How Sixthman is Transforming Festival Cruises: “The Sky’s the Limit”
The post How Sixthman is Transforming Festival Cruises: “The Sky’s the Limit” appeared first on Consequence.
Festivals are a foundational place to build community. It’s a place for thousands of like-minded fans, all congregating for a similar need to release and united with enthusiasm for their favorite artists. For Jeff Cuellar, the VP of Events, Marketing, and Community for Sixthman, this is a driving force behind the company. Since 2001, Sixthman has been crafting immersive and artist-led festivals that are held on a rather unique location: a cruise ship.
They’ve increased the amount of cruises they offer significantly in the last few years, and it’s easy to see why — Sixthman cruises are designed to be engaging, unique voyages that combine fans’ passion for their favorite artists with the unforgettable experience of a cruise. Not only have they offered exciting cruises in the music world, with artists like KISS, Paramore, and Weezer, but they’ve expanded their approach to offer cruises with athletes, comedians, influencers, and more.
Sixthman has had a huge 2022, and they recently wrapped the Emo’s Not Dead Cruise, which featured Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory, Underoath, Plain White T’s, and many more nostalgia-forward artists. Looking ahead to 2023, they’re continuing to offer unique, selective cruise experiences, including the “Cruise Perfect” Cruise, which is headlined by the beloved comedy and sports group Dude Perfect.
They’re constantly looking for creative ways to bring people together at sea, and they’re certainly thinking outside the box; one of the cruises they offer is Chris Jericho’s Rock n’ Rager, which brings WWE wrestlers together to compete on a full size wrestling ring for the “Oceania Championship Belt,” all while rock bands rage on in the background. Sixthman will also reach a 15 year milestone for the Cayamo cruise, which features dozens of musicians including Jeff Tweedy, Andrew Bird, and Trampled By Turtles, and will set sail on February 10th, 2023.
These cruises are not just music festivals, and they’re not just cruises, either: The goal is to unite cruise goers from these various devoted fan communities, and to give attendees a once-in-a-lifetime experience onboard with the artists and influencers they admire.
As a longtime Bonnaroo vet and one of the instrumental figures in making the festival what it is today, Cuellar’s ambitions for Sixthman are held to a high standard. “Honestly, the sky’s the limit with this stuff,” Cuellar tells Consequence over Zoom. “I think we only have room for growth. And it’s just gonna be making sure that we don’t eliminate any of that ‘secret sauce,’ that we’re able to keep going at a rate that that makes sense. And, of course, to keep putting our passengers and our guests and our artists first.”
That “secret sauce” that Cuellar refers to is not just great performances onboard or engaging games, but the intimacy the comes with joining an artist-curated cruise. “One of my favorite KISS Cruise examples is Paul Stanley’s family meatball recipe being served on board,” says Cuellar. “It’s that rare experience where you’re actually getting to taste something that’s hit the family table… you have the ability to experience that one on one.”
Whether it’s enjoying three nights of your favorite comedian, screaming at the top of your lungs to emo anthems all weekend, or relishing in the simple pleasures of a vacation at sea, Sixthman is offering experiences you’ll never forget. What better way to spend your vacation than with your favorite band?
Read below for our full Q&A with Sixthman’s Jeff Cuellar, and check out Sixthman’s upcoming cruises and festivals here.
Sixthman has now been in operation for over 20 years, and each year is becoming bigger than the last. What has the journey been like?
It’s been an exciting one. In terms of just growth, of our festival properties, of the relationships we’ve developed with our host partners. When you look at the music industry as a whole, and the event and live entertainment industry as a whole, 60% of the audience is willing to buy around one ticket a year, or one experience a year. And then 60% of that audience will buy multiple, and around 6% of that audience will then go to festivals and things along those lines.
So, where I see the US market going is this movement towards not just festivals, but immersive experiences. And it’s been beautiful to see, especially from my previous experience. It’s been great seeing the growth of the overall festival industry, and seeing so many more fans attend because it is such an amazing gateway to see music to experience live, whatever that may be — comedy, Cirque du Soleil, you name it.
