Long Island bands invade Jersey for Bamboozle fest

Glenn Gamboa | DROPS

May 1, 2008

The Bamboozle festival may be at the Meadowlands, but it's always had a distinctly Long Island flavor - even beyond the 25,000 or so fans from the Island who attend - and this year is no exception.

The locals making the cut this weekend includes inventive indie rockers As Tall as Lions and dance-rockers Men, Women & Children on Saturday and the ever-impressive Envy on the Coast on Sunday. Vinnie Caruana will do double duty this year, playing a set of shoulda-been classics from The Movielife on Saturday and a set with his great new band, I Am the Avalanche, on Sunday.

And Fred Mascherino, one of last year's headliners as part of Taking Back Sunday, will show off his new band, The Color Fred, on Sunday. (Speaking of TBS, they're supposed to reveal Mascherino's replacement, as well as some new songs from their upcoming album, at Madison Square Garden on May 9. But they generally like to test things out closer to home first and, well, the new band Lance Striker and the Rockoholics, who are playing a secret show at The Crazy Donkey Monday with Envy on the Coast, are supposed to sound a lot like TBS. Hmm.)

The Bamboozle's director, John D'Esposito, offered a few more secrets, though he added that some surprises will be unveiled only on show day.

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The Hoodwink, the pre-Bamboozle concert set for tomorrow at 5 p.m., begins a new festival tradition featuring bands playing under fake names, whose true identities will only be revealed to fans a few days before the event. D'Esposito spilled a couple of aliases: 4 Dudes 1 Cup is really Jack's Mannequin, Larry Bird and the Daddy's Boom Boom is really Say Anything.

Get there early Saturday because the day will start at 10:30 a.m. with a secret set by Say Anything, who will close the Friday night show and open the Saturday show, following a traditional opening by the Secaucus High School Marching Band.

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