The Bamboozle has become one of the most popular festivals on the East Coast, due in large part to its concentration on specific genres like ska, punk, emo, with a few yearly divergences into hip-hop, comedy acts, and mainstream alternative rock. Started in 2005, the Bamboozle—which takes place annually, rain-or-shine, at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford—originally evolved from the Skate And Surf Festival, which formerly took place in Asbury Park's Convention Hall, where the first Bamboozled took place.

Each passing year sees Bamboozle get larger and more bombastic, drawing in bigger and more diverse crowds and ever-higher-profile musical acts. Since its inception, the Bamboozle Festival has featured acts like Thrice, Midtown, Senses Fail, Flogging Molly, the Bouncing Souls, My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Jack's Mannequin, Say Anything, Jimmy Eat World, Snoop Dogg, Panic At The Disco, and Coheed & Cambria. For a short while, the festival became a touring national show until finally splitting into a bicoastal set of festivals, the Bamboozle and the Bamboozle Left.