story time part 2
Day 3: Our first day at sea began with breakfast. I woke up before Cat, so I showered and headed upstairs to the casual dining room. I left Cat a note on the sink and not too long after she followed me up. We got our sunglasses and books and headed up to the Lido Deck to chill. Beautiful day. Sunny blue skies, mild weather; couldn't be better. Franciso Vidal played from noon to one on the Lido stage, so we grabbed burgers at the Lido grill and ate outside, listening to Fransisco.
The next act deserves their own paragraph, I was so impressed. Wideawake played from 1:30 - 2:15. I took loads of pics of this. They sounded great, and the frontman seemed so happy and humbled to be up there. Plus, he had really good stage presence. I immediately placed their cd's on my must get at the merch room! I thought I had more to say about them, but I'm speechless!
We stayed on the Lido Deck for Getaway Car. I thought they were good, but I didn't buy their cd. Next up was one of my top picks. Dexter Freebish disbanded in '05, but came on board as a band for a couple of farewell shows. There was absolutely nothing that would have kept me from them. I took lots of pics, and a short video of "Sweet Caroline" which they closed with. We headed downstairs to SoCo for Barnes' solo set. It was good, but he didn't bring up any guest artists, and I would have liked to have been closer to the stage for that one. It was a nice, mellow set, which I needed after rockin' out to DF.
Sunday was prom night, so Cat and I dressed up and met Rich for dinner. We then headed to the front of the ship to the Mikado for Evenout. Another band that I didn't know that impressed me. They were probably the hardest band on the boat, in terms of musical style, but I loved it. I told Cat I wanted to catch their second show (which was not on our plan). That's the bad thing about TRB, I find too many artists I like, and that makes for many conflicts.
We skipped Carbon Leaf's first set (even though they are great) because we wanted to see the battle of the bands people's choice winner, Florez. They were different from a lot of the acts on board, but I thought they were great. We moved up close to the front for Virginia Coalition. Their shows are a lot of fun if the crowd is into them. And this crowd was into them. At midnight we all voted (by screaming) for the prom king and queen. They got the SoCo suite for the night. I forget who the prom king was, but the queen was "Ophelia" (AKA Otis, in drag) whom I had met earlier that evening.
Pat McGee band was scheduled to do their all-nighter next, but since Pat still wasn't on board, VaCo took over the duties. And they did it spectacularly I must say. I don't think I've ever seen so many artists on stage at one time. At one point my friend John was up there playing drums. They played until about 6am, with various artists coming and going. (This is one of my favorite things about TRB). Cat made it until about 3:30 before she headed off to bed. I stayed up there for another fifteen minutes before I felt a little weird up there by myself (I didn't see anyone I knew), so followed to bed.
Day 4: We docked in Calica. Cat and I chose to sleep in since we had to be up for the beach party the next day. We headed to breakfast around 11. After eating and showering, we were finally ready to visit Mexico. We split a taxi with another couple to Playa del Carmen. We didn't get there until almost two, and had to be back on board by 4:30, so we didn't have much time. We window shopped, found Carlos 'n Charlie's (saw some people we knew there, plus plenty of TRBers we didn't know). We didn't stay long since we didn't have a lot of time, and walked up and down a street with little tourist-y shops. We went down to the beach, but didn't see much. Cat bought a beach cover-up skirt for the beach party and then we shared another taxi back to the ship.
The shows started for the night with Better Than Ezra on the Lido stage at 6. I enjoyed that show, I stood up on a chair near the back for it so I could see the guys and get some pics. Afterwards, the bands playing we didn't really know, so we went to one of the shops so Cat could get another book for beach time. We followed that up with a quick bite, and then it was off to SoCo for Ken Block's solo set. I thought it was good. Ken brought up a TRBer from Australia and sang back up for her on a song. That was a really great story. Ken was wondering around the boat and happened to hear her singing. Ken was floored at her voice and brought her up for a song! How great is that. Only on The Rock Boat. We stayed in the SoCo for Glen Phillips. I was a big fan of Toad the Wet Sprocket when they were together, but I was unfamiliar with Glen's solo work. I really enjoyed it, and bought his live cd at merch.
Headed up to Lido for Carbon Leaf. I've never seen them live and I really enjoyed them. Lots of energy. The poor guys didn't get their luggage until this morning, and Mexico wouldn't let their gear through, (except their merch), so the guys were using mostly borrowed stuff. They seemed good spirited about it all, though, and made jokes about it. We caught the end of David Ryan Harris' set after CL, and I just wasn't really into it. But a lot of TRBers really like him. Stayed in the Mikado for Marc's second set. This one didn't get officially taped since there was some problem with the sound. I thought this show was a blast. Marc really turned it on for this one. Marc's set brought us into the wee hours of the morning, so it was a bit of food and then bed afterwards.
