We had a new boat, the Norwegian Joy, and while parking and walking over to the terminal was a breeze, getting on the actual ship was a totally different story. Certainly, a frustrating start to our cruise, along with some confusion, finding out where everything was located.
And, for the first time that I can remember, I actually had to bring my suitcase to a show. But, I was lucky to catch most of the first Vandenberg theater show before heading to our photo meeting (just try finding the observation lounge without a line of fans waiting for photos, yikes!).
Vandenberg branded the show as Adrian Vandenberg with a focus on Whitesnake hits from his many years with the band in follow-up to a US tour which was cut a few days short due to Mats Leven catching ill on the road. But, we sure couldn’t tell he’d been sick with Mats hitting all the right notes with his raspy vocal acrobatics.
I for one was super excited to see the new pink Peavy Vandenberg custom guitar in play for the show (and to later check it for myself following the second show). As an owner of a vintage model, it is really cool to see Peavy reissuing such a beautiful guitar.
Following the departure of Randy van der Elsen, Sem Christoffel (Vandenberg’s Moonkings) can be found on bass, Len van de Laak was hiding in the shadows on keyboards, and Joey Marin de Boer is on drums.
After spending way too much time trying to find the right elevator’s to get to my cabin (yes, very spoiled requesting a room in the same hall for the better part of a decade on the Royal sister ships), I ventured to the larger than life pool stage for the sail away gathering. Instead of our typical sea of black, the family chose to support Faster Pussycat in their grief by buying merch and/or wearing a Faster Pussycat shirt to the photo opportunity.
Elected spokesperson for the band, given that he was also slated to appear with Pete Evick and Dean Cramer for their Ultimate Acoustic Rock Show performances, Faster Pussycat drummer Chad Stewart, addressed the crowd. Holding back tears he expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support, and regret that the band would not be able to perform given the recent loss of frontman Taime Downe’s fiance Kimberly Burch, Chad was vocal about suicide prevention before closing out his quick speech and embracing with former bandmates and friends on stage.
As it turned out, Wig Wam would learn quickly that it is indeed ‘hard to be a rock’n roller’, when their sailaway set was quickly interrupted by a heavy downpour just as the momentum began. Not to worry though, we have plenty of great snaps from their final show on the pool stage with nothing but sunshine surrounding them.
Tyketto got a late start from the showers but managed to pull off a very windy set at the opposite end of the top deck at a club called Spice H2O. While challenging to navigate these venues without a photo pit in play, we had to get creative with our vantage points, but were able to sneak up on our buddy Johnny Dee for a few quick snaps early on.
Fronted by Danny Vaughn and with Ged Rylands returning on keys, the Tyketto band line-up has made some changes since the last cruise with Johnny Dee (Doro) behind the kit, Chris Childs (Thunder) on bass, and Harry Scott Elliott (Chez Kane) on guitar. While the band delivered a classic set, we were very excited to hear the news of a new studio album in the works!
Later that evening, I returned to the pools stage for one of my personal favorites, Queensryche, who have been performing the EP and the first album on the road. They focused on more of a hits set for the pool stage show, much to the delight of the crowd. The energy was off the charts and continued later into the evening when Slaughter took the pool stage.
One of the best parts of the Norwegian Joy was the stage set-up at the main deck, which offered a long catwalk down the center and enabled the band to give many a front-row vantage point throughout the night.
Of course I was asked, where I planned to be at 8:15 pm that night, and it was certainly one of many conflicts during the cruise with so many options to choose from. So, with good friends on two stages, I decided to split my time between both the Queensryche show at the Evick & Stewart show, which became a bit more than a duet with Tyson Leslie (Vixen) joining on both keyboards and bass, and their Ultimate Classic Acoustic Rock Show bandmate Dean Cramer on rhythm guitar in the atrium.
While successful with my multi-tasking on day one, it became much more challenging to do as the cruise went on…So, keep in mind, just because I didn’t take a photo, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. In fact, I’d venture to guess that I caught maybe twenty-five to thirty percent of the many shows this year as most bands could be found playing three times and many venues were much smaller than we were accustomed to.
I hurried myself over to the theater, but missed my chance to hit the front rows for Aldo Nova. So, I promise to bring many more photos from the second theater performance.
This theater didn’t have our usual two-tier size and often got overcrowded initially, but then opened up when people realized that there was something else starting elsewhere. So, the first of the big theater shows like Stephen Pearcy and Tesla were at capacity and many were turned away, while at a big show like Extreme later in the week, I watch as people waited up the staircase for many hours, just to later see that half of the second row could be found empty a few songs into the set.
So, as a pro tip for next time, don’t be afraid to take a seat in the back and look for something better as the band plays on. It is unlikely to stay packed for the entire hour when there are three or four other options at play, and unless you simply can’t miss a band, spend the time you’d spend waiting in line to catch someone new instead.
Slaughter performed two late shows, on back to back nights, with the first being at the pool stage, where Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum worked that catwalk, Jeff Blando seemed to smothered with fog for most of the night, and Jordan Cannata delivered his usual standing drum solo with a little help from Animal from the Muppets on the big video screen.
While I felt like a bit of a target with Mark wailing guitar picks at me most of the night, I totally loved the energy of getting close to that catwalk and watching the rise of the fans, hoping to get up close to the band. It’s hard to say which show was better, because I thoroughly enjoyed the theater show and those video screen graphics were so cool. But, when you are on a boat and at sea, nothing beats that feeling of wind in your hair and the fresh sea air for a rock show!
Check out our pre-party coverage here, and stay tuned for more from the Monsters of Rock Cruise!
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Live Photos by Editor and founder Kara Marie Uhrlen for The Pure Rock Shop. Posted on 4/2/2025.
