Caribbean Sea
Carnival Cruise Ship Triumph
Carnival Cruise Ship Triumph
While on the Rock & Roll Holiday Escape Cruise in 2004, I made sure to keep a diary on my laptop to record the events of the 7 day cruise so that I would be able to do a complete write up for my anticipated "Rockin' Roll Report" upon returning to dry land and available Internet access. Here is what I journaled and later used as basis for my two reports on the cruise.
Cruise Day 4.
Another fun day at sea which meant a morning sleeping late and then sitting in the sun reading a book. It's really amazing what happens when you are forced to relax and do nothing! As we were cruising along I couldn't help but think – no wonder Uncle Eddie enjoyed the Navy so much… there is something very impressive about sitting out in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight – it really gives you a sense of how big this planet is! While I don't know that I'd rush right out and book another 7 day cruise again – the on board entertainment for the most part just isn't my thing – this is a wonderful way to travel. No rushing around, taking days to get from one place to another – in this fast paced jet fueled world, it's easy to forget that it's important to slow things down and take a breath.
Most of the day was spent killing time until the REO Q&A session at 6:00. None of us were hugely eager to get in line particularly early, so we just went to meet up about 5:40. Imagine our surprise when we could hear sound check going on from inside the Rome Lounge! We were told that there was a problem with the sound that needed to be worked out and we'd be let in a few minutes late. Well a few minutes turned in to 10 when we were finally told we'd be let in and would have to sit through the last bit of sound check – awww what a bummer! Once we were all seated Kevin said "Welcome to the matinee." Sound check is always a neat thing to observe, and it was amusing watching the fans snapping pictures and just generally enjoying themselves. We even got to hear a preview of a new song that was really quite good! When they finished, Kevin then walked to the mic and asked "So, got any questions? No? All right, thanks for coming!" To which Dave responded, "Where else are they going to go? We've got a captive audience!" Thus setting the tone for another generally amusing time hanging out with the band.
Once the Q&A got under way, it was a little bit different than it was for Styx, with the questions being asked right off the bat. The band was in a good mood and pretty goofy – much like Styx was. I can only hope the Journey boys will be as loose. Probably the most interesting question that was asked was by a woman named Robin who asked if any of their parents had pushed them to become musicians. Kevin Cronin gave a long rambling answer about how parents should encourage their kids strengths and if the kid shows an inclination towards music to encourage that. It really was a good answer, though not exactly an answer to the question. Well, Robin then basically told off the band – she was very rude and said "Well, thank you for that parenting advice, but you didn't answer my question." She then essentially demanded an autograph on an old album of hers. The band was very well behaved, but you could tell they were pissed off. The crowd was in shock. When Neil Dougherty (keyboards) got his chance to sign the album, (which I'm amazed they did) he said to the crowd "I can't tell you what the first word I wrote was but the second word is 'off'." The whole crowd applauded and laughed. Robin, being the obnoxious fan that she was, stood up and yelled back at hm something about it being for her kid and there had better not be any profanity on it. Well, excuuuu-use me! I swear to god I've never seen anyone behave so badly.
Most of the other questions were of the "How do you prepare for a show now as opposed to 30 years ago?" variety. ["Instead of getting drunk, we take time to know the songs." – Neil] Others included influences [Beatles – Kevin] and venues [cruise ship, most unique.] When are you going to play Europe [The bus got as far as New York and stopped – Neil] And the amusing, "Dave I heard you played golf in Cozumel and lost your balls." – which generated a run of off-color comments and much laughter.
Then it was time for the trivia contest, and since I know even less REO trivia than I did Styx trivia, I really didn't pay all that much attention. They didn't raffle off the pit seats, which I thought was very strange. We learned later (courtesy of Dr. Val) that some of the people in the platinum seats complained that everyone had the opportunity for upgraded seats and that because they paid so much money that they should get that privilege and blah blah blah. Well, I'm sorry you spoiled brats, if you'd bothered to READ the description of the cruise, it said "opportunities to upgrade seats" for EVERYONE. And, in my opinion, the people who scraped together the $1299 to get in the door should have MORE of an opportunity for the upgrades since they're NOT getting some of the perks like the meet and greets. (Grumble grumble grumble.)
