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REVIEW: SHIPROCKED 2014 DAY 4 - 1/29/2014
Gweedo
For whatever reason all good things come to an end, ShipRocked being no exception. After four days of fun you finally start getting into the swing of things and submit you could stay on this boat forever. Four days of being unplugged was quite refreshing. This day started out a little tedious with three long Meet & Greets. This was a little annoying to stand in lines half the day. It would have been nice to move at least one to a prior day. Maybe try having two Meet & Greets on one of the beach days. But anyway it is what it is and Meet & Greet one had Five Finger Death Punch, Sevendust, In This Moment, Young Guns, and Mistress Juliya. This was another event that had zero planning. The line was snaked all through the boat and for whatever reason looped back on itself in the same hallway giving people no way to use that hall for any other use. Then they took the end of that line and merged it with the front which was extremely frustrating since people in the front had been waiting at least an hour. Like I said, poor organizing. This was a pretty decent Meet & Greet, the only things I’ll say about it is that Five Finger Death Punch didn’t really seem to care. You lined up with some other random fans behind them for the picture while they sat. They didn’t say hey or anything just talked amongst themselves, snapped a photo, and continued talking to each other. My greetings were ignored and it was a very rude situation. Bassist Chris Kael at least shouted a bye as I walked on to the next band. The other odd encounter was with In This Moment. There was a girl that told you where you could stand before you entered into the picture and she wouldn’t let you set any of your stuff down that you were carrying. Also there was a bulky guy standing behind Maria Brink creepily. Turns out he was back there to make sure you didn’t grab her ass. It was a very awkward situation. The band didn’t seem like they wanted to be there at all and Chris Howorth was complaining about having to do it afterwards. In their defense I will say they had played the night before so the planners should have placed them in one of the later Meet & Greets so that they didn’t have to get up early and prep for this.
Gweedo
For whatever reason all good things come to an end, ShipRocked being no exception. After four days of fun you finally start getting into the swing of things and submit you could stay on this boat forever. Four days of being unplugged was quite refreshing. This day started out a little tedious with three long Meet & Greets. This was a little annoying to stand in lines half the day. It would have been nice to move at least one to a prior day. Maybe try having two Meet & Greets on one of the beach days. But anyway it is what it is and Meet & Greet one had Five Finger Death Punch, Sevendust, In This Moment, Young Guns, and Mistress Juliya. This was another event that had zero planning. The line was snaked all through the boat and for whatever reason looped back on itself in the same hallway giving people no way to use that hall for any other use. Then they took the end of that line and merged it with the front which was extremely frustrating since people in the front had been waiting at least an hour. Like I said, poor organizing. This was a pretty decent Meet & Greet, the only things I’ll say about it is that Five Finger Death Punch didn’t really seem to care. You lined up with some other random fans behind them for the picture while they sat. They didn’t say hey or anything just talked amongst themselves, snapped a photo, and continued talking to each other. My greetings were ignored and it was a very rude situation. Bassist Chris Kael at least shouted a bye as I walked on to the next band. The other odd encounter was with In This Moment. There was a girl that told you where you could stand before you entered into the picture and she wouldn’t let you set any of your stuff down that you were carrying. Also there was a bulky guy standing behind Maria Brink creepily. Turns out he was back there to make sure you didn’t grab her ass. It was a very awkward situation. The band didn’t seem like they wanted to be there at all and Chris Howorth was complaining about having to do it afterwards. In their defense I will say they had played the night before so the planners should have placed them in one of the later Meet & Greets so that they didn’t have to get up early and prep for this.
The next Meet & Greet was pretty much starting a line after the first. Luckily the line was handled way better and ran you outside and along the upper deck. The best part of this was that while I stood in line I was able to catch the first concert of the day, Digital Summer. These guys were way better than I expected. They hammered out an awesome noon show with a lot of energy. Interesting fact is their drummer, Austin, is only 13 years old! I wish I was that much of a bad ass at that age. You wouldn’t see me sitting here writing this, that’s for sure. They hung out and did their own Meet & Greet afterwards. I just realized as I’m writing this that the boat didn’t give them one. That’s very shitty of the boat but awesome of the band to do. Unfortunately I didn’t realize this so I regretfully didn’t get to experience that.
The second Meet & Greet line was so long and took so long that I was able to see all of Digital Summer’s performance. It’s not surprise since you were getting the opportunity to rub shoulders with greats such as Papa Roach, The Halo Method, Tremonti, and Art Of Dying. All the bands were in an exponentially better mood. This was an awesome experience and very surreal. Papa Roach were just joking around with everyone and taking funny photos. The Halo Method took the cake though. It seemed like they were trying to capture a hysterical unique moment in every photo. One of my surreal moments was with Tremonti. Mark Tremonti is outrageously talented and having Wolfgang Van Halen in his band is unbelievable. Just talking with them and taking a photo with them was fantastic. This Meet & Greet they let you take photos with just yourself instead of grouping you with strangers. I think that was great and better than the prior one. From people on the boat I heard that was requested from the bands in that first Meet & Greet.
