It had been a full day on July 3rd with Sublime With Rome. I got to see them do a two song acoustic set at Alpha Media Mankato for Rock 95 in the afternoon and then got to see them live at Vetter Stone Amphitheater later that night! As a fan of the band back in the day, it was a fun day for me! I arrived about half an hour before showtime and there certainly wasn't the crowd I had hoped for to see the opening bands. It did fill up steadily throughout the night, however.
The first band, Seranation, went on right on time and even though there was a smaller crowd they got to grooving and getting the people there involved. Seranation had a very fun and energetic set and I really enjoyed watching them. The lead singer wore a jean vest, which on this hot and humid day had him dripping sweat after the second song. Being from Saint Petersburg, Florida though I'm sure he had been through worse! Knowing they are from that area of Florida, I hope they are playing in the area when I go vacation there again. I'd certainly see them again! Seranation had fun on stage and made sure the crowd had a fun time as well! Click the photo below to see all my photos!
Next up was Common Kings. Their set seemed to be at least twice as long as the first bands. They certainly made good use of that time though. Playing the theme from "Avengers" when they started out, they transitioned from that into their first song. It was a neat way to get the crowd going right away. Common Kings rotated through the songs quickly and followed the normal pattern of fast songs, a break with slower songs, and them speeding it up again. Personally, I hadn't heard of them before, but the crowd was singing along and having a great time. They did an unexpected three person jump midway through their set and I was pretty upset to have missed getting a photo of that one! They introduced each other and where they were from toward the end of the set and it was interesting to hear most of the band was from islands including Fiji and Hawaii. Common Kings certainly kicked the party into the next gear! Again, click the photo to see all the show photos!
A quick set change and Sublime With Rome was out and playing to the very excited crowd. Starting out the show by asking who all smoked weed, hearing lots of cheers, and then going into "Smoke Two Joints" as their first song showed how fun this show was going to be! They continued through "Wrong Way" and "Date Rape" to round out the three songs I photographed. I actually stayed for a while to listen to them while I packed up my gear. I sat off to the side of the stage and watched everyone have a great time singing and dancing along with every song. There was a few of their newer songs mixed in with the setlist, but it seemed they catered to the old school fans and played more of the music from that time. Either way, it was a fun show and it's exciting to have checked off another band on my list from my younger days! Sublime With Rome is certainly one of the "must see" bands if you are looking for a show that has just about everything! If you haven't already, click the photo below to see all my photos from all the bands!
Finally, there was the crowd. I got a few photos of people enjoying the show. As you might know, this is a difficult thing for me. I am getting better, but asking people if I can take their photo makes me nervous for some reason. Not sure why, but it's nice to be overcoming that fear! All the crowd photos can be seen by clicking the photo below.
As always, get out and support live performances! I'll see you out there!
