Concert Review: Tengger Cavalry and Felix Martin

Felix Martin (left) Scott Fermandez (right)

It was about 6:05pm and this blogger was eating Panda Express's orange chicken in a food court.

Inertia was setting in.

It was a family dinner. We were all going to some sort of show that night.

My wife and daughter were seeing Cars 3, and well, look up to see what this guy saw that night.

It was another concert where there would be no one by my side. There would be no friends to spend the evening with me.

In the end though, I was really questioning my choice to review this concert.

That's not really a strange thing. It happens to me all of the time, especially if there's no one meeting me there. So, there I sat at home, waiting to head down to Fubar on Locust while questioning myself about this.

Walking up to the door, there was interesting cast of characters. It appeared that my arrival coincided with set changeover. There was a pretty long list of bands, and my mental state did not facilitate seeing a mini-festival by myself.

I took a place at the bar wearing my Dr. Strange T-Shirt. It was indeed a harbinger, but it took a little while for me to really see.

Iron Sun, from Farmington, MO, was taking the stage next. They're a new band who've definitely got some power and potential. As a unit, they're still a bit green. All the ingredients are there, but the pot needs to simmer a little bit more.

Then 16 string guitar slinger wunderkid, Felix Martin and Co took the stage. His normal bass player, Killian, wasn't there and Skyrim enthusiast, Scott Fernandez took up the 18 and 12 string basses in Killian's stead.

Martin and Fernandez were in perfect sync playing strange and beautiful three part harmonies. The very idea is still ever so strange, but there we were watching it. Later I learned Fernandez had only been playing with the band for the past three weeks.

Amazing.

Like Killian would have, he took up the stage chatter, the merch commercials, and jumped up and down hard enough to make the floor vibrate. As MC Chris would say, he jumped so high that he could make the record skip.

To close out the evening was Tengger Cavalry.

This band is hard to describe in what they do, because it's so very strange...clinically strange.

Between the guitar, bass, and drums, there are also traditional Chinese instruments.

The vocals are a mix of everything you've heard along with throat singing.

What they did was whip the crowd into a violent frenzy including a square dance mosh pit.

Their show, like Felix Martin before them, transfixed me. It was very easy to be taken to another place this evening. Then, the viking gentleman in a kilt nailed me from behind and all became clear.

Tennger Cavalry had started a mosh pit. This crowd was taken by the tales of war from the Far East. It was a little harder to pay close attention to the band after the body check though, because we now had to be on guard from the stray thumps.

Tennger Cavalry was able to be metal while being themselves. Remember, it's about what's inside, not what's out.

After Iron Sun's set had finished, we were treated to other worlds of music. Don't miss out on the ride when you get the chance.