It is hard to imagine a more enjoyable trip. Shiprocked 2014 was a sold-out journey from Miami to the private island of Great Stirrup Cay and back with multiple performances from dozens of bands.
Five Finger Death Punch took the deck stage on the Norwegian Pearl in the late after sun as the ship departed and delivered a brilliant show to set the tone for the 4 night rock & roll fantasy cruise, follow by a VIP only acoustic show from Candlebox in a bar on the scenic 13th floor bow of the ship and Three Days Grace playing in the ships 1250 Theater.
By morning we were anchored in the Bahamas for the next 2 days and taken on a small tender to the private Island. I set up shop in the Bacardi Bar to interview bands, while the fans stopped by for meet & greets with the performers and some shows right on the beach from Art of Dying, Non Point, Aranda and Candlebox.
Back on the ship the concerts continued with Tremonti, Wilson, Papa Roach, Black Stone Cherry, Sevendust and In This Moment among many others.
For me personally; the best show was seeing Living Colour on the small atrium stage. The room fit about 250 at most and everywhere you looked the other bands were there to see the show. To my left were members of Three Days Grace, and Five Finger, in front of me were people from the Butcher Babies and Non Point, to my right were members of Aranda and Candlebox. We all came to get schooled by Vernon Reed, Corey Glover, Will Calhoun and Doug Wimbish.
All the work I did on board was great, seeing the shows was also amazing, but spending time with the bands was the absolute best. My wife Gina and I had
breakfast with Vernon Reed, stood around the bar with the guys from Sevendust, Tremonti, Wilson, and American Fangs for long stints.
We spent an entire evening with Barry Stock from Three Days Grace bouncing from theater to club to the Papa Roach show to a 1:30am pizza and bacon dinner.
The only difficulty I can report was that my legs (and brain) were convinced I was still on the ship for two days after getting back on land.
For the full recap go to www.chopshopradio.com