The second sailing of Little Steven’s rock-a-thon at sea, Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise 2, took place April 3-7, 2026 aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Pearl as she sailed from Miami to Cozumel in Mexico. The floating festival, presented by music cruise specialists Sixthman, was overflowing with garage rockers of all sorts including Social Distortion, Michael Monroe, Goons!, The Mooney Suzuki, Rival Sons, Jesse Malin, Buzzcocks, The Sonics and many others, offering a total of 30 bands.
The whole deal was hosted by Master of Ceremonies Michael Des Barres, known for his acting (MacGyver, Lois & Clark), musical talent (Detective, Silverhead) and his current gig as a DJ on the Little Steven’s Underground Garage channel at SiriusXM. Of all the talent on board, some of the biggest noises and most-anticipated concerts were performed by bands either wholly comprised of women or by woman-led groups.
One of the most amazing shows during Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise 2 was performed by the women-led group The Pandoras. Like every band on board, The Pandoras played multiple times, but they packed the ship’s Spinnaker Lounge, a medium-sized venue, to perform their beloved 1986 album Stop Pretending in its entirety and in order.
The Mighty Manfred of the Woggles, another cool band on board, was spotted in the crowd shimmying as the ladies ripped through “In and Out of My Life (In a Day),” putdown songs “You’re All Talk” and “You Don’t Satisfy” and “Let’s Do Right” on which guitarist and keys player Melanie Vammen also played harmonica. To the delight of fans, the band also announced during the show that Wicked Cool Records would soon be rereleasing the album in a 2-LP version with bonus tracks and other goodies.
With some time left after playing the album, The Pandoras delved into some favorites from their past catalog, including “Hot Generation” which Vammen noted was recorded when she was still in high school.
The parade of women rockers actually began when Soraia, led by singer ZouZou Mansour, played the very first show of the cruise on the ship’s Atrium Stage. The band’s set included “So Holy,” “Monster,” “Monsoon Liberado,” “Dangerous,” and the fuzz guitar fiesta that is “Body in the Backyard.” During the show Mansour enthusiastically looked forward to the cruise arriving in Cozumel, saying “I’m going snorkeling!”
The band closed their show with a cover of The Kinks cut “I’m Not Like Everybody Else.” Outside on the big Pool Deck Stage, The Surfrajettes played a set of sparkling instrumental surf rock. Dressed in colorful matching mini dresses, the band’s music was as refreshing as the sunny day as the ship sailed into the Caribbean Sea.
Also playing at the pool were The Courettes, led by singer and guitarist Flavia Couri. The duo, which includes Flavia’s husband Martin Couri, played a set of ’60s-inspired rock including “You Woo Me,” “The Boy I Love,” “California,” and the eerie-sounding “Until You’re Mine.” Flavia was spotted in Cozumel attending a Lucha Libre (masked wrestlers) show, minus the long black wig that she wears on stage.
The ladies were still rocking towards the end of the cruise, and The Dollyrots were rocking hard on the last day of the event. Led by singer and bass player Kelly Ogden, The Dollyrots played a set in the ship’s Stardust Theater that included “Everything,” “Get On This Ride,” “Feed Me, Pet Me,” “Satellite,” “Jackie Chan,” “Attention Span,” and the quite appropriate “I Know How to Party.”
In a somewhat unusual choice of covers the band played their (sped up) version of Melanie’s “Brand New Key,” a big hit for the late folk/pop star back in 1971. Ogden said that she was at one time completely obsessed with the song and played it in her car constantly, driving her passengers crazy. The song includes the line “Some people say I done alright for a girl,” a notion that if said about any of these women rockers would surely cause them to bristle. By any measure, the women of Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise 2 did far more than just fine.
Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise 3 will sail from Miami to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic April 24-28, 2027 with headliners The Damned and X. More info is here.
