For the past couple of years, Sixthman has always tried to do something special for repeat guests. Usually in the form on an onboard spending credit, but this year we wanted to give everyone something a little more special. After months of discussion, budgeting, and designing, we came up with a universal alumni plan that had longevity and that we thought could eventually span over all of our cruises. We decided to present it to The Rock Boat first to see if they were as excited about it as we were.
Turns out, they sure were.
In this new program, when you are a guest of a certain number of Sixthman events, you earn a prize. Could be a t-shirt, track jacket, or bathrobe in the case of TRB, but we also had something extra special for everyone who had attended more than 3 previous events (that included over 600 people!).
We put a call out to a bunch of our artists asking them to participate in an exclusive alumni show for this group of people. The response was great, and we ended up with a concert jam packed full of talent – Ken and Drew from Sister Hazel, Marc Broussard, Pat McGee, David Ryan Harris, Marc Broussard, Josh Kelley, Aslyn, Dave Yaden, and Oakhurst. (Incredible, right?) The whole group (nicknamed the Semi-Circle Jerks) got together for a couple of short rehearsals to work through some cover tune favorites.
All of the alumni filed in and most sat on the floor. We encouraged floor seats because the show was completely unplugged. And, at this point, no one knew who was playing. After the guests were in, Andy and I introduced the new band, and everyone went nuts. It was the perfect mix for this crowd.
The Semi-Circle Jerks played The Weight, Seven Bridges Road, The Joker medley, and Rock Boat favorite – Drift Away. The whole show gave me such chills. It was a powerful moment to hear the band play completely unplugged and the crowd singing along to every song. Really amazing.
The artists were completely hilarious, ribbing each other and having a lot of fun the entire time. And, if you could picture Marc Broussard with a tight blue shirt, navy blue spandex shorts, a sweatband on his head, skating around the stage on heelies after every song, maybe you could get a better idea of the fun we al had.
We had a couple people record it, and got a little bit of video footage, so when that’s loaded and ready to go, I’ll be sure to post it somewhere. It was too good not to share.
Alumni, thanks for coming back year after year. I hope you know how much we appreciate you. Newbies, now you have something great to look forward to from now on. You know, besides the actual cruise, right?
