The night’s first performance was by Valencia frontman Shane Henderson, though I unfortunately managed to catch just two songs. Henderson’s penultimate song was “Away We Go”, a song recorded by Valencia for their debut album, This Could Be a Possibility, but originally appearing on Promise of Redemption’s Lights That Flicker Will Surely Fade – Henderson’s debut solo album. “From the Second I Wake Up…”, a song from Promise of Redemption’s second album, closed the set.

JT Woodruff performed next, playing a seven-song set that included six originals and one Face to Face cover, chosen for its significance in introducing the Hawthorne Heights songwriter to punk rock. Wisely opting not to perform any of his band’s songs (even denying a request for the awful “Ohio is for Lovers”), Woodruff’s performance was somewhat enjoyable yet clearly the weakest link in an otherwise outstanding night. The set began with a song about his hometown, followed by a quick number about his daughter Avery. The set’s highlight was clearly “Friends in the Sky”, a heartfelt tribute to lost friends including former bandmate Casey Calvert, Bayside’s John “Beatz” Holohan, and recently deceased Avenged Sevenfold drummer “The Rev”. Woodruff closed his set on a less-heavy note, however, with “Least Favorite Things 2009″, a jab at the current neon culture and even Lady Gaga. The set:

(New song)
Avery
Disconnected (Face to Face cover)
(New song)
(New song)
Friends in the Sky
Least Favorite Things 2009

Vinnie Caruana

Vinnie Caruana began his set with a solid new song, moving quickly into staple “Hey” from The Movielife’s Forty Hour Train Back to Penn. “Drinking Song” and “Green Eyes”, from Caruana’s current project, I am the Avalanche, sounded great. A few more favorites from The Movielife and some rants about New York sports–specifically regarding the success of the New York Jets and the disappointments of the New York Mets–preceded “Brooklyn Dodgers”, a new I Am the Avalanche song dedicated to his mother and father in attendance. The extremely personal “I Took a Beating” closed out a solid set from the Long Island native. The full set:

(New song)
Hey (The Movielife)
Drinking Song (I am the Avalanche)
Green Eyes (I am the Avalanche)
Sailor Tattoos (The Movielife)
Walking on Glass (The Movielife)
Brooklyn Dodgers (I am the Avalanche)
I Took a Beating (I am the Avalanche)

Kevin Devine

Brooklyn boy Kevin Devine played fourth, beginning with “Brother’s Blood” from his 2009 album of the same name. Despite being stripped down to its acoustic roots, the song benefited greatly from Devine’s unfeigned and fiery delivery. “Noose Dressed Like a Necklace”, from 2003′s Make the Clocks Move, was a welcomed addition to the setlist; “Keep Ringing Your Bell” was as personal and sincere as any song all evening. Unafraid to show his political and religious convictions, “Another Bag of Bones” injected biting cynicism into the set. A promising, brand new song preceded “Cotton Crush”; “Ballgame” found Devine once again tackling politics, this time in context to his own life decisions. The final song of Devine’s excellent nine-song selection was “Yr Damned Ol’ Dad”, performed significantly slower and softer than normal. The full list:

Brother’s Blood
Noose Dressed Like a Necklace
Keep Ringing Your Bell
Another Bag of Bones
Carnival
(New song)
Cotton Crush
Ballgame
Yr Damned Ol’ Dad

Headliner Anthony Raneri began his thirteen-song setlist with a solid cover of Matt Skiba’s “Good Fucking Bye”, receiving a fairly warm response. The crowd really cheered, however, as Raneri started to play the opening notes of the extremely emotional “Don’t Call Me Peanut”. A strong cover of Bad Religion’s “Sorrow” preceded “Landing Feet First”, a song Raneri called the “first and last love song” he has ever written.

Anthony Raneri

After briefly explaining that using a capo on his guitar was new territory for the experienced frontman, Raneri performed “The Ghost of St. Valentine” from Bayside’s Shudder and Tim McGraw’s “Just to See You Smile”. Talking over the intro riff of “Duality”, Raneri commented that this song finally allowed him to have his “rockstar moment” — that is, a song with an introduction that can be extended indefinitely while the band addresses the crowd over the riff.

