30,000 people descended on the San Manuel Amphitheatre in San Bernardino, CA over the weekend for the Cypress Hill SmokeOut festival, a two-day binge on hip-hop with a headlining side of supercharged Rock from The Deftones and Slipknot.
Having arrived late at the venue and thus missing sets from Living Legends, Pennywise, Hieroglyphics and Swollen Members, I'd planned to scrap coverage altogether in a fit of self-disgust. But the sets by Slipknot and the Deftones were so dynamically powerful - and so thoroughly eclipsed those of host Cypress Hill, Goodie Mob and every other act we did catch - that it demands covering.
The SmokeOut featured the much-debated return of Sublime, with a guy named Roman filling in for the trio's long-deceased singer/songwriter. It was a display of feel-good sacrilege that, by many accounts, should never have happened; Bradley Nowell's family and estate holders, the rightful owners of the Sublime name, have expressed their distontent. “It was Brad’s expressed intention that no one use the name Sublime in any group that did not include him," they said in a statement, "and Brad even registered the trademark ‘Sublime’ under his own name.” But a District Court judge allowed the show to go on, and remaining members Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh returned with their own catty missive, which read, “While we all mourn the passing of our brother and bandmate Bradley Nowell some 13 years ago, Sublime still has a strong message of hope and love… Brad’s heirs apparently do not share this vision.” Or capital ambition, is more like it.
The crowd, largely oblivious to the controversy, were just happy to revel in the '90s nostalgia overload. Roman held his own, but Bradley's rambunctiously mischievous presence was a key missing ingredient in the memory-lane walk. Promoter and Guerilla Union mastermind Chang Weisberg was beyond excited about adding the new version of Sublime to the show. “The last minute addition of our very special guests Sublime is crazy. We always strive to make our shows a once in a lifetime event. I know Bud, Eric and Rome can’t wait to tear up the Smoke Out stage.” Gotta hand it to Chang - he's a great guy, and he sells it well, but come on. This is like Meg White carrying on the White Stripes without Jack, or Nirvana getting a new singer. Some bands' formulation doesn't allow for history to be written over. Sublime was one of them.
Cypress Hill were introduced by stoner legends Cheech & Chong, whose forced caricatures of their former characters were kept to a thankful minumim. Taking the stage to the sound of gunshots, B-Real, Sen Dog and Co. began their set with a new track, "Get 'em Up," which fit snugly with signature tracks like "Lick a Shot," "Hand on the Pump" and "Dr. Greenthumb".
Their set, while heavy on celebrating the skunky, funky, smelly green shit and familiar to nearly all in attendance, felt muted. Perhaps the '90s Latin lingo funk the group embodies has finally run its course even among the blazing devoted - or maybe it was just shoddy production. Whatever the case, they were blown entirely out of the water by the Deftones and Slipknot.
Chino Moreno joined Cypress for set-closer "Rock Superstar" before his own band took the stage and wound the clock back to a time when Chino was a lean, mean screaming machine. Notorious for their varying live-show quality, the Deftones blasted all expectations out of the park with a blistering set heavy on the palpable sense of triumph and determination. They kicked off a nearly-flawless set with a brand new track, "Rocket Skates," which sounds like a supercharged outtake from their White Pony album. Speaking of Pony, some of the strongest songs in their set came from that album, including "Knife Party" and "Passenger," the latter of which found Moreno pulling double vocal duty, tackling Maynard James Keenan's verse and chorus with excellent results.
Shit-grinning and pogoing around the stage, Chino led the band through classics such as "Root," "Nosebleed" and an utterly brutal rendition of "Hexagram," which was accented by the garbage bonfires choking out the lawn-dwellers. It was a blast of revitalization for a band that's seen its share of tragedy in recent years, and reignited the spark that many Deftones fans feared had faded.
Slipknot then turned the heat way past ten to close out the festival, arriving in their signature masks and laying complete waste to the main stage with their transcendent, vicious metal. Vocalist Corey Taylor led the crowd through roaring singalongs on "Duality" and "Before I Forget," while guitarist Jim Root stalked the stage like a man possessed and percussionists Chris Fehn and Shawn "Clown" Crahan, as well as core drummer Joey Jordison, provided the pummeling undercurrent for the rest of the band's nine members to build their apocalyptically dark melodies.
It was my first time seeing Slipknot, and after more than a decade of avoiding the band based on the cartoonishly ridiculous fan fashion, not to mention the mask gimmick, I've removed the stick from my ass and will certainly give their next album an open-minded run.
Having only caught the headlining acts at this year's SmokeOut I don't feel qualified to critique the overall production, but with a strong bill, several stands promoting the medical marijuana movement and its many tentacles in politics / recreational garnish and an overall air of general hazy positivity, the experience was a pleasant one for the 30,000 fans and fellow smokers in attendance.
