Tantric is celebrating 25 years of their first album, the self-titled Tantric. In celebration, they’re touring and performing the album through, for the first time in 2 decades. On January 21, they performed and intimate show in Virginia Beach at Scandals Live.
Supporting their act were two local hard rock bands, Pro Vida and Hostile Within. Por Vida is Hampton Roads’ local flavor, nominated for 3 music awards at the upcoming Veer Awards. Hostile Within played their new songs, available on Spotify, as well as a rad cover of Avenged Sevenfold’s “Shepherd of Fire.” Those in attendance were definitely Tantric fans, but they were also huge fans of both local bands.
The crowd was small at Scandals with it being a Wednesday night, but that made gave the opportunity for better audience interaction. Vocalist, Hugo Ferreira went through every song from the album, and was able to share what went into writing each one. There was a noticeable serenity on his face as he recollected writing songs in his first apartment (with a heartbreaking $300/month rent), and when they first were signed by Madonna and chasing their dreams.
Hugo broke out the acoustic guitar and the stage emptied as he played “Mourning.” The weight of the song was felt with the empty stage and lyrics like “In the mourning, I can see the signs, no wonder I could never keep you satisfied. In the mourning, I can see inside, myself and all the things you were trying to hide.” After the first verse, the band rejoined Hugo, and gave it a little harder edge to the slow melody.
The most noted moment of the night when they sang “I’ll stay here,” and spoke of how that song was about going after your dreams, a conversation struck up with a young fan about his dreams of playing guitar–we’ll revisit that later.
Tantric closed the set with their biggest single, “Breakdown,” where everyone sang along. They did have an encore, then all band members came out and met with the audience.
The end of the night, SideStage Magazine was invited on board for an interview with Hugo. Following with that young fan having a jam session and impromptu music lesson with Hugo.
Tantric is currently on tour for the 25 year anniversary, visit their social media pages for dates. They’re also working on new music. This new project is almost complete, but no date was given as they’re experimenting with a new process.
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