In addition to writing for Mix and teaching at Mercy University in New York, Steve La Cerra is the longtime tour manager/front-of-house engineer for classic rock mainstays Blue Öyster Cult. BÖC recently took to the high seas to play the Rock Legends Cruise XIII and now Steve shares the experience here with his in-depth gig diary.
Monday, February 23, 2026
10:15 A.M., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Lobby call isn’t for another few minutes, but I’ve just been notified that our transport has arrived at the hotel. This run of shows is a departure from the usual: We had a show in Cleveland, Miss., on 2/19, and another in The Villages, Fla., on 2/21, both serving as warm-ups for the Rock Legends Cruise XIII.
It’s a bit on the chilly side for Fort Lauderdale this time of year (around 52 degrees and windy), but it sure beats what we left behind in New York last Thursday. The cold weather we’ve been having was starting to break—but this was quickly followed by what will undoubtedly be referred to in the future (at least in the NYC area) as “The Blizzard of 2026.” Snow dumped 18 to 24 inches in the NY area; one of my band members speculates that his car is buried under so much snow that he won’t see it until July, and I fear the same for mine! Yesterday, the band’s manager barely got out of Dodge to meet us in FLL, his flight literally being the last one out of JFK Sunday afternoon before they closed it. Yikes.
Anyway, band and crew are starting to converge in the lobby. To this, we’ll add another 12 family members who will be traveling with us. I get on the bus and discover that I can’t count to 20, especially when there are small children hiding behind seats in the bus. We load up our bags, but it’s only half of the usual complement for band and crew; our gear will be dropped at Port Everglades, where we’ll board the ship.
11:00 A.M.
The sponsors of Rock Legends Cruise XIII are the Native American Heritage Association. Between that organization and the festival’s Production Manager. Mike Rampmeyer, they have it down to an exact science. We’re greeted at the ship terminal by folks who have day-glo labels for our gear with performance schedules printed on them so that the gear can follow us from venue to venue. Our gear—along with literally a warehouse full of backline and P.A.—will be deftly moved by the Bauder Audio Systems tech crew, who also have this down to a science. They use a series of corridors closed to public access (known to techs as “I95”) to move gear from location to location. I was down there once and it’s insanity, but somehow they manage to ensure that the correct gear shows up for each artist at each venue!
11:25 A.M.
We’re ready to board the ship. There’s an “artists only” boarding procedure, so we board using a separate area long before the Cruisers are allowed on board.
12:00 Noon
We’re herded to the Artist Dining room for lunch, an area closed to the public during artist-only hours, though this will probably be the only meal I’ll have there other than breakfast. (This would later prove false. I actually had about a half-dozen sit-down meals. Shocking!)
This year, RLC showcases 19 artists, each typically performing three shows, one in each ship venue. The schedule is erratic, consisting of long periods of down time followed by short bursts of breakneck pace to get into a venue, build our gear, throw it on stage and play our sets. The most difficult of this will be today (or so I thought at the time…) when our show will be in the club venue known as Studio B. There’s no real backstage area for my crew to build our backline and—as will typically be the case—we’ll be scheduled to “load in” at roughly the same time the previous acts begin their set, at which point they’ll be out of our way, and vice versa. Today that means we’ll load into Studio B at 6:00 p.m. for an 8:30 p.m. show, with support ending at 7:30 p.m. Yikes.
My crew and I plot to arrive earlier than that to sniff out the situation and see if there’s any wiggle room for us to start prepping. Until then, my chores include sorting band members’ room keys that don’t work, and praying that my luggage will be dropped off at my cabin. Having done this more than a few times, I’m hand-carrying anything I absolutely need for the show.
2:45 P.M.
After extinguishing a few minor campfires, I’m setting up my “office” in my cabin. None of the venues have a proper green room, so set lists need to be written and printed in advance; while we were at lunch, Eric Bloom (lead singer/guitar/keys) and I knocked out the first set list so I can print it and take it with me to the venue at load-in.
5:00 P.M.
The ship, Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas, departs Port Everglades. Destination: Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos.
5:45 P.M.
The crew and I head for Studio B. We can’t access the stage until 7:30 p.m., but in the meantime, they’re doing what they can to prep our gear. It’s tough due to tight quarters. There’s no space to build the drums or keyboards on a riser and roll them out like we’d do on a proper festival stage. Instead, we’re building on the floor and will move the gear piece-by-piece during changeover. The ship is rocking more than I have experienced in the past, and I don’t mean in the good way. An unsecured keyboard case goes rogue and almost takes out my legs. Good grief.
7:33 P.M.
The support act’s set ends. Grrrrr. I hate when support acts play past their time slot, but this is a true festival situation, so I can’t get snarky about the overtime.
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Changeover is quick. We’re scheduled to start at 8:30 so I head out to FOH and load my scene into the Avid S6. My systems tech—Evan from Bauder Audio Systems—gets me up and running in no time. I play some music through the system to make sure my output patch is correct, and have a listen to the P.A. system, which is already dialed in nicely.
7:45 P.M.
The band rolls into the venue and it’s all-hands-on-deck. I’m checking mic lines as they’re patched on stage, and quickly get most of the drums sorted. My crew is moving at light speed, but they can only go so fast. At 8:26 p.m. the stage is ready. Doors are set to open at 8:30, but the production manager holds them while we run half of two different songs: one with Eric singing lead vocal, and the other with Don “Buck Dharma” Roeser singing lead. I’m good.
8:42 P.M.
We start our show 12 minutes late, but part of that was a hold by the stage manager due to the fact that fans are lined up through the ship corridor leading to the entrance of Studio B. As is often the case at show start, I have my head down looking at the desk, so I’m wondering why the sound of the P.A. seems to be changing. Duh… I look up and realize that we soundchecked in an empty room and it’s filling up quickly. By the third or fourth song, I look around and the venue is jam-packed and rockin’—in the good way this time! The show goes great. A BÖC fan who I’ve seen many times asks for my copy of the set list, and, of course, I oblige.
10:02 P.M.
One done, two to go. I’m heading for the lounge.
To be continued…