Long Beach, California natives, Sublime with Rome lit up Saturday night’s clear sky at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater as they split the stage with 311. The two 90s and 2000s modern rock artists, while very distinct from one another, brought together a magical blend of rock, ska, and reggae in the amphitheater.
While many devoted Southern California fans, with a median age around the mid 20s, showed up to hear their favorite bands perform back to back, Sublime’s new front man, Rome, still had to prove himself to some very loyal original Sublime (with deceased guitarist and vocalist Bradley Nowell) enthusiasts.
Sublime and 311 represent more than music; they represent an attitude, a culture, and a lifestyle – often associated with (whether deserved or not) marijuana.
Just as the exit off the 405 towards the amphitheatre started to no longer back-up and spill onto the freeway, Sublime with Rome, whose genre-blending style incorporates dub, reggae, punk rock, rockabilly and several, other genres, took the stage as the sun was going down.
While drummer, Bud Gaugh, and bassist, Eric Wilson played well live, as presumed, controversial guitarist and vocalist, Rome, needed to perform even better to please the eager crowd.
For this writer’s ears, Rome disappointed from time to time in his vocalist capabilities, but still managed help put on a fantastic set overall, playing many Sublime favorites amidst songs such as ‘Panic’ and the light an catchy, ‘PCH,’ off their early July 2011 album, Yours Truly.
Still, ‘Santeria’ was perhaps the biggest crowd-pleaser based on the amount of audience members singing along. Even though a man twirling fire in the grassy terrace section of the amphitheater stole a few minutes of attention away from the stage, Sublime with Rome’s closing song of the night – ‘Date Rape’ – tasted like sweet perfection, peace, and love.
Sublime then gladly introduced their friends – 1995 mainstream alternative rock breakthroughs – 311.
311 is composed of Nick Hexum, Doug "SA" Martinez, Tim Mahoney, Aaron "P-Nut" Wills and Chad Sexton. Hexum and Martinez were a superb vocal collaboration; the effortless bouncing between Hexum’s deep and strong voice and Martinez’s higher and whinier pitch was as smooth as melted butter on toast.
While Sexton pumped out a strong performance on the drums throughout the entire show, towards the middle of the set, he went into a long, heart-pounding, drum solo praised and applauded by his fans.
Similar to Sublime with Rome, 311 played many old favorites, like ‘All Mixed Up’ and ‘Loco’ – a song inspired by mushrooms – mixed with more recently written songs off of there newly released (July 19) album, Universal Pulse.
The set jumped between heavier, more metal and rap infused songs to pump up the crowd and light, relaxing melodies to reflect the audience’s generally mellow state.
Yes, there was (to my reluctance) audience arm-swaying, yes, there was lots of genre bending, and yes, it was, as Hexum declared, “a big positive celebration” that was a hell-of-a (notice the dashes Northern Californians) good show.
http://www.neontommy.com/news/2011/08/sublime-rome-and-311-headline-verizon-wireless-amphitheater-0
No comments:
Post a Comment