After the Q&A we were off to a relaxing dinner since the show wouldn't start until 11:00. It's been enjoyable having a nice dinner each evening and our waiter Victor is a real hoot. We've been calling him Danny DeVito because there are definite similarities in appearances! The waiters entertainment for the evening was a conga line to "Hot Hot Hot."
We still had some time to kill, so Darla, Emerson, and I conducted some JPP business with Cat while Janice went to get in line for the show. We followed a short while later, but couldn't find her so just got in line with the rest of the crowd. While it was less insane seating and more organized, we wound up with slightly disappointing seats because they wouldn't let the "premiere" seat people access the many vacant "platinum" seats until after the show started. Totally ridiculous. We wound up with decent seats – about 5th row off to the side again.
The show started off pretty well, with lots of high energy, but after the fourth song ("I Can't Fight This Feeling") Kevin's monitor blew and he had to fill for a while until it got swapped out. While it was mildly entertaining to see Kevin have his shirt torn off by the roadies to replace the monitor, it meant that Kevin got to talk… and talk… and talk. This time instead of talking about the Playboy mansion, we got to hear him talk about the migration pattern of dolphins! The punch line of this tale was that Kevin's vocal warmups were scaring the dolphins.
They came out of the monitor mayhem and introduced their new tune called "Hard to Believe." It was really quite good and will be on the new REO album that is in the works. Unfortunately Kevin followed this with a tale about XM Radio and performing all of Hi Infidelity, which ate up another chunk of time. The band then launched into the whole album (I think.) Later in the evening Kevin wished a fond farewell to his guitar tech, who was leaving the band after 4 years to spend more time with his family. Quite a nice moment leading in to the acoustic set and Neil's comment "I never liked that guy anyway" – who knew Neil was such a goof? (Okay, maybe die-hard REO fans know, but I sure didn't.)
Unfortunately, between the lateness of the show time (11:00 p.m.), the monitor problem, Kevin's talking, and the playing of album tracks that were really for the core group of fans, the show seemed to drag. The crowd was definitely thinning out throughout the show, and by the time REO got to the finale, the energy of the fans was pretty low. The crowd, overall, was actually fairly sedate. To further lessen my enjoyment of the show – for a good part of it, there were a couple of women in front of me who seemed to think talking at the top of their lungs would enhance the show! One woman in particular was extremely loud. I was glad when she'd leave, only to find her back in front of me 20 or 30 minutes later.
When REO got to the finale, the houselights would come up more and more often. By the time they got to "Back on the Road Again" the houselights were up for nearly the entire song. Not that it was a bad thing, but it was just weird – I'm used to semi-darkness at a concert!
REO set list
(as best as I can work out, not quite as familiar with their catalog)
Riding the Storm Out
Music Man
Keep Pushin'
Can't Fight This Feeling
Hard to Believe (NEW)
Don't Let Him Go
Keep on Loving You
In Your Letter
Tough Guys
Someone Tonight
Take It on the Run
I Wish You Were There
In My Dreams – acoustic
That Ain't Love – [Kevin solo, acoustic]
Bring You Home (?) – [Kevin solo, acoustic]
Time for Me to Fly
Back on the Road Again
Roll With the Changes
Encore:
?? Unknown
157 Riverside Avenue
After the show, I was dying of thirst, so we went to find the nearest open bar. While I was waiting for my drink, the obnoxious woman who'd been sitting in front of me came up to the bar to order some drinks. Apparently, she was ordering drinks for the band (though she couldn't remember what they'd ordered!) and told a few of the folks in the bar that REO had planned to play two more songs, but due to complaints from people below deck about the noise, were forced to end the show early. Well, that's definitely going to be a problem if you're going to schedule a rock concert at 11 p.m.!!!
We then headed up to the Lido Deck for a quick bite to eat, and while we were eating, Bruce Hall happened by looking for food. We then ran in to Bryan Hitt as we were heading back to our rooms.
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