I also think what we’re seeing in consumer demand is the need to go deeper, to be not only with the artists, but with their tribe, their community. And I think that is the growth that has been a lot of fun to see. We’re looking at which artists have that passionate community where they’re getting tattoos, they’re dyeing their hair, they’re doing all the things that make them probably weird within their friend group. We’ve all got those friends where we’re like, “Hey, Bob, stop talking about KISS, we get it, you’re a huge fan.” But then Bob can go on on KISS cruise and just be like, “I’m with my people!”
The KISS Kruise, photo courtesy of Sixthman
You’re a longtime Bonnaroo attendee and organizer, and it seems like you’ve tried to imbue the immersive experience of that festival into the Sixthman cruises.
It’s actually what inspired me to make the move. One thing that will always be near and dear to my heart is what we created with that festival and the community behind it. And I’ve always loved the idea of doing more of that. Obviously, going to destination locations in the Caribbean and all these places beyond, that kind of factors into it too. But being able to take what I know we were able to bottle up in terms of a community and do that more was what I found to be really exciting.
You’ve just finished the Emo’s Not Dead Cruise, which looked like a blast. What made you decide to celebrate the emo nostalgia happening right now?
Well, you gotta give the huge shout-out to Matt Cutshall and that team. It’s funny, our host partnerships are typically with a band. So this is our first foray with an influencer. I mean, he basically said, “I love this genre of music, I love everything that it stands for, where it is now, and the kind of the the fun behind it all.” And for him, it’s just been about cultivating that community, nurturing it, keeping it going for all of these years.
We evaluate passion, and we saw a lot of opportunity. He grew something small and has grown it to be a dedicated community. So it really was a natural conversation of, “We see what’s going on here, we know what we can do with a community in terms of bringing people together and fostering something truly special. Let us take it from the virtual world and bring your tribe together.” And I think they got it immediately. They were able to see that it was possible and what would be really fun. That team is just so creative and so fun to work with in terms of their attention to detail, their use of language and words to help create that atmosphere.
And then honestly, just to bring it live, it’s taking everything that’s been done, but manifesting it in a real world environment where everyone gets to have fun with it. Some of the best acts in the business that are the behind the the emo banner are a part of that, and they’ve done things in a way where it’s not just a band on a stage, and it’s not just visuals that go along with it. It’s about giving the fans an opportunity to get more of that band, more of the understanding of “why are they in that shot?” Or, “What has inspired them?” And that, I think, is what takes it to the next level. And at any event or wherever it may be, what opportunity are you going to have to get them like this? Do you get them in an intimate setting with your tribe around you? Absolutely. That’s where we pulled it together from.
Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea, photo courtesy of Sixthman
Being on a cruise ship offers a different kind of relationship that fans can have to an artist. Are there any fun stories about fan connections?
There are a lot of different opportunities that the artists have to engage with their most passionate fans. It is a little scary. I think they have to open themselves up and say like, “Yeah, this is me.” So there’s some fear there. But it’s also empowering, because [you’re] having a conversation or an experience with the people that know you and love you for everything you are and what you’re doing. So they’re not gonna think it’s weird, they’re not gonna think you’re crazy, but they’re gonna be like, “Oh my God, that makes me love you even more.”
So while it can be scary, it’s also safe. One of my favorite KISS Cruise examples is Paul Stanley’s family meatball recipe being served on board. It’s that rare experience where you’re actually getting to taste something that’s hit the family table… you have the ability to experience that one on one. There are interviews and Q&A’s, you get to play games with them… it may seem cheesy and silly, but if that’s your jam, if you want to play a version of Family Feud with one of your hero bands, it’s pretty awesome. So that’s where you really get to dig in, and they get to show their personalities. I mean, are there signings and pictures? Yeah, but to me, that’s like the basics.
One thing I thoroughly enjoy is that usually, artists are guarded and they have to be — they’re on tour, they’re everywhere. But the number of artists I have seen that come on a ship guarded, and then ultimately you see them walking around like everyone else is really kind of exciting as well, because it’s a testament to the fact that they’re with their people. And you’re surrendering to the moment. It’s less about the Instagrammable moments, it’s less about sharing this with everybody. It’s more about, “I’m disconnecting, I’m living it I’m eating it, drinking it, and enjoying it.” It completely changes the vibe, and then when you get back on on land, it’s like, “Oh my God. How long till the next one again?”
