70000 Tons of Metal (officially stylized as 70000TONS OF METAL) is an annual heavy metal music festival that takes place on board a cruise ship. The event is a five-day festival, including one shore day at a select Caribbean destination.
History The first 70000 Tons of Metal was held in 2011, and until 2014, 70000 Tons of Metal took place on board the cruise liner Majesty of the Seas. In 2015, the festival moved to the cruise liner Liberty of the Seas and then to Independence of the Seas in 2016. From 2011 to 2014 and again in 2023 and 2024 the festival took place between Monday and Friday, from Thursday to Monday in 2015 to 2019, and Tuesday to Saturday in 2020. From 2011 to 2014, the cruise departed from PortMiami in Miami, Florida. For the years 2015 to 2020 it departed from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, returning to Miami in 2023 after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The cruise sails to varying Caribbean tourist destinations and back. On each voyage, from 2011 to 2014 there were 40+ metal bands on board, each performing twice. From 2015 onward, there have been 60+ bands from different metal genres performing on board, also each performing twice. (With the exception of Swallow the Sun performing three shows on board in 2018.) Since 2011, there have been between 3500 and 5500 people on board each year, including the ship's crew.
In August 2011, the organizers of 70000 Tons of Metal announced an additional festival on a cruise ship, named "Barge to Hell", scheduled for December 3 to 7, 2012. Unlike the 70000 Tons of Metal cruises, Barge to Hell was only booked to approximately 60% capacity. The route went from Miami to Nassau in the Bahamas. The musical focus was on extreme metal genres like thrash, death and black metal.
Background Swiss concert promoter Andy Piller is the initiator and organizer of 70000 Tons of Metal. As a young adult, he began to organize concerts in his hometown of Flums, Switzerland, which later became his profession. Piller had the idea to hold a metal festival on a ship in 2006, when he observed passing cruise ships from his balcony. In the approximately four-year preparatory phase Piller went on several regular cruises, found investors who supported the project with grants in the millions and founded the company Ultimate Music Cruises, of which he is managing director (CEO).
There was a rumor in 2010 that 70000 Tons of Metal was planned to take place only once. Piller responded that "[he had] not invested four years to make this a one-time-thing" and that "there will be a next edition and almost certainly many more afterwards."
Line-up and stage situation Up to 60 bands from all genres of heavy metal perform at each edition of the festival. The main stage on the Majesty of the Seas was situated in the ship's theater "A Chorus Line" on Decks 5–7. On Deck 8 there was a smaller stage in the "Spectrum" lounge and on Deck 12 there was the open air "Pool Deck stage". For the Pool Deck stage, a separate pool was drained and covered to make room for the audience. Since 2012, the Pool Deck stage has become much larger and more professional. Since 2015, the festival has had four stages: the pool deck stage, a stage in the ship's main theater, the Ice Rink "Studio B" stage, and the smallest location, the ship's show-lounge.
Accommodation and pricing
To visit the festival, it is only necessary to book a cabin, this includes meals, non-alcoholic and non-carbonated drinks, and entry to all performances. The cheapest tickets (4-passenger cabin, deck 2) are always available for US$766 per person, the most expensive (2-passenger Grand Suite with large balcony, deck 10) are $2999 (2017), $3333 (2012 and 2013), also per person. Additional costs per passenger vary each year; these are for taxes, port fees, "booking fees," nonrefundable onboard gratuities, and other administrative costs. In addition to the concerts, there are the usual amenities on board a cruise ship: a gym, a spa, a casino, several fee-included restaurants, pools, hot-tubs (some very close to the pool-deck stage), plus a basketball court, body-slides and a climbing wall for recreation.
Reception At first the cruise company and the ship's crew were skeptical about their unusual traveling party; however, due to the unexpectedly friendly and well-behaved guests and the economic success of the entire festival, their opinion changed fundamentally. In 2011, 70000 Tons of Metal received national and international press coverage. Metal Hammer magazine, Stern magazine and German TV stations RTL, NDR and ZDF featured the event. In 2012, documentaries about the festival were produced by CNN, Sat.1 and WDR. The most prestigious media to report on the cruise in 2013 were Aardschok, Blick.ch, CNN, Lingener Tagespost, Metal Hammer, Rock Hard, Spiegel Online and Süddeutsche Zeitung. Since 2013, Full Metal Cruise takes place in the Baltic Sea following a similar concept. To what extent the organizers were inspired by 70000 Tons of Metal is unclear.
2011
In 2011, the inaugural voyage of 70000 Tons of Metal set sail on January 24 from PortMiami, Miami, Florida toward Cozumel, Mexico and returned on January 28. The festival took place on board the Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas. The line-up included 42 international heavy metal bands, each band performed twice during the 5-day cruise.
Line-up Artists: Agent Steel, Amon Amarth, Arsis, Blackguard, Blind Guardian, Circle II Circle, Cripper, Dark Tranquility, Death Angel, Destruction, Dusk Machine, Ensiferum, Epica, Exodus, Fear Factory, Finntroll, Forbidden, Gamma Ray, Iced Earth, Korpiklaani, Malevolent Creation, Marduk, Moonspell, Nevermore, Obituary, Rage, Raven, Sabaton, Sanctuary, Saxon, Sodom, Sonata Arctica, Swashbuckle, Testament, Trouble, Twilight of the Gods (Performing Bathory Masterpieces), Týr, Uli Jon Roth, Unleashed, Voivod, Witchburner.
