Rob the Concert Guy

On April 19, 2024 I checked out Sublime with Rome on their Farewell Tour. But who did I really see?

Once upon a time, there was a band called Sublime. The band was 3 dudes, with Bradley Nowell as the lead singer and guitar player. He died in 1996 of a drug overdose and the band broke up. Around 2009/2010 the two remaining members started playing with Rome Ramirez under the name “Sublime with Rome” to carry on the music and the also released new stuff. By the end of 2011, the drummer had departed leaving 1 original member. In February 2024, the last original member left.

The 2 remaining original members are now back as “Sublime” and have brought in the son of Bradley Nowell to be the singer. Some of their tour dates are actually overlapping with Sublime with Rome’s dates.

So, who did I see under the heading “Sublime with Rome?” Basically, it was Rome Ramirez, a guy who used to play with the original members of Sublime, and three other musicians calling themselves Sublime. However, none of them were actually part of the original Sublime. So, is this basically a Sublime cover or tribute band now? Perhaps. But that didn’t stop them from putting on a good show.

There was no opening band, and the show started right at 8pm with Doin Time (aka Summer Time) and then went into Smoke Two Joints. This was definitely Rome’s show. He did all the talking, he’s the lead (only) guitarist, and no one else in the band even had a mic except for the trombone player so I could play into it.

They did a great job as capturing the band’s sound which I would describe as a bit of Reggae, a bunch of Ska, a little Punk, and some Rock. Rome is actually a damn good guitar player. The Sublime song Wrong Way was in the set of course and several other crowd pleasers for those who are much closer followers than myself.  There was a lot of singing along from the crowd.

Throughout the night, Rome was a bit repetitive. His interaction with the crowd was mainly:

• “You all having a good time?”
• “We’re having a party”
• “This job is a dream come true! Thank you!”
• “Give yourselves a round of applause”

Put those four things on repeat, and that was the interaction all night.

After an hour and 15 minutes, the main part of the show was over. Queue a bit of cheering, and they came back for the encore. The encore started with Badfish and then there was another that I didn’t know but others clearly did. What I Got, their biggest hit, was next and they closed the show with Santeria. Both of course were big 90s radio hits and were heavy with the singing along as a result. That was it and the show was over by 9:30pm.

For the dude who sat directly in front of us with the 3 ladies…sorry man. I don’t think it’s gonna happen: