From 2003-2012, the New Jersey music pageant often known as the Bamboozle emerged as a showcase for the rising-and-then-cresting MySpace emo wave, and it was profitable sufficient to spin off sister festivals and the touring Bamboozle Roadshow. (Our personal Tom Breihan mirrored on his expertise on the 2006 version of the pageant in a column a number of years again.) This yr, there have been plans to carry the Bamboozle again, simply in time for the fest’s twentieth anniversary. It’s not going to occur; Bamboozle 2023 has been canceled.
The Bamboozle 2023 was scheduled to happen per week from now, from May 5-7, at Bader Field in Atlantic City. When the fest revealed the second part of its 2023 lineup in January, founder John D’Esposito issued an announcement noting that “the festival will not have high priced headliners, as we brought it back to how it started.” Instead, it offered a mixture of emo throwbacks like Say Anything and Saosin, nu-metal throwbacks like Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach, rising hardcore stars like Scowl and the Callous Daoboys, and a load of rappers equivalent to Rick Ross, Ice Spice, Joey Bada$$, BabyTron, and A Boogie.
The run-up to the pageant was not going easily. Last week, the a Philadelphia Inquirer function catalogued the conflicts between Bamboozle promoters and followers, together with 21 complaints filed with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs starting from false promoting to refund requests:
In social media postings — together with on Scamboozle, an nameless Instagram account began in February that now has practically 1,000 followers — followers say Bamboozle pageant organizers used false promoting to promote expensive early-bird tickets far forward of the pageant and didn’t land promised huge title acts. They say Bamboozle pageant founder John D’Esposito refused refund requests and trolled and cyberbullied followers who complained.
In one case, D’Esposito publicly threatened to publish the house deal with of a fan who had posted criticism and wrote present sponsors about D’Esposito’s aggressive on-line measures. In on-line postings and on his podcast, D’Esposito promised “rewards,” like upgraded tickets, present merch and VIP passes, for followers who confirmed up on the man’s doorstep as a part of an “anti-bullying fundraiser.”
Now the pageant has issued an announcement asserting its cancellation:
After in depth discussions, now we have made the heartbreaking choice to cancel Bamboozle 2023. An unbelievable period of time, dedication, ardour and onerous work was invested into making this comeback a hit. We admire everybody who supported this pageant. Refunds ought to be requested on the level of buy.
As @TheFestiveOwl notes, the pageant has deleted its Twitter account. Its Instagram account stays, although the one publish is the cancellation announcement.
It’s humorous that the disgruntled ticketholders known as their IG account Scamboozle; do they not know what it means to bamboozle somebody?