After over a year of no live music events, many festivals are eyeing to return at some point in late summer or fall of 2021. But previously-defunct New Jersey festival Bamboozle has their sights set further in the future. The festival announced Tuesday that they plan to return in 2023, just over a decade since it last took place.
Bamboozle Festival announced their imminent return in a one-minute clip posted to social media. The teaser details how the festival went from a tight-knit emo scene in the early aughts to a full-blown festival and, as they put it, a “movement:”
“18 years ago, a scene ignited a movement, a culture, a festival — one that would become a game-changer. 20 years, over 600 artists, 500,000 fans, one festival. You remember My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, Drake, Fall Out Boy, Lil Wayne, Demi Lovato, Foo Fighters, Skrillex, Bruno Mars, Motley Crew, Bon Jovi, Machine Gun Kelly. Emo is not dead. Prepare for the awakening. A lost but never forgotten celebration of emo and pop. Welcome back Bamboozle Festival.”
— Bamboozle Festival (@BamboozleFest) May 4, 2021
The first iteration of Bamboozle Festival took place at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey in 2003 with headliners like The Roots. It went on for nine years without a hitch until 2012 when creator John D’Esposito left due to creative differences with Live Nation and House of Blues. But now, Bamboozle Festival is gearing up for their return, and also planning on celebrating 20 years since their first-ever event.
Watch the Bamboozle Festival teaser above.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.