On the Blue: New Horizons Cruise Day 1: Marbin Gets the Fun Started

by Kevin Wierzbicki

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The On the Blue: New Horizons cruise took place April 5-10, 2024 aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Pearl as she sailed from Miami to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic and Nassau in the Bahamas. The floating music festival featured an incredible line up of mostly classic rock artists including Uriah Heep, Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, Al Stewart, Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple, Alan Parsons, the Zombies and many others.

This year boisterous jazz rockers Marbin had the privilege of playing the first set of the cruise and the Little River Band took to the big outdoor pool stage to perform the "sail away" show as the Pearl pulled out of Miami.

Marbin, a four-piece from Chicago, played their first show of the cruise (every act performed at least twice) in the Pearl's Atrium, an intimate venue with a small amount of seating directly in front of the stage and with additional viewing from the deck above the stage. The band's exuberant sound, buoyed by the work of sax player Danny Markovich, is mostly made up of long instrumental jams and to give an idea of what their overall sound is like, guitarist Dani Rabin announced that the group would be playing a Jeff Beck tribute set later in the cruise. Rabin also told a funny story before Marbin played their song "That Ain't Kava." It seems the band were at a kava bar in Florida, trying the drink for the first time, when they spotted one of their fans that they knew as "Wild Man." After telling Rabin that he would never drink kava due to possible side effects, Wild Man was seen drinking a cup of something and then shortly thereafter getting 86'd from the bar. It seems that Wild Man was imbibing his own...urine. Hence the inspiration for the title of "That Ain't Kava."

While the group currently does not contain any original members, Little River Band were nevertheless a big crowd pleaser as they rocked the Pearl's Pool Stage for the sail away show. Known for their upbeat melodies and sweet harmony vocals, Little River Band performed lots of their big hits and favorites like "Reminiscing," "Take it Easy on Me," "Man on Your Mind," "It's a Long Way There," "Happy Anniversary," "Lonesome Loser" and "Help is on the Way" which the group dedicated to "every soldier you know" as well as first responders. Bass man and singer Wayne Nelson also showed a customized "Cool Change" guitar that was being raffled off during the cruise.

A real treat for fans of classic rock was the show by Vanilla Fudge which took place in the ship's Stardust Theater, a big venue with amphitheater-like seating. Vanilla Fudge still has three of their four original members in tact; guitarist and singer Vince Martell, drummer Carmine Appice and keys man and singer Mark Stein. Rounding out the heavy quartet was Pete Bremy on bass. The band had a big hit back in the day with their psychedelic interpretation of the Supremes chestnut "You Keep Me Hangin' On" which they played to thunderous applause. Also in their set were other covers: "Break on Through" by the Doors, The Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'," Donovan's "Season of the Witch," Zombies biggie "She's Not There," "People Get Ready" by the Impressions and the Junior Walker & the All Stars hit "Shotgun." As you would expect, Appice played a showy drum solo too. The set was one of the cruise's most talked-about shows and Vanilla Fudge clearly still resonates with their longtime fans.

Another big show on sail away day was Al Stewart with the Empty Pockets and sax and flute player Chase Huna; they also performed in the Stardust Theater. A prolific writer of songs based in history, Stewart performed "The Palace of Versaille," "Sirens of Titan," "Joe the Georgian" and "Modern Times" along with "Antarctica" which Al introduced with a lengthy story about how the British sought to be the first to reach the South Pole but failed at each attempt. In the end Stewart revealed that the song is not about those historical efforts at all but about "a very cold woman" who wouldn't sleep with him. Of course Stewart played his big radio hits "Year of the Cat" and "Time Passages" which absolutely soared thanks to an incredible sax solo from Huna. Stewart's show was so pleasing that many hoped to gain entry to his second performance later in the cruise.

Also performing on opening day were the Skatalites, Fernando Perdomo's Yacht Club, Mike Dawes, John Ford Coley, Mellow Yellow, Tom Toomey, Chicago tribute band Leonid & Friends and the Bottom Feeders. Indulging fans with Q&A sessions were Rare Earth and Randy Hansen.

Dates and the lineup for the next On the Blue Cruise will be announced here.

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