The Rock Boat XI goes onsale today to guests who sailed with us on TRB X last month and it feels like Game Day. I always get nervous on these days because even though we have been blessed with quick sell outs the past few years, we inevitably make many people happy and just as many frustrated with our choice of artists, port and dates. And if anyone wants to make everyone happy, it’s me.
This year is especially interesting because we are making a conscious decision to make The Rock Boat a place to discover new artists we think you should know about. That means less familiar names on the marquee and more faith in Sixthman to assemble a better lineup than the previous year. It also means less returning artists from the prior year. When we look back on the past 10 years where we witnessed Zac Brown, Marc Broussard, Stephen Kellogg, Wideawake, Gaelic Storm, Blackberry Smoke, Green River Ordinance, Tyrone Wells, Will Hoge and others go from newcomers to Rock Boat heroes, it just reinforces our commitment to discovering new artists.
Why the anxiety? I had a long conversation with a loyal guest on Friday about how important it is to at least give the 60% of the guests who return each year some familiar artists so they can recruit friends to try The Rock Boat. I had never thought about it that way. We ended up having a great debate and I walked away committed to finding a couple artists who are further down the road with their career and inviting them to join us for TRB XI. That should give us a good balance without taking the emphasis away from discovering new bands.
So think of us today as guests are making the decision to join us next January, wait a few months to see how the lineup shapes up or choose to sit out one year. We will be making our guesses, ringing the bell at sales milestones and grateful for our good fortune to be here.
I promise that we have not done our best work yet and The Rock Boat will go to 11 next January.
Andy