A sloppy Counting Crows cover followed, but Raneri rebounded with a compelling performance of “The Ballad of Bill the Saint”, a song destined one day for an Anthony Raneri solo album. Acknowledging that he has too much respect for the instrument to call himself a “true guitarist”, Raneri condeded that he probably butchers “I’ll Follow You into the Dark” but loves the song and plays it anyway. Oft covered by Bayside, Smoking Popes’s “Megan” finished the set. The full list:

Good Fucking Bye (Matt Skiba cover)
Don’t Call Me Peanut (Bayside)
Sorrow (Bad Religion cover)
Landing Feet First (Bayside)
The Ghost of St. Valentine (Bayside)
Just to See You Smile (Tim McGraw cover)
Duality (Bayside)
Blame it on Bad Luck (Bayside)
A Long December (Counting Crows cover)
I and I (Bayside)
The Ballad of Bill the Saint
I’ll Follow You into the Dark (Death Cab for Cutie cover)
Megan (Smoking Popes cover)

With each artist taking a unique approach to his set (originals, covers, and parodies), the night moved along at a rapid pace; downtime between artists was brief — it was, after all, just a microphone and a guitar that needed setup. With the longest set time and biggest fanbase in attendance, Anthony Raneri clearly stole the show. Still, Kevin Devine’s performance was the most seasoned, making it clear that as a solo artist he is by far the most talented of the batch.

Destry

Formed in the wake of Michelle DaRosa’s departure from Straylight Run, Destry–playing a blend of folk and rock–opened the evening. After collaborating with (and being overshadowed by) her brother John Nolan for years, DaRosa finally got the chance to show her own abilities. Joined by hometown friends from Cassino and Straylight Run (drummer Nico Childrey, guitarist Tyler Odom, and bassist Shaun Cooper), the band’s first show was incredibly promising. Destry mixed a few covers into their brief set (Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang” and The Everly Brothers’s “All I Have to Do is Dream”), dually showcasing their influences and tight harmonies.

Vinny Caruana

Vinnie Caruana played next. Mixing up covers of both his bands (I Am the Avalanche and the now-defunct The Movielife), Caruana sounded like a wounded punk veteran of the scene. At only thirty, he came off much older–wiser, even. The crowd sang along to some of his back catalog’s staples, such as Forty Hour Train Back To Penn‘s “Hey”.  “I Took a Beating” took on its original acoustic form (found on a split with The Early November), and a number of other songs from I Am the Avalanche’s eponymous debut received solid treatment.

Bayside’s Anthony Raneri headlined the evening with just his acoustic guitar. Raneri sounded great, performing a nice mix of Bayside material and covers, in addition to a brand new song (“The Ballad of Bill The Saint”) to appear on his upcoming solo album. Shudder‘s “The Ghost of St. Valentine” was a nice surprise and the only Bayside song of the evening to not have received prior acoustic treatment on CD. The full setlist, to the best of my recollection:

Anthony Raneri

Good Fucking Bye (Alkaline Trio cover)
Don’t Call Me Peanut
Sorrow (Bad Religion cover)
Landing Feet First
Blame It on Bad Luck
The Ghost of St. Valentine
The Ballad of Bill The Saint
They Looked Like Strong Hands
Duality
Boxcar (Jawbreaker cover)
I and I
I Will Follow You Into the Dark (Death Cab For Cutie cover)
Megan (The Smoking Popes cover)

“Landing Feet First” was dedicated to his wife (in attendance). “Boxcar” was a nice surprise for the few audience members old enough to remember Jawbreaker, while “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” should probably stay with Ben Gibbard. During “Duality”, Raneri joked that Bayside finally became a “legit” band due to the song–more specifically, the song’s intro riff on guitar that allows him to address the crowd before songs like “all the other legit bands”.

The evening was brief but quite enjoyable, and it’s always nice to hear some old The Movielife songs whenever possible. Destry was a nice surprise: the band has serious talent and potential, so don’t let them slip by your radar. Anthony Raneri was excellent, proving that even as stripped down acoustic numbers, Bayside has some incredibly well-written songs.

Photos by Devyn Manibo.

I arrived on Saturday around noon to check out the first day of The Bamboozle, heading to the 5 Gum side stage to check out Long Island’s The Sleeping. A post-hardcore act that I’ve caught at Bamboozle in the past, the band performed with Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row), playing a solid set featuring some of Bach’s material in addition to The Sleeping staples such as “If Your Heart Was Broken”. Though later in the evening after fatigue set in I’d chill out to some pop-rock acts, The Sleeping were a great way to kick off the weekend with a crowd that was certainly ready to dance. The band sounded tight; guitarist Cameron Keym’s metal-inspired licks were sharper than ever, and vocalist Douglas Robinson captured the crowd.

Story of the Year were next on my list at 2PM, so I ventured to the Asbury Park main stage. Let it be known that the sound, for both Day One and Day Two, was terrible on the Asbury Park stage–unfortunate because about half of the bands I saw during the weekend set up on that stage. As I’m not a professional audio engineer, I’m not exactly sure what the problem was but the sound was never consistent: bass was either muddy or non-existent, and microphones never maintained the same volume, often cutting out nearly entirely for seconds at a time.

