Jam Band Cruises
Jam band cruises are the multi day shows at sea where an audience of jam fans spends 4 or 5 nights on a ship with a lineup of the jam artists, and they are one of the special formats of the indie folk and jam circuit that the small label scene on this site plays through. The cruise is the format the jam band scene built for its most dedicated audience, because it puts the audience and the bands in one place for several days and the improvisation runs on for the length of the voyage. A jam band cruise is 4 or 5 nights, with 3 or 4 bands playing across the ship, and the audience buys the ticket and the cabin together. The small label scene releases the live records the cruise bands make, and the cruise is where the music is heard at full length. This page explains how the format works and points at the sailings and the lineups a fan looks for.
This is the guide to the jam band cruise: it explains how the format works, what a sailing looks like, and where a fan finds the current and upcoming sailings and their ships, lineups, and dates.
How the cruise format works
How the cruise format works is a 4 to 5 night voyage built around the jam band set, and it is the format the scene designed for the long form improvisation. The ship is the venue, and the audience spends the nights on board with the bands playing across the decks and the salons over the days. A typical cruise runs 4 or 5 nights, with 3 or 4 bands on the bill, and each band plays a full set of 90 to 120 minutes a night, so the audience hears the long solo and the full show in the same room for several days. The ticket is sold with the cabin, and the audience books the voyage the way they book a cruise, with the music as the reason for the trip. The format is the circuit taken to sea, and it is where the jam band scene plays its most extended sets.
What a sailing looks like
What a sailing looks like is a 4 or 5 night itinerary with a lineup of the jam artists and a set of venues on the ship. The ship leaves a port in the first city and visits 2 or 3 ports over the voyage, and the audience steps ashore in the evenings and returns for the night set. The lineup is 3 or 4 bands, and the bill is built so the audience hears a different lead act each night, with the headliner on the last night at sea. The set runs 90 to 120 minutes, and the long solo of 25 to 40 minutes is the set piece the audience comes for. The sailing is the event, and it is the format the jam band scene plays when it wants the audience in one place for the length of the voyage.
Where to find the sailings and the lineups
Where to find the sailings and the lineups is the cruise promoter, and it is the company that books the ship and the bands and sells the ticket. The promoter publishes the sailing, the ship, the dates, and the lineup, and the fan who wants to go books the ticket and the cabin through the promoter's site. The lineups are announced in stages, with the headliner first and the supporting bands over the months before the voyage, and the fan who follows the promoter sees the bill as it builds. The sailings for the season are announced in the winter for the summer voyage, and the dates are fixed 6 or 9 months out. The promoter is where the fan finds the sailing, and the lineup is the bill the scene puts on the ship.
Where the cruise sits in the circuit
Where the cruise sits in the circuit is in the special formats of the indie folk and jam circuit, and it is one of the 2 ends of the circuit alongside the destination show. The cruise is the format the jam band scene plays for the multi day audience, and the destination show, such as the jam band shows in the Virgin Islands, is the format the scene plays for the weekend audience. The 2 formats are the ends of the circuit, and they are where the scene plays its most dedicated crowd. The small label scene releases the live records the cruise bands make, and it distributes them through the same channel as the rest of the catalogue, so the fan who is on the cruise can buy the record from the label that signed the band. The cruise is part of the circuit, and the circuit is the live side of the small label scene, which is the role this page describes.