Jamboree Music Festival Guest Review

Jamboree Rocks Thanksgiving Point

Greg Wilcox
Life Writer for The College Times

The Jamboree music festival kicked off this last Saturday at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. Somewhat resembling a low-key Vans Warped Tour, The event featured many famous artists on the music scene today, including Dashboard Confessional, The Format, and Limbeck band to name a few.

The doors for the show opened at around 1:00. Shortly after, the show was started by the local favorite Love You Long Time. Although they did manage to give an energetic performance and get the festival started, they were also incredibly cheesy with their onstage dancing and very poor, nasally vocals from the singer.

A highlight of the jamboree for many attendees was the reprisal performance of The Aquabats, who delighted the audience with their onstage antics and live performance of fan-favorite songs such as “The Super-rad”. In particular, they had a seahorse ride competition, where they had two kids crowd-surf race across the audience on inflatable seahorses.

Older audiences and new fans alike welcomed Toad the Wet Sprocket who played some of their early era hits as “All I want” and ”Walk on the Ocean”. One must admit, however, that this band was a somewhat odd addition to line-up of more modern music. They weren’t the only ones that were surprising to see though. Colbie Caillat also performed, and, despite being somewhat out of place compared with the other bands, she gave an excellent performance.

The Format likely drew the most fans next to Dashboard Confessional. Playing a live energetic set, they played such fan favorites as ”The First Single” and “On Your Porch”, the latter turning into one massive sing-a-long. Limbeck Band also performed a good set, and in particular gave a great performance on their song “Honk and Wave”, which incidentally is a song about driving through Utah.

It was the headliner, Dashboard Confessional, however, that most of the audience was there to see. Dashboard’s singer Chris Carrabba started off the set with “Vindicated”, and continued through playing all the fan favorites, eventually ending with “Hands Down”. In between songs, Carrabba told the audience how much he loved playing in Utah, and that he will be back very soon on another tour.

The downside of the Jamboree was that they had only one stage. This made many somewhat impatient, as some bands did take a while to set up and play. Another drawback was the high prices for food, and the restrictions the festival had, such as not allowing backpacks into it. Despite this, however, many bands showed that they were worth the wait, and in general fans seemed to be satisfied and having a good time.

My hope is that the Jamboree will continue, probably not “Next Week!” as the Aquabats singer exclaimed several times, jokingly, but rather on a yearly basis and attract more bands and become a bigger event. How cool would it be to see a rival Coachella Music Festival in Utah?