The 4th of July is generally celebrated with barbecues and pool parties. But on Independence Day 1988, Sublime set off fireworks of a different kind when they ignited fans into a frenzy at their first official show.
The gig took place on the beach outside of the home of Bradley Nowell, the band’s dynamic frontman. The band’s 1988 concert-turned-riot came after Nowell had returned from brief stay at UC Santa Cruz. Back in his hometown, Bradley had started taking business classes at Cal State Long Beach (where Sublime later started playing regular gigs in the quad).
Located in an area of Long Beach called the Peninsula, the performance attracted a rowdy crowd of locals. In hindsight, it’s easy to imagine Sublime sparking chaos — the group’s energetic lives shows are the thing of legend. But at the time, an unknown band spark such a visceral reaction was surprising.
“Brad liked riots,” Katie Gibson, Nowell’s stepsister, recalled to OC Weekly in 2010. “When they played that show, kids were totally destroying property, and the cops had to come in and shut the band down, clear the streets and kick everybody off the Peninsula.” Sublime “just caused chaos wherever they went,” she noted. “It was awesome.”
As the rowdiness overflowed, police were called in to keep the peace. Cops ended up arresting seven people as they broke up the show and sent people home. The incident would become known as the “Peninsula Riot,” the first of many legendary moments associated with Sublime. Poetically, the band would score one of its most identifiable hits several years later by chronicaling a different (and much larger) riot in the lyrics to “April 29, 1992”. They also famously coined the phrase “Love’s what I got, Don’t start a riot” in the song “What I Got.”
These days, Sublime is more about partying and fostering a community among their fans than causing chaos, though their live shows still deliver raw excitement for thousands in the crowd. Jakob Nowell has taken the torch from his late father, adding his own distinctive energy to the equation.