Visitors and statistics The festival was attended by 2,038 visitors from 49 countries. The largest group of visitors, at roughly 30% were from the United States. The second largest group of visitors came from Germany with a share of approximately 17%. Visitors from Canada (12%) and Australia (7%) were also strongly represented. In addition, around 100 journalists, the technical crews of the bands, and over 900 members of the ship's crew were on board, so that the total number of people on the ship amounted to 3571. Ship: Majesty of the Seas Sailing dates: January 24–28, 2011 Route: PortMiami, Miami, Florida — Cozumel, Mexico — Miami, Florida Number of guests on board: 2038 (48 countries represented) Musicians and crew: 422 Ship crew members: 900 Total number of persons on board: 3360
Countries represented: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brazil and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States
Reception The 70,000 Tons of Metal received a great deal of national and international press coverage. In total, around 100 journalists from all over the world were on board. In addition to scene-related print and online media, also the general press reported, many from German-speaking-countries, for example Stern magazine and TV broadcasters RTL, NDR and ZDF.
Documentaries "Heavy Metal auf dem Traumschiff", Peter Theisen, Harald Hamm, ZDF 2011, 29:52 minutes (German) "Das Alptraumschiff" (radio report), NDR 2011, 7:30 minutes (German)
2012
The second voyage of 70000 Tons of Metal departed from Miami, Florida on January 23, sailing toward George Town on Grand Cayman island of the Cayman Islands, and returning to Miami on January 27. The festival took place on board the Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas. 42 heavy metal acts performed on board in 2012. 2051 guests attended 70000 Tons of Metal in 2012, 51% of which had attended the festival the previous year. Of the 2051 guests, 55 nationalities were represented, surpassing the previous year.
Line-up Artists: Alestorm, Amorphis, Annihilator, Atheist, Candlemass, Cannibal Corpse, Channel Zero, Children of Bodom, Coroner, Crowbar, Dark Funeral, Diamond Plate, Edguy, Eluveitie, Exciter, God Dethroned, Grave Digger, HammerFall, In Extremo, Kamelot, Kataklysm, Massacre, Megora, Moonsorrow, My Dying Bride, Nightwish, Orphaned Land, Overkill, Pestilence, Pretty Maids, Riot, Samael, Sapiency, Stratovarius, Suffocation, Tankard, Therion, Tristania, Venom, Vicious Rumors, Virgin Steele, Whiplash.
Visitors and statistics The number of German citizens increased from 17% to 25%; the Americans fell from 30% to 25%, United States and German citizens made up for 50% of the guests, alone. The third-biggest number of visitors behind Germany and the United States came from Canada. In fourth place, measured by the absolute number of visitors, was Switzerland; followed by the Netherlands, Finland, Australia, Sweden, Mexico and in tenth place Belgium. The age range of the guests was 13 to 63 years (not taking into consideration Anette Olzon's one-year-old child).
Furthermore, about 100 journalists, 452 people from the bands' entourages, and 879 members of the ship's crew were on board, making the total number of persons on board approximately 3500. Ship: Majesty of the Seas Dates: January 23–27, 2012 Route: PortMiami, Miami, Florida — George Town, Cayman Islands — Miami, FL Number of guests: 2051 (55 countries represented) Musicians and crew: 452 Ship crew members: 879 Total number of persons on board: 3352
Countries represented: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela
Reception As in 2011, numerous journalists, both from scene magazines and general press, attended 70000 Tons of Metal in 2012 to cover the event. The most prestigious media in 2012 were Aardschok, CNN, WDR 1LIVE, Het Laatste Nieuws, , Kieler Nachrichten, Metal Hammer, Rock Hard and Sat.1. Some of these reports were print or video reports.
Documentaries "70,000 Tons of Heavy Metal", Percy von Lipinski, CNN 2012, 4:32 minutes (English) "70.000 Tons of Metal: Ein Boot, 40 Bands, 2000 Fans", Janine Horsch, Till Haase, Marion Quandt, WDR 1LIVE 2012, 38:02 minutes (German) "Metal-Kreuzfahrt", Sat.1, 2012, 5:29 minuten (German)
2013
The third voyage of 70000 Tons of Metal embarked from Miami, Florida on January 28, sailing toward Cockburn Town, Turks and Caicos Islands, to return on February 1. The festival took place on board the Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas. 42 international heavy metal acts performed on board in 2013.
Line-up Artists: 3 Inches of Blood, Anaal Nathrakh, Anacrusis, Angra, Arkona, Cryptopsy, Delain, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, Doro, DragonForce, Ektomorf, Ensiferum, ETECC, Evergrey, Fatal Smile, Flotsam and Jetsam, Gotthard, Heidevolk, Helloween, Helstar, Holy Grail, Immolation, In Flames, Inquisition, Kreator, Lacuna Coil, Lizzy Borden, Metal Church, Nightmare, Nile, Onslaught, Rage and Lingua Mortis Orchestra, Sabaton, Sinister, Steel Engraved, Subway to Sally, Threat Signal, Tiamat, Turisas, Týr, Unexpect.
Visitors and statistics