L&C SETS SAIL ABOARD THE MONSTERS OF ROCK CRUISE!
For its tenth year in a row, the Monsters of Rock Cruise brought all the music and mayhem it’s known for to the high seas! Loud & Clear was there to make it LOUD & CLEAR!
I know what you’re thinking. Gig on a cruise ship? Sounds awesome, right? How hard can it be? Sunshine in the Caribbean? Sign me up!
Loud & Clear, Inc. has had the pleasure of working with the team at On The Blue (parent company of Monsters of Rock Cruise) for over 10 years. Larry Morrand and Mike London of On The Blue have worked painstakingly with our production team to provide the best possible experience for their guests. Planning for such an endeavor begins well over a year in advance. They’ve been nothing short of incredible to work with over the years and we’re delighted to continue our partnership with the team into the future.
In early February 2020, we loaded up trucks to head south to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. That’s where we would board the Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas, a Freedom Class ship that holds over 6,000 passengers and crew. Loading six stages worth of production gear on to a cruise ship is no small feat. Logistics planning is the key to a successful load in. There are only two ways to get gear on the ship: Shell Bay doors on the side of the ship at ground level, and a 200 foot crane to lift gear to the pool deck. Any gear that goes to venues below the pool deck (deck 12) goes through the shell bay door. Anything that goes to the pool deck or above goes up on the crane, including all of the truss it takes to build a roof structure on cruise ship. From there, it’s moved through the tight corridors of the ship via crew and passenger elevators. Now I know what you’re thinking: “that’s impossible! There’s no way you set that up in one day. That’d take 3 days to set up if you were on land”. That’s why venue setup begins with maximum urgency, due to some shows starting as early as 2:00 PM (we start at 7:00 AM). Our team has done many of these load-ins and they know what to expect and how to tackle such a daunting task. By 5:00 PM, all venues are up and running and we sail out to sea for a five day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico and back.
Monsters of Rock Cruise is powered by a full line of L-Acoustics speakers. 6 K2 enclosures a side rock the pool stage paired up with 12 SB28 subwoofers and DV-DOSC front fills. 115XT HI-Q wedges round out the monitor package along with SB28/ARCS side fills. The rig is driven by our tried-and-true Avid Profile consoles at FOH and Monitors. Lighting was provided in the way of Elation Proteus Hybrid, Paladin, and Level Q7 IP rated fixtures controlled by our High-End Systems Hog 4 Full Boar lighting console.
The Royal Theater venue had the same exact PA rig as the pool, but we also added an Absen X5 video wall as a backdrop. Paired up with the house lighting rig controlled by our GrandMA2 lighting console it made for a great show.
For Studio B (an onboard ice rink theater converted to a 1500 capacity rock club), we deployed 6 KARA a side for the main PA and 8 SB28 subs and KIVA front fills. The monitor package mimicked the pool and theater stages, and control was handled by an Avid Profile at FOH and one of our trusty Yamaha PM5D consoles for monitors.
The Star Lounge, a smaller lounge setting venue, was powered by 3 KARA a side stacked on 2 SB28 subwoofers per side. Control was provided via a pair of Midas M32 consoles.
Life aboard our floating tour bus has its perks, such as more food than you can possibly eat, paired up with a steady dose of sunshine and great tunes. The ship crew is always there to assist in any way and makes our sailing a real treat.
Loud & Clear, Inc. has been producing festivals at sea for over 14 years for a multitude of different genres from Rock to Country and everywhere in between. We’ve done shows on Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Celebrity Cruise Lines to name a few and have learned all of the intricacies of each line. Everything from layout of the ship, power, safety, who has the best buffet (we’re not telling), and all of the other details that come with doing a concert on a ship are things that we’ve learned how to work with. Working with MORC has been no exception. We’ve meticulously worked with Larry and his team to put on the best shows, year in, year out.
Due to the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, Monsters of Rock Cruise will take its 2021 festival to land with “Operation Monster Beach”. They’ll be taking over 2 resorts in The Dominican Republic in late May 2021, featuring Alice Cooper as the headliner.
If you would like more information on how we can help make your festival at sea the best, feel free to reach out to our production team! We can’t wait to serve you!