Sometime today we visited the merch store. I bought way too much. A TRB sweatshirt, TRB t-shirt, Glen Phillips, Martin Sexton, Evenout, Aslyn, both Wideawake, Marc's set from the day before, Shawn Mullins' set (which we saw part of between Wertz and SH on the first day) and Carbon Leaf.
Final update to follow...
The next act deserves their own paragraph, I was so impressed. Wideawake played from 1:30 - 2:15. I took loads of pics of this. They sounded great, and the frontman seemed so happy and humbled to be up there. Plus, he had really good stage presence. I immediately placed their cd's on my must get at the merch room! I thought I had more to say about them, but I'm speechless!
We stayed on the Lido Deck for Getaway Car. I thought they were good, but I didn't buy their cd. Next up was one of my top picks. Dexter Freebish disbanded in '05, but came on board as a band for a couple of farewell shows. There was absolutely nothing that would have kept me from them. I took lots of pics, and a short video of "Sweet Caroline" which they closed with. We headed downstairs to SoCo for Barnes' solo set. It was good, but he didn't bring up any guest artists, and I would have liked to have been closer to the stage for that one. It was a nice, mellow set, which I needed after rockin' out to DF.
Sunday was prom night, so Cat and I dressed up and met Rich for dinner. We then headed to the front of the ship to the Mikado for Evenout. Another band that I didn't know that impressed me. They were probably the hardest band on the boat, in terms of musical style, but I loved it. I told Cat I wanted to catch their second show (which was not on our plan). That's the bad thing about TRB, I find too many artists I like, and that makes for many conflicts.
We skipped Carbon Leaf's first set (even though they are great) because we wanted to see the battle of the bands people's choice winner, Florez. They were different from a lot of the acts on board, but I thought they were great. We moved up close to the front for Virginia Coalition. Their shows are a lot of fun if the crowd is into them. And this crowd was into them. At midnight we all voted (by screaming) for the prom king and queen. They got the SoCo suite for the night. I forget who the prom king was, but the queen was "Ophelia" (AKA Otis, in drag) whom I had met earlier that evening.
Pat McGee band was scheduled to do their all-nighter next, but since Pat still wasn't on board, VaCo took over the duties. And they did it spectacularly I must say. I don't think I've ever seen so many artists on stage at one time. At one point my friend John was up there playing drums. They played until about 6am, with various artists coming and going. (This is one of my favorite things about TRB). Cat made it until about 3:30 before she headed off to bed. I stayed up there for another fifteen minutes before I felt a little weird up there by myself (I didn't see anyone I knew), so followed to bed.
Day 4: We docked in Calica. Cat and I chose to sleep in since we had to be up for the beach party the next day. We headed to breakfast around 11. After eating and showering, we were finally ready to visit Mexico. We split a taxi with another couple to Playa del Carmen. We didn't get there until almost two, and had to be back on board by 4:30, so we didn't have much time. We window shopped, found Carlos 'n Charlie's (saw some people we knew there, plus plenty of TRBers we didn't know). We didn't stay long since we didn't have a lot of time, and walked up and down a street with little tourist-y shops. We went down to the beach, but didn't see much. Cat bought a beach cover-up skirt for the beach party and then we shared another taxi back to the ship.
The shows started for the night with Better Than Ezra on the Lido stage at 6. I enjoyed that show, I stood up on a chair near the back for it so I could see the guys and get some pics. Afterwards, the bands playing we didn't really know, so we went to one of the shops so Cat could get another book for beach time. We followed that up with a quick bite, and then it was off to SoCo for Ken Block's solo set. I thought it was good. Ken brought up a TRBer from Australia and sang back up for her on a song. That was a really great story. Ken was wondering around the boat and happened to hear her singing. Ken was floored at her voice and brought her up for a song! How great is that. Only on The Rock Boat. We stayed in the SoCo for Glen Phillips. I was a big fan of Toad the Wet Sprocket when they were together, but I was unfamiliar with Glen's solo work. I really enjoyed it, and bought his live cd at merch.
Headed up to Lido for Carbon Leaf. I've never seen them live and I really enjoyed them. Lots of energy. The poor guys didn't get their luggage until this morning, and Mexico wouldn't let their gear through, (except their merch), so the guys were using mostly borrowed stuff. They seemed good spirited about it all, though, and made jokes about it. We caught the end of David Ryan Harris' set after CL, and I just wasn't really into it. But a lot of TRBers really like him. Stayed in the Mikado for Marc's second set. This one didn't get officially taped since there was some problem with the sound. I thought this show was a blast. Marc really turned it on for this one. Marc's set brought us into the wee hours of the morning, so it was a bit of food and then bed afterwards.
Sometime today we visited the merch store. I bought way too much. A TRB sweatshirt, TRB t-shirt, Glen Phillips, Martin Sexton, Evenout, Aslyn, both Wideawake, Marc's set from the day before, Shawn Mullins' set (which we saw part of between Wertz and SH on the first day) and Carbon Leaf.
Final update to follow...