Cayamo, photo courtesy of Sixthman
What’s one common perception of cruises that you’d like to change?
Honestly, that it’s for old people. When in reality, the value behind it is unparalleled. I mean, take away the destination location, when you’re on the boat, food is taking care of, your accommodations are taken care of, your experience, automatically, is an intimate VIP-style experience. Because there are only so many people that can be on the ship. So it’s not like, “hey, how many people can we cram in this field, or parking lot, or stadium.” We’re taking these insane acts, and putting in place to where it’s intimate, no matter what. And then, oh, yeah, we’re gonna go to the Dominican Republic. We’re gonna go to Nassau, we’re gonna go snorkeling, all of that. And if you stack all of that up and add the financial costs together, it’s incredibly high value.
I think a lot of people come to the website, and they’ll see,”Oh my God, that’s 1500 bucks, I can’t do that.” But if you actually break down what you spend to go to a concert just for two hours, your parking, you probably went out to dinner beforehand, maybe you got a babysitter, all of those things, and it becomes an insane deal. I put it up against resorts, and you’re getting a better value than anything else out there. I think more people have adopted the ability to cruise and are seeking what you get out of traveling to multiple destinations or places. But there’s also something about the enjoyment of the ocean. Being out there, feeling the wind, getting the sunshine, smelling the salt, all of that mixed into it. I mean, it’s a secret sauce.
Lately, we’ve seen an influx of genre-specific, localized festivals, like When We Were Young. Looking back over the last 10 years, what did you learn by offering these specialized festival experiences?
I only see it growing. We’re starting to see more and more artists and amazing artists in a very broad sense embrace this way of engaging with their base. Music is the easiest one to conceptualize, but comedy is a big one too. I’ve got Bert Kreischer’s Fully Loaded Cruise on sale right now, and it’s absolutely crushing it. In fact, if anyone’s paying attention and trying to get on it, do it now, because it’s gonna go!
From comedy to music to sports, it really comes down to the passionate fan base. We ask first: does that fan base want to travel and be together? And then, can we deliver on an experience? So there is more interest now coming from artists than ever before, because of their ability to curate this experience and be able to deliver on every single level.
The bigger question is, can you fill a ship? That’s part of the challenge. You never want to say like, “I don’t think you can,” because we’re promoters, producers of events. So there’s a calculated risk we’re taking on it. But I think there is an opportunity where artists are coming to the table and saying, “Well, let me shoulder some of the risks, let’s help mitigate in certain ways, so we can take this chance.” We kind of look at quadrants, your high passion, high awareness artists. KISS is a great example of that very high passion, very high awareness, and then maybe some other artists have that high passion, but the awareness isn’t as high. But because that passion is so high, that’s what we’re really trying to identify, some of those artists have fans that are not getting served the way they want to be, and the way they can be. So that gives us the chance to to do something insanely special.
Coheed and Cambria is another great example. Coheed and Cambria’s fans, they got tattoos there, they’re there. But does your average person know them as well as KISS? Probably not. So it really is trying to determine who’s got the passion juice to fill it. Honestly, the sky’s the limit with this stuff. I mean, we’ve done the Walker Stalker Cruise, Impractical Jokers, so many different communities from television, to film, to comedians, to music. It’s all over the board. So there is nothing that we’re not willing to explore and see if we can bring a passionate community together in this space. That, to me, is the most exciting.
We’re serving our audience in a way that they’ve never had before. So I think we only have room for growth. And it’s just gonna be making sure that we don’t eliminate any of that “secret sauce,” that we’re able to keep going at a rate that that makes sense. And, of course, to keep putting our passengers and our guests and our artists first.
This article was published in partnership with Sixthman.
How Sixthman is Transforming Festival Cruises: “The Sky’s the Limit”
Paolo Ragusa
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