Story & photos by Jim Testa

The inaugural Jersey Shore Music Festival proved a complete success in terms of logistics and intent. With an impressive number of bands - 84 according to the schedule, on six stages - things ran on time, the sound proved uniformly excellent for an outdoor event, and despite stifling heat and humidity, the crowd remained well-behaved and in good spirits. Vendors provided a variety of affordable food and beverages, free water was freely available, the festival grounds were well organized and easy to navigate. In every way but one, the inaugural Jersey Shore Music Festival proved a textbook example of how to run an event like this the right way. The only downside was the turnout, which proved disappointing at best and - for some of the early bands on the smaller stages - nothing sort of a disaster.



The Front Bottoms proved the biggest draw on the main stage, but dozens of bands on smaller stages performed to small groups of friends, family, and newfound fans. After a brutal heat wave bore down on the East Coast for a week, First Energy Park in Lakewood assailed the crowd with temperatures in the high nineties and sweltering humidity, along with the threat of thunderstorms (which never actually materialized) later in the day. The Front Bottoms had to wait a few minutes before taking the stage due to a well-advised lightning advisory (better to be safe than sorry after some of the tragedies that have occurred at outdoor festivals in recent history,) but over all the mostly teenaged and twentysomething crowd didn't let the weatherkeep them from enjoying the wide variety of bands.

The breadth of talent available was truly impressive, and mostly culled from New Jersey. There were teenage hardcore bands and grizzled, veteran metal acts, folk singers and pop divas, a fairly large number of jam and groove bands, and even a DJ dance-music act on the main stage.

The stages were arranged throughout the First Energy Park parking lot in a way that made it easy to circumnavigate the grounds and check out as many stages as possible, but as might be expected with a talent pool this deep, the level of musicianship was sometimes lacking. There were singers that couldn't stay in key, metal bands that couldn't find a groove, and a few bands that made you wonder what the members were thinking.

Whenever I go to one of these festivals that attract a lot of teens in hot weather, I always go looking for the free water. I found it - in a cooler in the concessions stand inside the stadium - although anyone who tasted it said that it had so much chlorine in it that it was undrinkable. There was a drinking fountain there where I refilled a bottle a few times, but most concertgoers opted for bottled water, which was available from $2 to $4.

Front Bottoms

On the main stage, a triumphant Front Bottoms had a large crowd of rabid fans singing along to their entire set, as did River City Extension. Some of my personal favorites included sets by Darrin Bradbury (which his newest backing band,) Thomas Wesley Stern, the Porchistas (with whom I spent much of the day at their comfy merch tent,) powerful two-man thud-rockers Brick + Mortar, and a mind-melting instrumental set from Asbury funk-rockers Karmic Juggernaut. I missed Mad Feather Group but heard great things about their set, and I was impressed by a young hardcore band called On Your Marks from Oceanport. For the most part, the bands I came to see delivered great sets, but for the most part, the dozens of new acts I hadn't heard before failed to impress. Of course, I couldn't catch every minute of every set, but I did a lot of moseying from stage to stage trying to catch a few songs by as many different bands as possible.

Darrin Bradbury

Given the disappointing turnout, the future of the Jersey Shore Music Festival may be in doubt. A lot of the bands seemed less than inspired to be spending the day in sweltering heat only to play to a handful of people, many of them friends or relatives. But there were definitely winners too, bands who gathered a sizable audience with their performances, and New Jersey certainly needs a festival like this, with the demise of Bamboozle and Wave Gathering. So let's hope for the best, and for a cooler day next year, and thank the organizers for giving us a day that local New Jersey music was celebrated and elevated in a way it deserves.

MORE PHOTOS:

Brick + Mortar

Karmic Juggernaut

The Porchistas

Quincy Mumford & The Reason Why

Thomas Wesley Stern