ShipRocked Cruise 2024: The Detroit Perspective

This year’s ShipRocked Cruise had even more Detroit flavor than usual. Michigan is always in the top 5 states for passengers, and usually in the top 3, but we were also well represented on stage by the headliner, I Prevail as well as Eva Under Fire, members of Twiztid, and Chad Nicefield (from Wilson) as one of the hosts. During the stop in Jamaica the ship got a bit of a … “flesh wound” as Monty Python might put it. A storm caused a pier barrier to fail and then pushed the ship into said pier (while wifey and I were on it no less). The security from the ship were awesome though, and had us double-time it off the pier, perhaps even saving us from a close call with a falling metal structure. ShipRocked Cruise 2024: The Detroit Perspective [caption id="attachment_1055810" align="aligncenter" width="1866"] I Prevail on stage at ShipRocked![/caption] The ship then had to head out to sea for a few hours for safety, so our planned 20 minute walk would last 9 hours and include a wicked storm, some damage to the shelter we were in, some flooding and more than a little confusion. In the end it all turned out alright and Carnival were even able to repair the ship while we continued to “rock” the boat. As for the Detroit artists sets, Eva Under Fire played a couple of sets inside the ship’s theater, including one set as the passengers stranded in Jamaica returned to the ship. As guitarist Rob Lyberg told me, “We were in communication all day; the best we could with the ship’s WiFi and Chris (on the island) using cellular. The plan was that we were going to go on without him (Chris), just get through it the best we can and whenever he shows up, he shows up. If its half way, then he can play half and if not at all, then it is what it is. They just wanted some kind of live music going on as people got back on the ship for morale purposes. We didn’t want a quiet ship.” But, guitarist Chris Slapnik was able to rejoin the band. He made it just in time, as he recounted to me the following day. “I got back on the ship at 7:05pm and we started at 7:15pm. I had like one water and a sandwich from Starbucks for the whole day”. [caption id="attachment_1055816" align="aligncenter" width="1959"] Rob from Eva Under Fire![/caption] ShipRocked 2024 Was One For The Books! Jamie “Madrox” and Paul “Monoxide” of Twiztid added their talents to The Stowaways, a collection of musicians from various bands that play 2 full sets of cover songs, as well as an entire set of horror-themed numbers to go along with this year’s classic horror theme. I Prevail played on the deck of the ship in the bright sunshine as the partially wounded ship traversed the waters not too far from Cuba on its way to The Bahamas. It was a long-awaited return for the band as Dylan Bowman pointed out to me, “We needed that so bad, and honestly I’m craving more right now. I don’t know if people know this but, in 2021 we were supposed to play and we just didn’t get to do it, so it had been a couple of years, so it felt really good.” This was my 10th ShipRocked Cruise, and even with the weather not in full cooperation, it was still the best rock & roll festival in existence. Incredible bands, great people, a family vibe, non-stop activity choices and all of it while out to sea-mostly in the sunshine, and often under the glorious stars. [caption id="attachment_1055819" align="aligncenter" width="1118"] Eric from I Prevail on stage at ShipRocked![/caption] [select-gallery gallery_id="944189" syndication_name="10-reasons-shiprocked-is-better-than-a-festival" description="yes"] [select-listicle listicle_id="836176" syndication_name="historic-music-festivals" description="yes"]