Venue Hunting: 70000 Tons of Metal

That's quite a bit of metal.

70k Tons of Metal is one of the most unique metal festivals around. It features over 40 bands, is 5 days long and... is on a boat. It's a heavy metal cruise; what's more awesome than that?

I'm sure it's something like this.

The ship departs from Miami and takes a trip to the Caribbean before coming back. During that time, you get to experience bands playing almost nonstop, always open bars, metal karaoke (yes you read that right) and getting to see some of your favourite musicians just walking around on a ship. Seriously, when these guys aren't playing they're just hanging out with you! Eating supper, enjoying the dock day in the Caribbean, or just rocking out during another set, you will meet members from your favourite bands.

The real highlight of the cruise is of course the performances. There are three stages with bands playing from 10am to 4am. You just go wherever you want and there will be some great metal playing. Some bands even play twice so you won't miss anything. All of this of course leads to some shenanigans like throwing Joakim Brodén of Sabaton into the pool when he takes a stage dive.


 The next voyage is January 28, 2013. There will once again be around 40 bands and the site states there will be 2000 guests. The full list of bands hasn't been released yet, so here is everyone that was onboard the 2012 trip:

• Alestorm
• Amorphis
• Annihilator
• Atheist
• Cannibal Corpse
• Channel Zero
• Children of Bodom
• Coroner
• Dark Funeral
• Edguy
• Eluveitie
• God Dethroned
• Grave Digger
• Hammerfall
• In Extremo
• Kamelot
• Moonsorrow
• My Dying Bride
• Nightwish
• Overkill
• Pentagram
• Pestilence
• Riot
• Samael
• Stratovarius
• Suffocation
• Tankard
• Therion
• Tristania
• Venom
• Virgin Steele
• Whiplash

It goes without saying that everyone aboard this cruise is awesome. Fans, bands and crew alike, everyone is just there for some metal and a good time. I strongly urge you to look up some videos of the event, it's unlike anything else.

In fact, Sabaton liked the experience so much that they decided to make their own heavy metal cruise. The Sabaton Cruise will sail December 9th-10th. It's a much smaller deal, with only three bands playing, but I'm sure it's still pretty awesome.

-Zombie Viking