Photos by Andy Argyrakis

For a brief but bountiful period in the 1990s, Long Beach’s Sublime blurred the lines between reggae, ska, punk and alternative rock like no other and were well on the way to international superstardom had it not been for the premature passing of original front man Bradley Nowell.

Surviving bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh eventually joined forces with singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez in the late 2000s, who kept the traction going with a variety of players in the aptly named Sublime with Rome.

And though the co-founders have since returned to their primary namesake with Bradley’s son Jakob Nowell right on time for Chicago’s Riot Fest on Sunday, September 22, Rome is saying “Farewell” to his version of the band with both a self-titled album, appearance at McHenry’s Rise Up Music Festival on Thursday, September 12 and tour through the Hard Rock Live Northern Indiana, which at this point in its relatively short but similarly fruitful history, attracts artists of truly every style imaginable.

Fans mostly opted out of the bleachers for a standing room only, club-like experience that found Rome, alongside recently acquired bassist Brian Allen, drummer Joe Tomino, plus trombone and keyboard player Gabrial McNair, revisiting his leads and a lot of what was expected from earlier.

Regardless of who was in the line-up, it sure did sound like all the eras of Sublime at some point in the trio’s 100 or so minute show, complete with lots of joyous jamming and artful projections on the video screen.

Material representing the first go around, such as “Doin’ Time,” “April 29, 1992 (Miami),” “What Happened” and “Wrong Way” met the newer likes of “Cool & Collected,” “California Radio” and “Tangerine Skies.”

There were also nods to the group’s formative influences, including The Toyes’ “Smoke Two Joints,” Fishbone’s “Skankin’ To The Beat” and the Grateful Dead’s “Scarlet Begonias” to introduce its own Wiz Khalifa collaboration “Can You Feel It.”

However, it was an encore of multi-platinum moments “Badfish,” “What I Got” and “Santeria,” which even if these weren’t the guys who were there at the very beginning, certainly upheld their legacy while forging forward for one heck of a Hard Rock finale.

For additional information on Sublime with Rome, visit SublimewithRome.com.

Upcoming concert highlights at Hard Rock Live Northern Indiana include Michael Blaustein (Aug. 23); Sam Hunt (Aug. 24); ESPN Football Fest (Aug. 25); Invincible: A Tribute To Michael Jackson (Aug. 31); Iliza Shlesinger (Sept. 5); Brad Paisley (Sept. 6); Rickey Smiley (Sept. 14), Tesla (Sept. 20); Priscilla Presley (Sept. 21); Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening (Oct. 4); Babyface (Oct. 5); The Black Crowes (Oct. 18); Theory Of A Deadman (Oct. 26); Brett Young (Nov. 2); Aaron Lewis (Nov. 22-23) and In This Moment (Nov. 27). For additional details, visit HardRockCasinoNorthernIndiana.com.

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