An apparent ticket-printing glitch caused hundreds of Dirty Heads’ fans to miss their opening performance at last Saturday, July 10. However, this surf rock/reggae band can easily carry the title of headliner, and hopefully will in the near future.
While stuck in traffic in Morrison, the second opener, Matisyahu, passed us on foot three times before we were finally able to pull into the parking lot. A practicing American Hasidic Jew, Matisyahu observed the rules of the Sabbath by walking to the venue, and not playing until after sunset. Dancing loosely, yarmulke and peyos in tact, Matisyahu brought a fresh Jewish-reggae flavor to the Rocks.
And onto the headliner. There’s a new (ish) kid in town, and by ‘kid’ I mean the 21-year old frontman for the newly reunited Sublime — now , so-named for legal reasons.
Rome was all of six years old when original frontman, Brad Nowell, died, and judging by the packed Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Rome is here to stay.
To be fair, anyone going to Sublime with Rome expecting to see a regurgitated karaoke version of Sublime might be disappointed. Rome does not try to impersonate Nowell. He is full of energy and smiles, looking as though he knows what a great opportunity he stumbled into.
Opening with well-known numbers “Date Rape,” “April 29, 1992” and “Get Ready,” the jovial frontman had plenty of energy throughout the 90- minute set to make up for the mellow original members: Eric Wilson, bass, and Bud Gaugh, drummer. And in spite of a few muddled-sounding lyrics on a few of the faster- paced songs, Rome’s excitement for being on stage paying homage to those before him was abundantly clear.
It’s likely that the majority of the crowd never saw the original Sublime, yet they were on their feet singing every word to every song. Sublime with Rome is not about revival, it’s about reinvention and celebration of music that makes you want to move. With the addition of Rome, Wilson and Gaugh are finally able to hit the road and tour on an album that went platinum five times about 14 years ago.
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Jennifer Cohen is a Lakewood-based freelance photographer and contributor to Reverb. Check out her .
