Bamboozle Road Show 2010 at Festival Pier in Philadelphia on June 20th, 2010

The Bamboozle Road Show 2010 will be drawing to a close soon but earplugsrequired.com was lucky to catch the tour again - this time Festival Pier was the place. It was Father's Day but that didn't deter anyone from coming out and enjoying what the day had to offer.

The line to get in snaked down Columbus Blvd and once the gates opened it was a mad rush to get to the front of the main stage to secure a spot even though it would be hours until that stage kicked off. With bands such as Forever the Sickest Kids, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, Third Eye Blind, Boys Like Girls and All Time Low one knew that there would be those dedicated that would wait for hours in the heat just to be up close.

For now, the place to be was the side stage which luckily was right next to the main stage - unlike other tour stops where it was a trek to get to that second stage. A bit of juggling with the schedule had Drive A going on second, much to my delight as I got stuck in traffic and arrived in the midst of Stereo Skyline's set.

Having seen Drive A's set before I was curious to see what the crowd would be like when singer/guitarist Bruno Mascolo took to the pavement to get a circle pit going. This crowd as compared to the first stop on the tour had a better boy to girl ratio so Mascolo just might luck out today. Yes the boys in the crowd did their job although it was a weak job and one of them did more break dancing to which Mascolo did make a comment but all in all it made for a fun set and one that I was sure would give the band a good turnout at their tent later for their signing.

I missed Vita Chambers at the previous Road Show stop we made and I remember hearing her sing and thought her voice reminded me of Gwen Stefani. It really does and she tosses in a portion of No Doubt's "I'm Just A Girl" into one of her songs. Vita is a very dynamic/photographic performer who knows how to work a song and the stage. Boring will never be a category in which she is placed. Make sure to check her out if she comes through your town.

The side stage moved along quite quickly with each artist getting about 30 minutes. Another artist to comment about is Great Big Planes who are usually an acoustic set but decided to play with a full band today. They enlisted Third Eye Blind's bassist and Boys Like Girl's drummer to make a fivesome and added some covers to their set. Also, I had been looking forward to seeing Cady Groves as I also missed her set in Maryland but after although I enjoy her CD, she really didn't have a great stage presence. Could be that she performed later in the set after Vita and Vita stole the show!

The main stage was ready to kick off and Forever the Sickest Kids got the party started. Here everything was turned up a notch. This group is non-stop and definitely set the tone for the rest of the evening.

It was great to see bands such as Simple Plan and Good Charlotte sharing a stage with Forever the Sickest Kids, Boys Like Girls and All Time Low. It's like saying yes we passed the bottle to you guys but we haven't left the party. These are two bands that came before and are still bringing it to the table. Simple Plan hasn't been through these parts in a few years but it was as if there hadn't been a period of time in between. Good Charlotte of course paid respect to a city that helped them get where they are today - always good to do that.

The odd man out on this bill was Third Eye Blind and even though they really didn't fit within the genre of those others, they blended in quite well and even got a bit of help during their set from Alex of All Time Low. Great to see when bands do that. It shows the camaraderie that occurs on these tours.