For those who love festing, what could be better than a 4 day festival with all of your friends and your favorite artist? How about a festival on a cruise ship and a private island?! Look no further than Holy Ship.
For years, Holy Ship has been the mecca of festival cruise experiences. For five years founder Gary Richards has been at the helm of this outlandish event. That was until this year when he and Live Nation parted ways (read here for details of their split). The break up caused a flurry of responses on social media. As many DJ’s began to support Gary, many began to say the would not play on the ship. This left a great deal of mystery as to what the line up would look like.
Then after much anticipation, the line up finally dropped.
In the biggest plot twist of the year: Dirtybird artists WILL be on both sailing of the ship. Claude Vonstroke and Justin Martin are featured as headliners. There will even be a Dirtybird Beach Party on 10.0 and a Dirtybird Players Club Party on 11.0. This announcement is in contrast to the original news that Dirtybird would not be . We broke the news early August after a tweet from the Dirtybird announced they would not be on the ship. The tweet has since been deleted. Recent tweets indicate that the change of heart was from fan feedback.
The bird father himself, Claude Vonstroke, also took to Facebook to explain that despite Dirtybird’s attendance on ship, him and Gary are still fine.
While you were distracted by all of that drama you may have missed another shocking revelation on the lineup. Testpilot aka Deadmau5 techno alias will be sailing on 11.0. He has only performed two other times under this alias. The first in 2013 at South by Southwest where he performed a b2b with Richie Hawtin. The other was at Movement Detroit this year.
Further reading into the small print at the bottom of the first lineup, Kaskade fans will also get to experience his Redux set. For those that don’t know, these sets are a celebration of his style and goes back to the roots of his music.
photo from Holy Ship Facebook page
With all the excitement it’s easy to glance over just how stacked each line up is! For the second year in a row A-Trak and Tchami will headline the first sailing. Also on 10.0 are Gorgon City and Big Wild who will keep everyone grooving. AC Slater will also be on the first sailing and even host a Night Bass party on the second.
Those going on the second sailing, be sure to bring your neck braces. Headliners Excision, Nghtmare, Snails, and What So Not will have everyone headbanging on the boat. Also huge shout out to the ladies headlining 11.0. Alison Wonderland, The Black Madonna, and Rezz are all featured as headliners. The Black Madonna was named MixMags DJ of the year in 2016.
Cabins are sold out but stay tuned for more coverage!