The Nerds Are Alive With The Sound Of Music At Orlando Nerd Fest 2015

The annual Orlando Nerd Fest made its triumphant return this past weekend with time split between The Geek Easy and Orlando Science Center. We were able to catch a full day of the action on Saturday and most of the day on Sunday at the Science Center.

As in prior years, Orlando Nerd Fest showcased some of the best (mostly) local nerd/geek driven music, which spanned multiple genres. Additionally, ONF2015 offered a costume contest, multiple panels, movies, gaming, artists, vendors, and full use of normal exhibits at the Orlando Science Center, including the “Mummies of the World” exhibit. In fact, there was so much going on simultaneously, it was impossible to catch everything that was offered over the multiple date span.

We spent both days primarily focused on musical performances. Highlights of Saturday’s acts included a full on rock invasion assault from Brothers of Alien Rock, who paid tribute to their fallen brother, Spock during their set as well as getting everyone charged up for the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII, with a thunderous medley of themes from prior films. We had to downshift a bit to relax and listen to the acoustic stylings of Allie Goertz, who captivated the room with her singing. Marc With A C brought the main stage to life with his usual fan friendly interaction and instantly catchy array of songs. When Nerd Fest returns next year, we’d love to see Marc take a headlining position as his performances are arguably the best out of the past 2 years of the event, while he draws as much fan interaction as the acts that are brought in to perform (stay local!). Steampunk inspired acts, Clockwork Knotwork and The Cog Is Dead offered different enjoyable variations of 19th century inspired music, and we were blown away by the use of the steam powered bagpipe/organ/electronic chanter(?) during Clockwork Knotwork’s set.

Saturday evening closed out with performances by Professor Shyguy and MC Chris. Self described as the poor nerd’s Justin Timberlake, Professor Shyguy took control of the audience and did not let up for 50+ minutes and featured a hilarious duet with Marc With A C, as they serenaded Allie Goertz. Headlining act, MC Chris played to a full room of rabid fans that sang along with every word. Unfortunately to me, the fans at times sang along to MC Chris’ mp3 track while Chris didn’t sing the words himself. As a fan of MC Chris’ music, I was happy to see/hear him play all of his hits. However, for the effort put in (laptop and maybe mouthing the words), I probably would have been better served by listening to the songs on my iPhone.

Sunday’s musical offerings were excellent and varied from hip-hop to punk rock to performance art. We opened our day by catching the Moonmen From Mars as they pounded through their sci-fi based punk rock songs. The Moonmen always put on an excellent show, and while they faced a temporary setback by having their video screen show unplugged (family friendly venue), they delivered the goods and provided a fitting tribute to the recently passed “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Hip-hop act EyeQ was a new find for us and we were blown away by the energy and sound that the full backing band provided during the set. The audience was all in for EyeQ’s set and we were glad to be able to catch it as well. Our Sunday concluded with the performance art based show from The Killer Robots. The Killer Robots put on another amazing show, complete with huge costumes and props, and audience interaction, which involved defeating invaders with our robot gifted weapons. The Killer Robots also had their initial movie screened separately during ONF2015 and mentioned to us that their new film will be wrapping shortly with an expected release date prior to the end of 2015. The Cheap Seats staff would love to see an all alien invasion tour in the future with Brothers of Alien Rock, The Moonmen From Mars and The Killer Robots (just sayin’).

In between musical performance gaps, we were able to visit multiple vendors and artists to look through their offerings and make some purchases. We were also able to check out some of the Orlando Science Center’s offerings, including the mummies and CineDome laser light shows. The Orlando Science Center seems like a natural partner for Orlando Nerd Fest and we hope to see the event return to the venue again last year as many musical performers noted how cool it was to play in the room alongside dinosaurs.

Video recaps and pictures from the event follow below.