Despite common sound issues that would plague nearly twenty bands on that stage, Story of the Year sounded excellent for the duration of their set. It’s been some time since i caught the band on tour, but their live show had always been their strongest point; it’s great to see they’ve only improved over time. Their set:

And the Hero Will Drown
The Antidote
Anthem of Our Dying Day
Wake Up
In the Shadows
Until the Day I Die
Is This My Fate? He Asked Them

Over half of their set came from their debut Page Avenue, but the band unfortunately included two of their lesser songs from that release in “Anthem of Our Dying Day” and “Under the Day I Die” but did include two of the strongest, opener “And the Hero Will Drown” and “In the Shadows”. The new songs from The Black Swan (“The Antidote”, “Wake Up”) sounded promising, so I’ll need to check out that album soon.

New Jersey ska-stalwarts Streetlight Manifesto were up next on the opposite main stage (which suffered from none of Asbury Park stage’s sound issues). The band played extremely well, with a large selection of songs coming from Somewhere in the Between. The band pleased the crowd with “Dear Sergio”, a song that engaged many people listening who were familiar with Catch 22′s Keasbey Nights but not necassrily Streetlight Manifesto.

At 3:30PM on the Nokia Ticket Rush stage, Vinnie Caruana played a set entirely of The Movielife songs with Set Your Goals as his backing band. Though he stated numerous times throughout the set that “this [wasn't] The Movielife”, you’d be hard pressed to find a single person in the crowd who was concerned with that fact. Vinnie sang like the band hadn’t broken up five years ago, with dead-on delivery of songs nearly a decade old. Set Your Goals’s (a band I wanted to see as well but passed up on to see Saves the Day) guitarists, bassist, and drummer covered each song with precision. Cuts included “Hand Grenade”, “Pinky Swear”, “Hey”, and “Face or Kneecaps” before the near-obligatory closer, “Jamestown”. Vinnie constantly thanked the crowd for giving him the chance to play these songs, but it was really the crowd constantly thanking him for resurrecting the songs of an incredible punk-pop band.

Dressed as cops and coming out to Inner Circle’s “Bad Boys” on the PA, Less Than Jake took the Asbury Park stage at 4PM, opening with “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads”. My first time catching the band live, I was quite impressed with how tight the band sounded. I’m not a huge fan of the band (perhaps getting into them late into their career), but I respect their contributions to the genre and their live show convinced me to give them some more attention. Their full set:

All My Best Friends Are Metalheads
Last One Out Of Liberty City
Overrated
Gainseville Rock City
Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts
Great American Sharp Shooter
Ghosts Of You And Me
Science Of Selling Yourself Short
Look What Happened

I took an hour break between 4:30 and 5:30 to check out various tents and merchandise, picking up a great Refused Shirts For a Cure tee. SFaC is a great project; all proceeds go to the Syrentha J. Savio Endowment. The SSE provides financial assistance to underprivileged women who cannot afford expensive breast cancer medicine and therapy; there are a lot of shirt designs, I urge you to see if your favorite band is there and to pick one up for just $12.

I caught a little bit of theAUDITION and Bless the Fall, two bands I didn’t have much interest in checking out but stayed at for a little bit while talking to some friends. Chiodos played at 5:50 on the Asbury Park stage, my next destination. The band played a balanced mix between their two full-length albums; they sounded decent, and the crowd was explosive the entire time. The full setlist:

The Undertakers Thirst For Revenge Is Unquenchable (The Final Battle)
There’s No Penguins In Alaska
Baby, You Wouldn’t Last A Minute On The Creek
Teeth The Size Of Piano Keys
Bulls Make Money, Bears Make Money, Pigs Get Slaughtered
The Words ‘Best Friend’ Become Refined
Is It Progression If A Cannibal Uses A Fork

I rushed over to the opposing NowWhat mainstage before Chiodos was finished to catch New Jersey locals Saves the Day, who opened up with Stay What You Are‘s “See You”. Chris Conley sounded tremendous: his voice was not only crisp and clear, but he sounded confident and in control of the crowd the entire time. When told the band had time for only one more song (the main stage times were getting increasingly backed up), he asked the crowd to pick between “Ups and Downs” and “Firefly”–”Firefly” apparently was the first thing he heard and played both that and then “At Your Funeral”, upping the count of songs from their 2001 LP to three. The full set:

See You
The End
Anywhere With You
You Vandal
Can’t Stay The Same
Head For The Hills
Shoulder To The Wheel
Firefly
At Your Funeral

It would have been nice to hear “Ups and Downs”, one of my favorite Saves the Day songs, but the band still played a great set nonetheless. The band has too much material to get picky about songs not played, especially when they picked nine great tracks anyway.

