Metal Takes to the High Seas: 70,000 Tons of Metal Becomes World's Biggest Floating Festival

On January 24, 2011, 42 Heavy Metal bands and 2,000 of their biggest fans-hailing from 48 different countries-invaded Miami and took over Royal Caribbean's "Majesty of the Seas" for a five day, four night first-of-its-kind adventure. 70,000 Tons of Metal offered metal fans the chance to hang out with some of their favorite musicians, and, for lack of a better word, it was cool.

Personally, I drank with Olavi Mikkonen, Ted Lundström and Fredrik Andersson from Amon Amarth, Jonne Järvelä and Kalle "Cane" Savijärvi of Korpiklaani, Terji Skibenæs of Tyr and German band Cripper and their crew, gave a bottle of red wine to Michel 'Away' Langevin of VOIVOD and ate at Johnny Rockets next to Kai Hansen of Gamma Ray. Made especially for the cruise, my leather patch jacket was signed by VOIVOD, Exodus, Testament, Dark Tranquillity, Amon Amarth, Korpiklaani, Cripper, Ensiferum, Sodom and Swashbuckle, and it could have easily been signed by every band on the cruise if I had attended the Meet & Greet sessions at Boleros, a bar and lounge on the ship.

Starting around 10 each morning with the last finishing before dawn, shows on the ship ranged from smaller bar shows to larger pool deck and theater shows. For those late night warriors, concerts after 2:00AM were intimate, even in the Chorus Line Theater, with only a handful of people in attendance. Most notably, on Tuesday, January 25 Canadian Death Metal band Blackguard prepped tired concert goers to battle through to the end of the night during their lively 2:30AM show at Spectrum. In the 3:15AM to 4:00AM time slot at the Chorus Line Theater, British band Raven rewarded night owls with a fun, high energy set, breaking out classic hits "Rock until You Drop" and "All for One" and crowd favorite "Break the Chain".

Describing the 70,000 Tons of Metal experience is nearly impossible; it is different for each individual and unique from any other festival I have ever attended-there are real beds and showers! Fans flew to Miami, Florida, the embarkation port, from all over the world, escaping their normal lives and below zero temperatures, to spend a week relaxing in the sun and rocking out with some of the biggest metal bands in the world, and they left exhausted, hung over and satisfied that was it money well spent.