Next was… another Meet & Greet. The third and final and my legs and feet were barking being about seven hours of standing. This line allowed me to see Crash Kings. I’ve caught them in Denver before and it was nice to see them yet again. They had a small crowd and I think most people didn’t think they were heavy enough for the boat. Crash Kings are very talented and have unique instruments and sound. Another breath of fresh air having a break from bands screaming in your face. The Meet & Greet I was waiting for hosted Three Days Grace, Candlebox, Living Colour, and Love and Death. Again this was a fun experience. The bands were in a good mood and you were able to take single photos yet again. I was beside myself to meet Brian “Head” Welch and the rest of Love and Death. Unfortunately this overlapped Young Guns so I only caught the end of them. I’ve seen them previously in Denver and it looked like they were having a very good show. Needless to say at this point I put my butt in a chair and took a long break. This was required from the Meet & Greets and because my plan was to hit every show that evening which meant walking all over that boat. I was finally able to catch Hells Belles which is a burlesque show. They did a short show on the Monster Energy Deck Stage. This was a new concept to the boat this year and I think it was great. Just kind of mixes things up a bit. They went down to pasties and danced to some nice rock ‘n’ roll. It would have been fun to get a Meet & Greet photo with these beauties.
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Now began the evening packed with shows. It started with a must see Tremonti. This performance was at the Meliti Stage which gave you some great vantage points. I really cannot say enough about this band. They have so much energy and talent. Purely fantastic. Their live shows have so much more grit than their CD. They played some new songs that will be out on an upcoming CD. I’m waiting with bated breath for that! Candlebox were having their own great show on the Monster Energy Deck Stage at the same time. That was just as good if not better than their beach performance. Scorpion Child was also overlapping these bands. I hopped into their show and was not disappointed. Their rock is mellower than most of the bands there. Scorpion Child had a small gathering at the Headbanger Lounge. This flavor of music was good but didn’t make you jump around and rock out. Best way I can describe them is kind of a Led Zepplin and Janis Joplin mix. We also invented a new genre for these guys to adopt and spearhead. You’ll have to check out our conversation in the Try Trying Harder podcast to find that out.
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The start of the next block of bands came with a storm. The waters were starting to get choppy and the evening sky was threatening to rain. This caused some of the performances to move a bit. Art Of Dying were rockin’ in the Stardust Theater. They were having another awesome show. It was full of energy and sounded great. Unfortunately they didn’t have a very big crowd especially given the venue size. This was due to no fault of theirs but they were competing with a moved up Sevendust show and Living Colour. I left Art Of Dying to continue rocking their asses off to see what all the buzz was about with Living Colour. They were pretty damn good. I have to admit I don’t know much about them but this performance really spiked my curiosity. They were having a blast on the Meliti Stage and most times if the band is having a good time, you are as well. Living Colour are masters of their instruments and have impressive vocals. A lot of times they were up there just jamming away on their songs. Like moths to a light more and more people gathered to experience the spectacle. Check these guys out live!
Sevendust had a time move and shortened set since they were performing this evening outside on the Monster Energy Deck Stage. This was a relief to Love and Death. Talking with them they wanted to move the show because they would be playing at the same time, which is hard to compete with, and because they really wanted to watch the show. I think I see the most artists watching Sevendust out of any other band. Everyone’s a fan of them. I can’t get myself to miss a Sevendust performance so I raced up to catch them. Wow I am glad I didn’t slack off there. This performance was more of a regular performance by them meaning they didn’t do any acoustic work. It was amazing as usual. Ivan Moody ran out on stage and I was really hoping for a duet there but it was only a little tomfoolery. The end and best part of the show was my favorite song “Face To Face” but with a twist. Singer Lajon Witherspoon had met a young lady that had a degree in sign language translation. Come to find out she had signed “Face To Face” as a final project. Armed with these facts Lajon brought her on stage to showcase her talent. That was a once in a life time sight to see. If you know the lyrics to that song you can image the hilarity to see them expressed physically by a young woman and to the beat no less. If you don’t know, there are some vulgar phrases for sure. I’m sure it is floating around on YouTube somewhere.
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Continuing on my journey to catch all the bands I headed over to Headbanger Lounge to see Love and Death again. They did a pretty similar set as their first that included a few Korn hits again. There was a lot of energy projecting off that tiny stage. The crowd was a little small but I think that’s because Papa Roach was getting ready to play. I hope the boat can get these guys on next year. Love and Death just have some awesome heavy gritty music. I then headed over to watch the last major performance on the boat, Papa Roach. The storm had really got the water choppy at this point and the boat was rocking all over the place. I think most just thought that was from Papa Roach blowing up the stage at the Stardust Theater. This performance might have been better than their first! The sound was great in the theater and the band was having a load of fun. Singer Jacoby Shaddix was interacting with fans and bouncing all over the stage. He even grabbed a pirate hat from someone for a little while. The theater was packed to the brim which just means they better get Papa Roach back on the boat next year.
So ends another amazing ShipRocked!!! The Norwegian boat and crew were a welcome improvement. The lineup was one of their best. It was very cool to be on a private island and miss all the crowds you get at other ports. The food was good and this trip the weather was great even with the little bit of rough seas we got. It would have been nice to have a discounted drink package as there was never a price relief that you would have at least got when going to a non-private port. There were a few organizational issues that were surprising since this wasn’t the first cruise. On the last day it was hard to figure out what the schedule changes were for bands. I was unable to find some events since they weren’t happening where they were supposed to. I can’t wait to get my cabin for next year!
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