For many, braving the frigid temperatures that were only abetted by a breeze off of lake Michigan was worth reliving a band essential to so many musical palettes. Something Corporate was headlining the third Bamboozle festival, which not only marked the band’s third reunion show since their 2005 hiatus, but also the debut of the Bamboozle festival in Chicago. It was only fitting that Something Corporate ring in the festival for Chicago.
As Andrew McMahon pointed out early in the Something Corporate set, Chicago has a special place in the band’s heart and history. McMahon moved out from under his parent’s wings and spent some time living in the basement of New Found Glory’s Jordan Pundik. There, McMahon wrote several early SoCo songs, several of which they played that night.
It was a night for nostalgia for both the band and fans. It was a night for rediscovery and reliving the love of SoCo music, but it was also a day of discovery. Many of the scene’s rising acts from the last few years as well as a few veterans joined the festival. To the side of the main stage, the festival had a line up from the heart of Chicago. Allister and the harder Treaty of Paris rocked the later evening slots. Hip hop acts like Spose and the Jump Smokers (complete with their own ass-shaking, scantily clad dancers) got the crowd dancing. Earlier acts like I Fight Dragons and The Lifelines really impressed. I Fight Dragons fits in well with the Bamboozle scene, and the Lifelines, while edgier had a nice mix of harder vocals with violin.
The side stage set times fit in between with the bigger name acts over on the main stage. All the Day Holiday played a catchy set to the early arrivers. Though some of their songs started to blend, the guys were energetic and fun. A good way to start off the mainstage. Chicago’s Kill Hannah played a rock set that was easy to dance to if you could take your eyes off the band in their neon make-up and feathers long enough to watch your footing. The band plays an edgy rock, but unlike some of the screamier bands you might have found amongst the other Chicago acts, this band’s music is very accesible as proven by radio singles “Lips Like Morphine” and “Boys N Girls.”
Kill Hannah Set List:
Boys N Girls
New York City Speed
Love You to Death
The Chase
Strobelights
Kennedy
Lips Like Morphine
The next three acts on the main stage are out on tour together, so if you missed Bamboozle, there is still a chance to catch Travie McCoy and the Lazarus Project with 3oh!3 and Cobra Starship. As enjoyable as McCoy’s other project, Gym Class Heroes, is, I kind of enjoyed this current act more. It fit in better with the other music at the fest and they guy is such a strong performer personality wise that I he could have been performing with only a cricket to back him and made that show enjoyable. He would coyly wrap his arms around his lit up mic stand, trot out on to amps and make these really animated facial expressions that almost said more than half his lyrics. Suffice it to say, he is a must-see-live act. Denver’s 3oh!3 followed up Travie and based on the amount of gold-donned girls in the crowd, there was a quite a large turn out to see these guys. Hands spelling out the 3oh!3 sign flew into the air as the guys started out with the whistling-filled single “Starstrukk.” The tunes are easy to sing along to – even a couple of new songs off their upcoming summer release got a good singalong in the crowd. For as much as you want to hate these guys for their womanizing lyrics, they’re pretty darn enjoyable live. We’ll chalk this one up to a guilty pleasure.
Speaking of guilty pleasures, the crowd was ready to get their fangs up with Chicago-darling Gabe Saporta and his current band: Cobra Starship. Flashing lights, confetti and balloons accessorized their set…if you didn’t know any better, it would have been easy to mistake them as the headliners. When it came time for them to play the infamous movie theme song “Snakes on a Plane,” they were all set to invite Travie McCoy back out to perform his part. However, Travie took a backseat to a girl who brought a sign saying she knew all the words to the rap. She was invited up on stage and McCoy filmed her doing the part. There are some who aren’t a fan of Saporta’s current act, aka those who won’t let go of Midtown, but if you let loose and accept the act for a silly, fun-loving dance, pop rock group than it really is a blast to hop around to “Guilty Pleasure” and “Good Girls Go Bad.”
After them, it was time for Something Corporate. Finally seeing Something Corporate was like a dream come true. The band broke up (or went on hiatus or whatever you’d prefer to call it) just when my parents finally gave me permission to go to shows. I’ve been fortunate to see Jack’s Mannequin several times and while the two piano-based rock groups share several similarities, there is a different energy in SoCo shows. A lot of that has to do with how different the lyrics are: the songs of Jack’s are more relationship-based lovelorn songs, while SoCo covers everything from relationships to growing up to simply not liking people. While I’m sure many would say the encore performance of “Konstantine,” beginning with just Andrew at the piano at first would be the evenings highlight, I have to say I thought the show hit its high with “If U C Jordan.” Andrew was stomping (yes, literally stomping on the keys) and sure, we were all throwing up the bird screaming, “FU Jordan,” which probably made anyone in Chicago by that name that could hear us super uncomfortable, but the song was surreal. To be that connected with that many people knowing the song and knowing how great this band was…it was magical. We were like some strange family and it didn’t matter how old we all were or where we were from. What mattered was that we loved this band and we were all having a great time.
I’m still kind of overwhelmed by how great it was…I can’t wait until the fall!
Something Corporate Set List:
Punk Rock Princess
The Astronaut
21 & Invincible
Down
I Want to Save You
She Paints Me Blue
Space
Cavanaugh Park
Watch the Sky
Me and the Moon
Fall
Ruthless
I Woke Up in a Car
If You C Jordan
//
Konstantine
Hurricane
The Line Up:
Main Stage:
4 – 4:35 – All the Day Holiday (pop rock)
5:05 – 5:35 – Kill Hannah (alt rock)
6:06 – 6:35 – Travie McCoy and the Lazarus Project (hip hop/jazz/rock fusion)
7:05 – 7: 45 – 3oh!3 (hip hop/rock)
8:15 – 8:45 – Cobra Starship (pop rock)
9:25 – 10:45 – Something Corporate (alt rock)
Side Stage:
3:35 – 4:05 – I Fight Dragons (pop rock)
4:35 – 5:05 – The Lifelines (hard rock)
5:35 – 6:05 – Jump Smokers (hip hop)
6:35 – 7:05 – Spose (hip hop)
7:45 – 8:15 – Treaty of Paris (rock)
8:55 – 9:25 – Allister (pop punk)
