Rock with the Tigers

Rock Tigers performed for their second time in that many years on local shores on Mar 10. Thankfully, unlike last year’s Rock D’Fort event, which saw a humiliating turnout, this year’s free performance at the Nokia Powerhouse by the waterfront of the Esplanade had a good number of people anticipating the band’s arrival.

15 minutes before the show started, a group of ‘emo’ hair, pierced-skin thugs in black (of all people) lined the barricades in front of the stage, shaking their bodies to a mixture of the twist and jerky dancing movements. It served as humorous pre-entertainment for the rest of us shy closet boppers that loitered not too close by.

As soon as the Tigers came on stage, a wave of frenzy sent people cat-calling and rushing to get as close to the Korean Rock’n’Rollers as possible. The party went into full swing.

Velvet Geena (lead singer and rose among the thorns in the group), opened the performance with a sexy 60s inspired dance moves along with her electric guitar and double bass players, Tiger and Roy who strummed their instruments in the all-too-familiar style of the late King of Rock’n’Roll himself, Elvis Presley.

Geena, was an instant crowd favourite, and with good reason too. Not only did the docile tigress look stunning in a frilly retro style dress, paired with chunky red heels and a red beret plonked on blonde-dyed wavy locks, but she had talent to match. She sung most of the songs, but easily picked up the electric guitar and worked some magic when Tiger took centrestage for one of the songs.

Despite not understanding a single word of Korean, the audience took no time warming up to the band, nor resisting the temptation to groove to the swinging 60s beats along with the rest of the crowd, who ranged from teen punks to after-work office professionals.

After 1 hour of grooving (and no thanks to the rare night breeze), sweat dribbled down the faces of the pleased crowd who couldn’t believe the time that had gone by. The crowd roared for an encore and the Rock Tigers were back for one last song – their final comment being something along the lines of “Rock, rock, rock”.

With such musical talent, it would be worthwhile to keep an eye on these tigers.

For more information about Rock Tigers please visit www.rocktigers.com.

First photo courtesy of the Esplanade.