Monsters of Rock Cruise 2024: Day Five Review

Photo by Shannon Wilk

I’m sad to say we’ve come to the final day of the 2024 Monsters of Rock Cruise. Like every year, it is an experience of a lifetime – with memories that you truly cannot make elsewhere. I could not be more excited to return to the event in 2025.

Firehouse – 1:45 PM Studio B

Photo by Shannon Wilk

I started the last day with Firehouse’s rescheduled show from the first day, now in Studio B at 1:45PM. Performing a nearly identical setlist, the group once again brought a level of technicality that is so underappreciated from bands of this genre. Performing all their radio rock hits, from Don’t Treat Me Bad to Reach For The Sky to Shake & Tumble and All She Wrote – Firehouse gave it their all for the afternoon crowd. Each band member really is a show within themselves, with their unique presence and undeniable talent.

Rock You Tonight
All She Wrote
Shake & Tumble
Oughta Be a Law
Lover’s Lane
Home Is Where the Heart Is
Don’t Walk Away
Guitar Solo
Overnight Sensation
Love of a Lifetime
Love Is a Dangerous Thing
Don’t Treat Me Bad
Reach for the Sky

Bad Marriage – 2:30 PM Pool Stage

Hailing from Boston, MA, hard rockers Bad Marriage took to the Pool Stage at 2:30 PM. These five guys have created this amazing new-school yet classic rock sound. With several members of the band attending the MORC for years, a group of their fans got together to ask for them to be brought on to perform. Eventually, the MORC gods got the message and brought Bad Marriage on the boat as artists, and they’ve continued to come back. They’ve got great stage presence and clear chemistry, especially since former Tesla guitarist Tommy Skeoch has joined the group.

Who’s Ready to Rock?
Bad Blood
Rockin’ Rollin’ Mofo
Ready Aim Fire
Match Made in Hell
Gateway Drug
Dangerous
Second Hand Smoke
Down Goes Another One
Knock 3 More Times
Old School Stereo
Little Suzi (Ph.D. cover) (w/excerpt of Quiet Riot’s Metal Health)

Extreme – 6:15 PM Royal Theater

The final show I saw this MORC was Extreme in the Royal Theater. The line for this show stretched up the stairwell from deck 3, where the venue lies, all the way up to deck 12. Extreme are alway top notch and this show was no different. I stood toward the middle of the Theater, singing the tunes at the top of my lungs, surrounded by friends. The whole crowd shared a laugh as vocalist Gary Cherone took a tumble on the side of the stage – a common occurrence for the hyper performer. Between a couple songs, the group gives a nod to the classic rock group Queen, with excerpts of We Will Rock You and Fat Bottomed Girls.

It (‘s a Monster)
#REBEL
Li’l Jack Horny
Kid Ego
Play With Me (with Queen’s “We Will Rock You” Intro)
Cupid’s Dead
Am I Ever Gonna Change
THICKER THAN BLOOD
Midnight Express
More Than Words
Hole Hearted
BANSHEE (with Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls” Intro)
Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee
Get the Funk Out
RISE

Just when I thought the festivities were over, karaoke got interesting. It was around 1:30-2 AM when the usual drunken karaoke unknowingly became an all-star karaoke. The first notable performer was Winger guitarist Reb Beach, giving a touching performance of Billy Joel’s Just the Way You Are. The night continued to get increasingly interesting. Justin Hawkins, singer of The Darkness, and classic rock icon Glenn Hughes, of Deep Purple, came together to sing a love song to each other – Power of Love by Celine Dion. The two British gents sing the tune together with their arm around the other. Hawkins shares that this is Hughes’ first time ever doing karaoke. This just goes to show you never know what is going to happen on the Monsters of Rock Cruise and you will not witness this anywhere else.

Host Izzy Presley takes the stage to casually introduce legendary guitarist Richie Kotzen, who begins to sing Audioslave’s Cochise. Beside me are Vixen bassist Julia Lage and Justin Hawkins, both singing and dancing along with the song, and they end up running up and joining Kotzen as he performs the alt-rock classic. Closing out the night was an incredible rendition of Fooled Around and Fell In Love by Elvin Bishop, performed by Richie Kotzen, Glenn Hughes, Justin Hawkins, and Julia Lage. There really is no other way to describe how I felt during this experience besides calling it a major “pinch me” moment. Certainly, there was no better way to end such a fantastic, unreal week than with this performance at 3 AM in the middle of the Caribbean. If you’ve never attended the Monsters of Rock Cruise, I have to say it is really a life-changing experience for any rock fan, and I could not possibly recommend it more.