Jack’s Mannequin, another casualty of the Asbury Park stage, was next at 6:50; they didn’t start immediately after Saves the Day, so I managed to make it across the parking lot in time to get close to the stage before the band started. “Dark Blue”, with part of the extended introduction, kicked off the setlist which included a song from the upcoming The Glass Passenger (which certainly sounds promising — I was worried after a slew of less-than-stellar post-Everything in Transit tracks) and a cover from Something Corporate’s North. The set:

Dark Blue
Holiday from Real
The Mixed Tape
Suicide Blonde
Bruised
Kill the Messenger
La La Lie
Me and the Moon (Something Corporate cover)
MFEO

The band played well, but their sound was somewhat marred by the stage. Before “Kill the Messenger”, frontman Andrew McMahon commented on the weather; during the song (which features the lyrics “I’m going to send a little rain your way”) the misty rain slowly picked up. Even taking into account projection, the song had never felt so real or so powerful. Aside from the lack of staple “I’m Ready”, I don’t think I could have asked for a better setlist. “MFEO” is an incredible track that stands on its own, but it really works perfectly for closing a set, especially outdoors in the rain, in the parking lot.

Paramore played the Asbury Park stage at 8PM; almost immediately it was obvious just how poor the stage’s sound actually was, as one of the tightest pop-rock acts in the scene today suddenly sounded sloppy and uninteresting. The band kicked off with Riot!‘s “Let the Flames Begin”, following it with All We Know is Falling single “Emergency”. Either during that track or during “Stop This Song (Lovesick Melody)”, a b-side from the Riot! sessions, the stage’s sound started to click back together and the band sounded incredible for the rest of their set, which was, in its entirety:

Let the Flames Begin
Emergency
Stop This Song (Lovesick Melody)
Here We Go Again
That’s What You Get
Pressure
For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic
crushcrushcrush
Woah
Misery Business

“Here We Go Again” was sans the At The Drive-In mini-cover, instead segueing flawlessly into “That’s What You Get”. Much like an hour ago watching Jack’s Mannequin amongst teenage girls barely (if at all?) old enough to drive, I felt out of place singing along to every word, but it’s always refreshing to catch other guys mouthing the words: this is great pop music, and I’m glad that these young teens are growing up on true pop-rock, not manufactured radio garbage or Britney Spears-esq bubblegum, even if the band is dominating the radio with songs such as “Misery Business”, the set’s closer.

During the aforementioned hit single, I walked out of the crowd to get to Jimmy Eat World, an act I’m almost embarrassed to admit I had never seen live. The band’s performance was unparalleled by any other act all day, and their forty-five minute setlist was incredible:

Big Casino
Sweetness
Work
Always Be
Crush
Here It Goes
A Praise Chorus
Let It Happen
Dizzy
Bleed American
Pain
The Middle

The rain was a constant mist during their performance; it was a little chilly, but incredibly relaxing. There’s not much to be said about the band’s performance other than that their live sound is a near perfect recreation of their studio albums, from the guitar subtleties to the incredible harmonies.

Snoop Dogg closed Day One, coming on around 9:30. I was a little further back than normal (near the soundboard) for his set, but he still sounded pretty good. I had never seen him live, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but he managed to hold my attention for some time. I left midway through his set to get to a party, but his full set was:

Murder Was The Case
P.I.M.P. (Remix)
Who Am I? (What’s My Name)
That’s That Shit
Gin And Juice
Lodi Dodi
Woof!
I Wanna Fuck You
Snoop’s Upside Ya Head
Beautiful
Nuthin’ But A G Thang
Ain’t No Fun
Deeez Nuuuts
Notorious DPG
Snoop Dogg
My Medicine
Sexual Eruption
Drop It Like It’s Hot

The entire day was great, as I got to see some older bands for the first time live in addition to seeing some of my favorites once again. The weather was great: I’d prefer chilly and rainy to blistering heat and humidity any day. Moreover, cell phone service actually worked, which allowed me to meet up with friends throughout the day. There was room for improvement though: I couldn’t find any time cards (something usually handed out when you walk in), and, to beat a dead horse, the Asbury Park stage sounded terrible. Scheduling was pretty solid: Set Your Goals and Men Women & Children were the only two bands I missed due to conflicting times.

If anyone has any corrections/updates to the setlists I posted (which should be accurate, but there’s always room for error), please post them in the comments.