More than 2000 Emos went to sea this week on the Emo’s Not Dead Cruise. The Norwegian Pearl Cruise Ship was transformed into the Crytanic and all aboard were ready to sing, cry and dance their hearts out for four days and nights. The lineup was legendary and included Yellowcard, Mayday Parade, Story of The Year, Underoath and many more acts who came to entertain the ship’s community of elder emos. The average age on board was 34 and there was a lot of reliving their youths happening. And why not? They lived through a truly Emo era, musically speaking.
Before we jump to the part where we talk about the performances of each act on the stacked lineup. I wanted to highlight some of the other entertainment that was on offer all week. One such event was the live podcast hosted by the emo king himself Matt Cutshall with guest Ryan Key, frontman of Yellowcard. Not only was it funny and informative but it gave a great little insight into the ups and downs of being in a band. Ryan talks candidly about parts of his journey through success out the other side and then back up on top again.
Each of the bands played a few times in different venues around the ship, giving everybody a chance to catch them all. Each set was better than the last and it seemed like the bands were having as much fun as the fans all week long. We will post a list of my favourite moments from each set at a later date. With so much going on it was hard to choose favourites but Music Moments gave it a go anyway!
Matt is not only the life and soul of the party but the gift that keeps giving. During our stay on the Crytanic, we were gifted some emo essentials, eyeliner, black nail polish and a great water bottle to help keep us hydrated during the day, especially those out on the pool deck or sun deck, in the wonderfully hot weather.
For those of us who needed a little bit of rejuvenation, there was a spa offering treatments. There was also a resident barber Chase, giving cuts every day to a long line of guys who needed a little fix-up or even a whole new style. Finally, there was a tattooist, giving permanent memories to those looking for new ink, maybe to commemorate the event or to get something they’ve been designing in their minds for a while.
On Wednesday we all got up early to venture off the boat and onto our private emo island in the Bahamas. It was stunningly beautiful and every photo looked like a picturesque postcard. There were plenty of shore excursions to take part in, from taking a mega zip line across the island to swimming with pigs.
A highlight of Thursday night was the TONIGHT TONIGHT SHOW WITH MATT CUTSHALL, Your late-night host emo Matt was back with what critics were calling ‘the best talk show on an Atlantic-based emo-themed cruise ship’, with special guests including fan favourite Ryan Key and a tortilla slapping Sean Mackin, comedy and a shirtless cowboy.
The music guest on the Tonight Tonight Show was Sabrina the winner of the battle of the frontman backed by The Emo Band. Throughout the vacation, a daily karaoke competition created a series of finalists. They then battled it out in front of a main stage audience and a panel of legends for the accolade of Frontman battle king or queen. Sabrina got 10 scores across the board and blew us all away with her rendition of Paramores, Misery Business.
Meeting the man himself
