A Nice Tribute.

Last night was 1/2 of KROQ Radio's "Almost Acoustic Christmas". Jesse and I heard talk of this show for a while being that it was Sublime/"Sublime"/that band that Bud and Eric are in's second bigbig show in a while (first one was the Smokeout Festival). They opened with "Date Rape" and continued to play without ever announcing themselves.


Rome Ramierez, the "new singer" of Sublime had announced that the candles on the stage were there for Bradley. Who died 14 years ago of a heroin overdose.

Photo from KROQ. If you look next to Rome's left knee, you can see the candles on Bud's riser to honor Bradley.

Another photo from KROQ, this one is much better at showing the eight candles for Bradley.

The L.A. Times did an article of last night's show, saying that Rome did a great job filling in for Bradley, and

"...filled Nowell's role ably. He's a fine guitarist and played soulful turns on chill-bro anthems like "Badfish" and "Santeria." He nailed Nowell's vocal inflections to the point that if you were in the beer line when the set began, you'd be forgiven for wondering whether Tupac and Elvis might also be in the building."

 The L.A. Times had also said that "The surprise guest at Saturday night's opening installment of KROQ-FM's Almost Acoustic Christmas passed away in 1996." Which made me think that they were in reference to Bradley Nowell, who passed on May 25, 1996... I think that's what they're talking about... but I'm not entirely sure. I wasn't there, I was (unfortunately) in New York.

"Indeed, much of the first night of Almost Acoustic Christmas -- the second, featuring Muse, Vampire Weekend and Phoenix, is tonight -- stoked the flames of Nowell's contributions to a Southern California rock culture in which punk is the indigenous pop music and the '90s still loom large for today's artists."

I think this is a great start for Sublime/"Sublime"/that band with Bud and Eric to get back into playing the shows that they were never able to play due to Bradley's untimely death. They are going about all of this very respectfully, after waiting 14 years to tour on their Self Titled album, and are paying great tribute to their fallen friend, and band mate.


The Orange County Register wrote,

"Regardless, while acknowledging Nowell’s spirit with eight memorial candles lining Gaugh’s drum riser, Sublime-not-Sublime momentarily stole Saturday’s five-hour show by chugging through nine songs in 30 minutes, including every KROQ staple (“Wrong Way,” “Santeria,” “Doin’ Time,” “What I Got” to close) as well as the L.A. riots-inspired “April 29, 1992 (Miami)” and the group’s cover of the Toyes’ “Smoke Two Joints."

Tonight's lineup for KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas includes: 311, Slightly Stoopid, and Phoenix... Damn, I wish I live in California.