Things I learned last night:
A.) I get super sea-sick on boats.
B.) I have some of the best friends on the planet.
C.) The Twin Cities metal scene is, hands down, the best in the world.
Last night was Rock The Boat. This event was probably one of the coolest things that could ever happen and I was more than honored to be a part of it. The show was put on by my buddy DJ of Buried Above Ground and sponsored by myself and other faces in the local metal community. We had been hyping the show for months and last night we got to see just what we had done and it was nothing short of breathtaking.
I don’t even know what can be said. I stood there in awe (while trying not to puke from the sea-sickness) and couldn’t help but smile. I was watching some of my best friends go absolutely apeshit on a moving boat as we watched some of the best local bands play.
The show featured Royal’z, Portraits of War, Roads of Glass, and Buried Above Ground. All of the bands sounded great and played brutal sets but, that wasn’t the point of last night. The point of last night is that our scene pulled off the unthinkable.
I mean, honestly, who would think of putting a metal show on a moving boat? Who in the hell does that? After seeing it and being a part of it, the question turned into, why did it take us this long to make this a thing?
The boat was full of people that had come together because of their love for this scene. Strangers quickly became friends and acquaintances turned into best friends. Throughout the night people came up to me and introduced themselves. I recognized faces from pictures on Facebook and from bands that I had reviewed in the past and it was so nice to finally meet these people. We would have conversations that could have been mistaken as conversations between people who had been friends for years.
I had three friends that came with me last night, Andrew, Brady and Lauren. I was a bit worried about what they were going to think of the show. I knew Andrew would be fine because he’s been to local metal shows with me before and knows some of the people in the scene. Brady drove up from Kansas for the weekend and Lauren came up from Iowa and don’t know the people in this scene. I was worried that I would have to entertain them and keep on making sure they were having a good time but, within just a couple of minutes on the boat, they fit right on in as if they had always been a part of this group. They were talking to strangers, smiling, laughing, drinking… they were part of this family. I can not tell you how happy that made my heart. I realized that I could bring anyone I wanted to a show like this, metalhead or not, and they were going to have a damn good time.
Sure, things got a little out of hand towards the end due to the copious amounts of alcohol but even as the crowd turned rowdy, this threatening looking group of metalheads was more than respectful of the boat and the people on it.
With every crowdsurfer that went up, there were three people behind them making sure they didn’t hit their heads on the low ceilings or kick the light fixtures that were even lower. With every kid that fell down in the small moshpit that had formed, there were five kids helping them back up. For every spilled drink, there were at least two people offering to replace the drink.
Do you need a sense of community? A sense of family? There’s no better place to get that than a metal show.
Who can say that they’ve gone to a metal show on a boat? Well, now me and 293 of my friends can say we did.
Dear DJ, all the bands that played, all the sponsors, and every single person that was in the crowd last night: I love each and every single one of you with all of my heart. I seriously can not say that enough. We are the most mismatched family on the planet, but we are truly one of the best.
Line Up:
Venue: On a Boat!
Sausage Fest Meter- 8 out of 10
Average Age of the Crowd- 25
Crowd Surfers- 5
Stage Divers-None
Broken Bones- None
Fights- 2– But they ended in hugs
Drunkards Taken Out By Security- 0
Celebrity Sightings- Too many to list
Overall Score-10 out of 10
Show on Deck- Sum 41/ Senses Fail
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