Progressive Nation At Sea Cruise

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

I flew from Toronto the day before and stayed at a Comfort Suites for the night before the cruise. I did this in case there was a snowstorm on the day I had to fly out which might have caused me to miss my cruise. I spent the afternoon and early evening exploring the South Beach area of Miami. Back at the hotel I met a nice couple from the US named Jeff and Jen. They are on the cruise too, so we talked about who we wanted to see and what we expected. I originally booked this cruise because I really wanted to see Riverside and Beardfish. These two bands and a few others were from Europe and haven't toured in North America. I had to take an unpaid leave from work for four days, but I figured it would be worth it. Afterall, when would I get the chance to see all these bands in once place and to get away from Toronto and the horrible winter we had endured. I couldn't find anyone to go with, so I went by myself.

I boarded the Norwegian Pearl by 12:30. I spent some time exploring before being able to put my luggage in my stateroom 8020. It was a really nice room with a balcony, king-size bed and a small sitting area. We had a compulsory safety meeting at 3:15. Then I had a quick light lunch. Up to pool deck, where I talked to a couple of guys from Finland. Transatlantic kicked off the cruise. As they started to play the ship left the dock.

I went for a wander around to get a better location and ran into Riverside's Peter in the stairway. Talked to him briefly and then went back up to watch Transatlantic again. Later I went walking around the deck to reposition myself again and I recognized John Wesley from Porcupine Tree. I went and introduced myself and we talked for about ten minutes about lots of things including, Porcupine Tree’s future (maybe 2016), why he was on the cruise (they told him he should come), is he going to play (they are trying to find him a spot), Rush (Alex Lifeson plays on his new disc, and he goes motorcycling with Neil Peart), me working with Alex at the gas bar back in our high school days, and all things prog.

At 7 went to the Spinnaker Lounge to see Animals as Leaders. Three very talented musicians lead by a black guitarist. Music was instrumental and didn't have melodies, just lightning fast playing. Venue was poor, because once everyone stood at the front no one else could see.

At 8 I went back to Pool Deck to see Anathema. They were very good and heavier than I thought. Slower, haunting type music. They had a female vocalist who sang backup for a few tracks but left stage for songs that she wasn't singing.

At 9 I went back to the Stardust Theatre to see Big Elf. Lead elf plays keyboards backed by guitar and bass and Mike Portnoy on drums. Very heavy music. 'I'm counting sheep, trying to get to sleep, but I can't close my eyes'. 'Money is evil, it changes people'.

At 10 I went to the front lobby and the Atrium to see a young band called Jolly. High speed metal band with an odd keyboard that didn't add much except intros and then got drowned out. They got the crowd going. They had lots of fans there who knew all the words.

Then back to the Pool Deck at 10:30 to see Canadian the Devin Townsend Project. Loud and aggressive music and he was very vocal and aggressive too. Another beautiful female singer who added some lead and fill but then left the stage.

Back to Spinnaker at 11:30 to see Periphery who are a young death metal type band. Good musicians with lots of fast head banging licks, but the singer has that awful yelling technique. He talks and sounds nice, but I don't like the singing.

I left at 12:00 and went to Stardust to see The Deer Hunter. They didn't impress me much and were kind of non-descript, so I left to go back to my room.