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Go behind the scenes of ShipRocked, a rock festival aboard a ship in the Caribbean Sea.

By Fernanda Portugal

When you think of a Caribbean cruise, what comes to mind? Flowery shirts by a pool? Something danceable playing in the background, like salsa? Not at all! Like good WikiBrothers, nod your heads and make these images jump off the deck! Aboard ShipRocked, a Heavy Metal and Hard Rock festival at sea that confined 20 bands and 2,400 crazed fans to a ship for five days, the attire is black t-shirts and worn jeans. A pool on deck? Only if it's empty, transformed into a giant double stage/audience. To top it all off, bottles and more bottles of beer.

Besides the crazy schedule of 10 shows a day (at least two from each band), the great thing about ShipRocked is the chance to be at a real 'backstage' party, where at any moment you could bump into the musicians in some corridor of the Norwegian Pearl ship. At 965 feet long and 15 decks, it set sail from Miami on the 18th, made a stop for diving in Costa Maya (Mexico) on the 20th, and returned to its port of departure on the 22nd. The line-up included, among others, Five Finger Death Punch, Halestorm, Seether, and Hellyeah.

To our surprise, it was the nearly 2-meter-tall guy with the bizarre beard who took the initiative to call the young fan over for a photo.

I boarded the ship with my husband and 8-year-old son, thinking the artists would be hiding in VIP areas the whole time. But on the very first night, on the main deck, there was the bassist from Five Finger, an American metal band. No one more fitting to meet on a cruise ship than Chris Kael, 41, whom my WikiSon Arthur adores for being the 'twin brother' of the villain Davy Jones from 'Pirates of the Caribbean' – the one with the octopus tentacle beard. To our surprise, it was the almost 2-meter-tall guy with the bizarre beard who took the initiative to call the young fan over for a photo.

We would still find him several more times, always mingling with the audience, attentive to new bands, like the promising Red Sun Rising, reminiscent of Alice in Chains. Only backstage is it possible to discover that a guy with a frightening appearance like Kael is, in fact, a sweetheart. And, furthermore, that the singer of the same band, Ivan Moody, 36, the bald guy with the guttural voice and crazy mannerisms, embarked on the cruise with his parents. We even witnessed a scolding from Mom Moody who, finger raised, for some reason reprimanded Ivan, who lowered his head and obeyed: “Yes, Mom”.

The performances span afternoons, evenings, and early mornings across five venues: in addition to the main outdoor stage, there's the Stardust Theatre, with a capacity of 700 people, and three lounges for a maximum of 200. This allows you to watch all the performances up close, without pushing and shoving or needing binoculars.

The fans are a chapter unto themselves, with their long or spiky, colorful hair. The average number of tattoos per person is ten. There's even a tattoo studio on board for 'emergency' cases, like that of an ardent fan of Vinnie Paul, the legendary American drummer and founder of Pantera. He met his idol on board, asked for an autograph on his arm, and rushed to the tattoo artist to immortalize the ink. Vinnie, 51, performed on ShipRocked with his current band, the heavy metal band Hellyeah.

It was clear that foreigners love Brazil. T-shirts with the Rock in Rio logo and the soccer team shirts of Flávio, my husband, and Arthur were the reason for waves and friendly comments. One night, we were approached by one of the musicians from the Swedish band Avatar, which plays a heavy sound with guttural vocals and Alice Cooper-style makeup. “Are you Brazilian? I love Brazil and I support Ponte Preta, from Campinas. I have friends there ,” said bassist Henrik Sandelin, 28, observing the shirts of the guys, from Rio de Janeiro's Fluminense team, which had already caught Moody's attention during the photo with Five Finger at the Meet & Greet.

The only band that has ever performed at Rock in Rio is the American hard rock band Halestorm, featuring guitarist and vocalist Lzzy Hale.

As proof of his passion, Sandelin rolled up his left sleeve and showed off his tattoo of the outline of the Brazilian map. According to him, one of Avatar's biggest wishes is to play at Rock in Rio. The festival is also a dream for Five Finger, as the group's guitarist, Jason Hook, told us when we met him at the ship's restaurant along with drummer Jeremy Spencer. Of the bands on board, the only one that has already performed at Rock in Rio is the American hard rock band Halestorm, featuring guitarist and vocalist Lzzy Hale, who played on the Sunset stage last year.

ShipRocked takes place every year in January. Tickets (US$1,000 per adult, children under 12 free) include lodging, meals, and access to all shows, as well as a Meet & Greet with the artists, which makes for incredible photos. For this seventh edition of the festival, the ship was already fully booked in June 2015, with a waiting list of about a thousand people due to cancellations. Departure and arrival are always in Miami, but the Caribbean destination varies each year.

Dale Stewart, bassist for Seether, was either on stage headbanging or in the casino losing money at Blackjack.

There are also some 'games' organized on board, such as Beer Pong – a kind of ping-pong where the player has to empty cups of beer for each ball they hit. Not to mention the costume parties, like one with the theme 'Deadly Sins'.

Speaking of which, the quintessential 'rock star' label – all about sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll – went to Dale Stewart, 36, bassist for Seether, a South African grunge band. Almost always drunk, he was either on stage shaking his half-bald, half-hairy head, or in the ship's casino, losing money at Blackjack alongside a languid brunette. Dale, incidentally, was the first celebrity we encountered, even before the ship set sail. He stood right behind us during the festival's opening show, Halestorm, on deck. Hours later, at the next table in the restaurant, was the entire Seether band – besides Dale, there was singer and guitarist Shaun Morgan, drummer John Humphrey, and their roadies.

In addition to the bands already mentioned, this year's edition also featured: 10 Years, '68, Biters, Children, Doll Skin, Helmet, Islanders (featuring former Avenged Sevenfold drummer Arin Ilejay), Like a Storm, Nonpoint, The Dead Deads, The Glorious Sons, The Standstills, The Stowaways (a reunion of members from various bands, including David Ellefson, bassist of Megadeth), Stitched Up Heart, and We are Harlot.

WikiSister Fernanda Portugal has been a journalist for about 20 years and is a rocker by birth.

*This text was written by a Wikimate and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the site's authors.