“Shirts? Where we’re going we don’t need shirts.” Photos from .
“I didn’t know cover band meant shirtless band,” my sister said as we walked into the Thursday night to see , the San Diego-based tribute band.
And indeed, the foursome was sans tops, minus lead singer Dane Scott, who was of course sporting a Bradley Nowell-styled, pardon my language, wife-beater. We were lucky enough to join the fairly full crowd as 40 oz. was midway through an ultra-jammy version of “Scarlet Begonias.” A cover band doing a cover of a cover? Yes, it happened. Along with many other covers throughout the evening, including Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry,” the Cars’ “Just What I needed,” and of course, “Rivers of Babylon.”
I have never been secretive about my Sublime fan status; I witnessed many great ’90s radio-staple bands as a teenager, but never got the chance to see Sublime, so this show was a tempting pick. I enjoyed singing “Badfish,” “5446 Thatap My Number” and “What I Got,” along with the other Sublime fans, but something was missing in Scottap voice. Bradley Nowell’s endearing singsong was far from captured, something that made Sublime pleasant, even if he was singing about being a wasted and cheating loser.
However, Scottap bland impersonation of Nowell all but disappeared on the Bluebird stage as he was nearly suffocated under the crushing shadow of the most entertaining member of 40 oz. to Freedom: keyboardist Jeremy Miller.
Imagine for a moment, that Will Ferrell is your dad, and he plays a Yamaha keyboard, shirtless, in a Sublime tribute band. Awesome, right? Right. Add a little “middle-aged guy at a wedding” dancing, and you’ve got Miller.
This man stole the show, so much so that I almost peed my pants, half out of laughter, and half out of not being able to take my eyes off of him for a moment to use the restroom. Positioned stage right, Miller played the keys with indescribable joy; as his knees popped his funny head up and down he made cheesy “hey ladies!” finger-points and gun-popping gestures with his hands during “April 29, 1992.” He even clinked his beer bottle down the length of his keyboard like he was playing a Carnival Cruise show, the So-Cal Bro Edition.
At the band’s request, shots of Jager and women trickled down to the stage for most of the fantastically awful hour as the faux-surfers jammed on and on… and on. Scott stepped out of the spotlight momentarily and handed it to the true star, Miller, who treated us to a sick version of “Caress Me Down.” His Spanish was particularly intriguing, but no match for his inappropriate bedroom eyes and master manipulation of his boxy keyboard.
The only thing missing from the 40 oz. to Freedom show was more weed. I had a hard time enjoying “Smoke Two Joints” played by half-naked dad-dudes in a place that didn’t reek of Colorado dank. I guess I should have brought my own bean bag and four-footer.
Bree Davies plays bass in , writes about her obsessions with Iggy Pop and Lil’ Wayne in and repeatedly fakes her own death at . She is also a self-proclaimed addict.
