A Night To Remember

For any band, getting back together after the loss of a key member is a huge gamble. Some, like AC/DC, emerge from the tragic loss of a lead singer to reach the utmost peaks of rock stardom. Others are not so lucky. In any case, no band is ever the same after the loss of a lead singer.

And so, when I recently saw Sublime with Rome it is needless to say that I had mixed feelings about the whole thing – which I suppose I should explain. I began my love affair with Sublime at the age of 14. I thought Eric was so insanely cool that I even learned to play the bass guitar. I’d sit for hours trying to play along. In high school, among my group of friends, Sublime was always playing in the background whenever we hung out, or partied. Around the campfire, our usual repertoire included “Boss DJ”, “Scarlet Begonias”, “Get Out!”, and of course, “40 oz To Freedom”. I named my cat Ruca in homage to a Sublime song (also an in-joke with Spanish speaking friends… but anyway). I love Sublime. In my little microcosm of the universe, their music reigns supreme.

Getting back to the concert – Sublime with Rome. On the way to the concert, I began to get very anxious. My skin was crawling, and I could not sit still. Needless to say, this was very distracting to my boyfriend, who was at that moment fighting rush hour traffic. When we arrived at the venue around 8pm, I started drinking immediately. Around 9pm, when the opening band The Dirty Heads finally went on I was feeling pretty good, but still nervous. After their set ended, I started to get really antsy. What followed was the most excruciating hour and change that I have ever, ever endured.

Now, I’ve been to this venue (the Kool Haus, Toronto, Ontario) numerous times, and have never had to wait more than 25-30 mins in between bands. For Sublime with Rome, we waited for over an hour, with nothing to do but drink and wait patiently… I suppose the wait combined with competitively priced Molson Canadian and the abundance of strange smelling-smoke was getting to some of the other concertgoers as well, and the crowd got increasingly rowdy. After dodging a few hooligans on my way back from the bathroom, I even got to be the hero for one girl! A few feet away from me, I noticed her start to sway precariously and caught her just before she hit the floor. When I saw her going down, I reached for the first thing I could – which happened to be her boobs. Then, her genius boyfriend (presumably) sees what’s going on, and instead of helping me (boobs are not a great handhold foe keeping somebody on their feet, despite cup size) he starts yelling “Clear the floor!”. Excellent.

(She was fine, by the way).

So, the wait damn near killed me, and my large breasted friend, but the show that followed was, in the words of Barney Stinson, LEGENDARY. Despite the definite aura of not-cigarette smoke that hung over the crowd within minutes of Bud, Eric and Rome mounting the stage, I felt immediately sober when they started to play (in a good way). Rome nailed every song, and it was an amazing concert. My only complaint is that they did not play “Superstar Punani”.

I can’t say enough good things about the kid (and I can refer to Rome as “the kid” as I am exactly 6 days older than he is). I also can’t imagine what it’s like for him to try and live up to Bradley’s legend. What I can imagine is a 14 year old Rome, just as enraptured by Sublime as I was, singing and playing along on his guitar. Now that kid’s on stage, singing those same songs, and it makes me happy.

Check out www.sublimewithrome.com or follow @SublimeWithRome on twitter!

– Mary Hoffman

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