1989. Alkaline Trio wrapped things up with “97″, tossing in the often-sampled chorus fromRock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three’s “The Roof is On Fire”.

She Took Him to the Lake
Armageddon
Emma
Dine Dine My Darling
My Friend Peter
Blue Carolina
Private Eye
Off the Map
Two Lips, Two Lungs, One Tongue (Nomeansno cover)
97

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack performed the tightest set of the day, but it was unfortunately the exact same collection of songs performed by the Minnesota five-piece just a few months earlier at the nearby Bamboozle festival. Luckily, the songs are some of the band’s best. Things began with “Attractive Today” leading directly into I am the Movie‘s “The Future Freaks Me Out”, the entire crowd singing the song’s opening lines: “I’m on fire / and now I think I’m ready / to bust a move / check it out I’m rockin’ steady!”

With four albums to choose from, Motion City Soundtrack spread things out quite evenly. Tossing in three cuts from the band’s excellent 2010 release, My Dinosaur Life , frontman Justin Pierre was spot-on yet tired, clearly draining the remains of his stamina on the penultimate “Disappear”.  Still, closing track “Everything is Alright” sounded excellent and the crowd roared to the song’s opening riffs. Motion City Soundtrack never disappoints, but it would have been great if the band switched things up from their last New Jersey appearance just a few months earlier.

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

Set Your Goals

As the sun began to set, Set Your Goals played a large side-stage. Drawing in fans of all genres, the band opened things with their latest single, the blistering “Gaia Bleeds”, setting the tone of their performance immediately. “Goonies Say Die”, from their debut EP, made an appearance in the nine-song set, and a surprising number of attendees responded to the song. Highlights included “Summer Jam”, a song almost describable as a Warped Tour anthem, and the one-two closing punch of the “Dead Men Tell No Tales” into “Mutiny”. Unfortunately, the band sounded hollow — especially vocalists Matt Wilson and Jordan Brown — a far cry from their normally-outstanding intensity. The rest of the band picked up the slack, though, with crisp leads and rock-solid rhythms anchoring an enjoyable performance.

Gaia Bleeds (Make Way For Man)
The Fallen
This Very Moment
Summer Jam
Goonies Never Say Die
To Be Continued…
Echoes
Dead Men Tell No Tales
Mutiny

Criticisms of Warped Tour’s sixteenth year are often targeted at the overwhelming number of awful bands on the tour. It’s not unfounded. At the Oceanport date alone acts like Alesana, Artist vs Poet, Attack Attack, Breathe Carolina, Breathe Electric, Bring Me the Horizon, Emarosa, Emmure, Four Year Strong, Hey Monday, In Fear and Faith, Mayday Parade, NeverShoutNever, Pierce the Veil, VersaEmerge, and We the Kings undoubtedly cluttered the parking lot with uninteresting tunes, but there were more than enough diamonds in the rough worth checking out. At least one solid band was playing at any given time, including a number of overlaps that meant missing quality acts like Every Time I Die, Fake Problems, and Flatfoot 56. At just $40 per ticket, Warped Tour remains an excellent opportunity to see a large number of favorites in one day. More importantly, it might expose you to your new favorite band.

Photos credit to the amazing Rebecca Sawka.

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.

The Swellers

The Swellers kicked off the impressive four-band bill at 6:30 with Ups and Downsizing leadoff cut “2009″, sticking primarily to that album for their half hour set. The Michigan four-piece harmonized well and executed with precision but ultimately failed to shine with any truly excellent moments. A solid opening band, The Swellers sounded good but not great. “Skoots” and “Bottles” from 2007′s My Everest were welcomed additions to the set; the band finished with a strong performance of “Do You Feel Better?”. The full set:

2009
Fire Away
Bottles
Welcome Back Riders
Watch it Go
Skoots
Sleeper
Dirt
Do You Feel Better Yet?

This Providence

Seattle’s This Providence followed with a bland and uninteresting performance. With few exceptions, frontman Dan Young was devoid of energy and bored most of the crowd for the band’s thirty minutes. Taking cues from and playing in the the musical style of Panic at the Disco, The Academy Is…, and Gatsbys American Dream, This Providence never reached any of the aforementioned band’s creativity or charisma. With tighter hooks and a more powerful live show the band might be ready to join their peers, but as it stands This Providence simply falls short of many similar bands who just do it so much better. Seven of the band’s eight cuts came from their latest effort, Who Are You Now?. The full half-hour set:

That Girl’s a Trick
Waste Myself
My Beautiful Rescue
Playing the Villain
Keeping on Without You
This is the Real Thing
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Letdown

Set Your Goals

At 8PM Set Your Goals took the stage, playing a shortened version of their headliner set from the day before — please see that link for a full bootleg and lengthy commentary on the band’s setlist. Powerhouses “Gaia Bleeds (Make Way for Man)” and “Goonies Never Die” kicked things off, setting the pace for the next thirty minutes. Vinnie Caruana joined the band to perform his vocal part on “This Will Be the Death of Us”, a nice surprise that spiced up the band’s already-exciting performance. “To Be Continued…” and “Mutiny”, from the band’s debut full length, were the final two songs, the latter receiving the warmest response of the fairly short nine-song set:

Gaia Bleeds (Make Way for Man)
Goonies Never Say Die
Look Closer
The Fallen
Echoes
Summer Jam
This Will be the Death of Us
To Be Continued…
Mutiny!

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack walked on stage at 9PM to the ’80s pop hit, “Walk the Dinosaur”. Beginning with My Dinosaur Life‘s track one,”Worker Bee”, frontman Justin Pierre sang: “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.” If quirky lyrics like that don’t go over for you, then abandon ship now: Motion City Soundtrack only gets stranger.

Bringing things back to 2002, I am the Movie‘s  “The Future Freaks Me Out” went second, with the entire crowd singinging the song’s opening moments about Betty and her love for modern rock. Another cut from that album, “My Favorite Accident”, kept the crowd dancing and singing along to every word. “Broken Heart”, from 2007′s Even if it Kills Me, was warmly received, and the brand new “Delirium” sounded great. Some strange sound problems hindered “This is for Real”, but the band bounced back strong with a crowd-rousing performance of “When You’re Around”.

Pierre sung a brief happy birthday song to the tune of “Worker Bee” before Motion City Soundtrack laid down two excellent performances of My Dinosaur Life standouts “Pulp Fiction” and “Motherfucker”, the latter of which is clearly inspired by American Teen‘s Jake Tusing, right down to the the Legend of Zelda references. “Even if it Kills Me” was a nice surprise to the setlist, as was the much older “Perfect Teeth”. For “Her Words Destroyed My Planet”, Motion City Soundtrack had previously distributed kazoos to everyone in attendance and encouraged them to buzz along to the song’s shrieking synthesizer riff.

After finishing the set with “LG Fuad” — and the entire crowding singing along, “let’s get fucked up and die” — the band walked off stage and the lights went dark. In a completely unexpected twist, Motion City Soundtrack didn’t return to the stage — Boston’s Williams Octet walked out in front of the Irving Plaza crowd to perform a remarkable a cappella version of “Fell in Love Without You”. Pierre joined the octet for the song’s final moments before rejoining Motion City Soundtrack for their new single “Disappear”. “Everything is Alright”, perhaps the band’s signature song, received stellar treatment and appropriately closed the evening. The full set:

Worker Bee
The Future Freaks Me Out
My Favorite Accident
Broken Heart
Delirium
This is for Real
When You’re Around
Pulp Fiction
@!#?@! (Motherfucker)
Last Night
A Lifeless Ordinary (Need A Little Help)
Even if it Kills Me
Attractive Today
Perfect Teeth
Her Words Destroyed My Planet
LG Fuad
Fell in Love Without You
Disappear
Everything is Alright

Motion City Soundtrack’s eighteen-song set — nineteen, if you include the a cappella rendition of “Fell in Love Without You” — was an absolute treat and showcased why the Minnesota five-piece is known for one of the genre’s best live shows. Song selection across the band’s four albums was impeccable, with bonus points (and a gold star) for playing more than half of their outstanding new album. A great performance by Set Your Goals and solid openers The Swellers only added to excellent evening. Motion City Soundtrack’s next performance in the area is at this year’s Bamboozle in East Rutherford — don’t miss out.

All photographs by the extremely talented India Allegra.