When Stephen Colbert announced that he was getting into the concert cruise business with StePhest Colbchella ’012 Rocktaugustfest, I thought he might be joking. Everything Colbert does is either hilariously half-assed or completely over-the-top. One look at this intro sequence, and you’ll know this is the latter.

The Colbert Report has aired interviews from last weekend’s cruise all week, wrapping up the series tonight with the Flaming Lips. In addition to a fun way to bang out a week’s worth of guests in one shot, the Colbert cruise–which took over the battleship Interpid–sets the bar pretty high in the race to have the biggest, most elaborate concert cruise on the seas.

“Does Bonnaroo have cruise missiles? I think not,” said Colbert when he announced his concert. “It’s summer and that means it’s time to remount my long-running, one-year tradition of throwing my own summer concert.”

In fact, summer is far from high cruise season. But the remark seems to comment on the rapidly changing landscape (or seascape?) of music festivals.