Hail Queen Mary!!!

Are you serious? 100 bands on 10 stages in two nights? Madness to even conceive. Matt and I park outside the historic Queen Mary and unload our instruments as cat-suited girls and mo hawked guys pass us and have us (?) pose for photos. Guess the suits are working. We meet up with the rest of the Ready For Vegas crew and load our gear down by stage 6 as numerous bands are playing in various corners of the ship. The three floors of the galley were littered with stages, vendors, and food stands. The traffic of bands and fans was immense up and down the multiple flights of stairs and non-working escalators.




Many of the bands were emo-style along with a few rockabilly and scream-o. Only a few of what I heard really stood out. One of such was Red Devil Squadron, a fresh take on classic punk/rock n roll.



As stage 8 screamed 'music' to their awkward fans, we set up and got ready to blow some minds. Ruby and Beulah wore their sequined dancing girls outfits, which got more attention than the other band alone, and the rest of us had our shirts buttoned up and instruments tuned. The last note of stage 8 resonated through the galley and two seconds later the clicks of Dans sticks summoned the start of One Guy. Our horn sections load had been lightened by the lack of Lackey and was tight and collected while accenting Ruby's wailing voice. The beats were held tight by Dan and Beulah kept the bass in check. Chris's guitar echoed during Mikey's ripping solos. The crowd grew and grew until the sides of the stage were overflowing with patrons. Our set was cut short due to the massive time restrains but what was played was awesome! Many new fans made and pictures taken we unloaded, shed unnecessary layers and enjoyed a few other bands before disembarking the ship.



A few texts and calls later, we joined some friends at the Slidebar in Fullerton to catch Starpool at midnight. They always put on a great show. While in line for the bathroom I saw a shadowbox of Save Ferris signed by the majority of the band I was there to see. Surreal. The original drummer for Save Ferris was there and joined them to play a few old songs sung by random audience members.



A great night and another great show with Ready For Vegas.