Ni-Cd's Review
The august 12th (ish) weekend has become a special one to me and a small group of my friends. A year ago, we attended the Nocturnal Sa-Slam bash, and had such a good time (one of the most memorable of 2006) that we decided to make it a yearly occasion.
If you haven't been on a boat cruise--you should definitely stop denying yourself the basic necessity and hit one.
We had the choice between the Groove Cruise and Rock the Boat 4, both happening at the same time. The lineup for Rock the Boat 4 had my local favourite Nathan Barato, as well as the now-back to rock our world Addy--so as much as I love the energy Simon Jain and Andy Reid bring to the scene, we opted to hit Rock the Boat 4, knowing we'd see the crew of BOTH boats at the docks afterparty after.
If I can summarize the boat trip in one word, it'd be this: good. Not great, not fantastic, but good. I had a 'good' time.
The lineup included: Addy, Nathan Barato, Carlo Lio and Jon Jon.
We arrived at the decreed time of 11:30, but we all know that boat cruises don't leave the dock for another hour or sometimes two...or in this case two and a half hours later, so we were uber early.
Mr. Fisher and I met up with Lauren and Schmucky, who each came separately, and danced around in the parking lot to the various tunes belting out of the cars, all their doors open.
I noticed no presence of bass, just lots of tinny treble belting out; I surmised that people turned off their sub woofers so as not to draw attention to their vehicles; belting out some serious ass sound would make their vehicle a target while they were on a boat for the next five hours. (When the boat returned, an ample amount of bass was heard, that seemed to reinforce this theory!).
There was of course, a mad dash and lots of stress as people arrived who had not pre-purchased tickets, searching desperately for one for sale. Schmucky was one of these people, so we were searching for a ticket for him; i found one, lost it, found another, lost that, and finally got hooked up at the end. KevinT managed to find himself one as well! Note to self: Buy an extra ticket for any cruise and sell for profit later (heh heh heh...*evil laughter*)
The weather was overcast but dry and warm, very comfortable. We decided to go around the buildings between us and the lake to stand in front of the river gambler... while waiting there, Nathan and what looked like a massive entourage arrived...
I hadn't gotten my tickets from my supplier yet (*cough* Jon Jon), so I hunted him down, then hunted down his sister (what a great gal!!) and got my tickets. We were set to get on the boat.
The River Gambler is a great boat to party on; two massive decks, lots of open space, and it can be covered in a moment if rain threatens an event. But, even better, fantastic crew!
This guy was dancing up a STORM to the beats and had the entire crowd going--it was a fantastic way to get the journey going. Unfortunately, it looked as though rain was on its way... darker clouds started to roll in.
We were late getting going because someone needed medical attention. Schmucky joked to me: Remember back in the day when boat cruises used to actually leave the dock and go out into open water?
Jon Jon's opening set was great! Started the mood fantastic, and I was surprised at the quality of the sound from the setup equipment.
People dancing on the upper deck was causing all the speakers and dj equipment to wobble all around--but it seemed totally expected because all the equipment was tied down.
I saw Addy's signature equipment all setup next to the CDJs...
Ah, the magic that comes from those electronic boxes... 
Jon Jon's set came to and end, and Addy stepped up to the decks...
And it started to rain as well... the question of putting the tarp over was put out and the crowd "BOOOO"'d it... so it stayed open for a bit...unfortunately, the DJ equipment, including the laptop etc were getting soaked...so Addy cut his set quite short and handed the decks back to Jon Jon to finish off the time slot (go Jon Jon!!) In the meantime, the crew finally decided to cover the deck...
This is sort of where the cruise went down hill (a little) for me...
Once they covered over the top deck, and zipped up most of the sides, the area became a death trap for asthmatics such as myself; the heat and smoke trapped inside there was an instant vibe-killer for me. As a result, I had to spend most of the rest of the time either staying out on the open deck (bummer), or downstairs on the lower deck. The music was being piped downstairs through some temp speakers (Ok sound), but there was no real vibe down there. So I stood near the DJ booth and the opening of the tarp to get fresh air, and made the best of it.
Don't get me wrong, still had a great time; Addy's set was sic, Jon Jon was a pleasure to hear, and the crowd was LOVING Nathan and Carlo. Nathan and Carlo played the 'zonish' sounds I described from my footwork review--which as I said before I like and enjoy, but it's not this cat's meow (holy cliche! Ewwww).
I think I would have enjoyed the cruise a lot more if not for that damn tarp creating the covered area of death. If there were DJs spinning on the lower deck, I could have taken breaks to hear them spin downstairs...but the temp speakers down there just didn't do it for me...so I was on the periphery. Being a minority (a non-smoker), I guess I hardly have a right to complain, but to be honest, it really killed the trip for me.
All that being said, I danced up a storm and had a smile on my face the entire time. My crew had a BLAST, and it was good seeing so many familiar faces. Dancing in the rain (before the tarp-of-death) was a FANTASTIC experience, and one the entire crowd loved, despite the annoyance to the DJ equipment (maybe a better rain setup for JUST the dj booth next time? Let the crowd dance in the rain! )
Conclusion:
If i remove the tarp-of-death, i'd give this cruise an 8/10 for vibe, sound quality, and smiles on people's faces.
It was a vicious domino effect: rain led to tarp led to Addy cutting his set short. Because of the tarp-of-death, lack of a lower level DJ to fill in the void that created for me, I give this cruise a 5/10. Meaning, i had fun half of the time, and i was having asthma issues the other half of the time. Damn these lungs! Damn the cigarette companies! Despite my personal experience, my crew had a BLAST, and the crowd was a pretty good one. As always, you make your own vibe, right? The vibe was great on the boat, and everyone was having a lot of fun. I think Blacklist is definitely going places, and I can't wait to see what they have set for the future.
Despite my personal lack of enjoyment on the cruise--I was soon to be compensated...as we headed to the docks for the afterparty after I gave myself a good shot of ventolin...
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