Local Music News

Kent Kercher (front, right) and Ben Torres (back, left) groove hard

Thursday night I found myself in the cool cave-like Rye Bar listening to Groove Tangent once again. A local band that’s only been around for about a year, Groove Tangent is best known for their extensive range of covers from Smash Mouth to the Police to John Mayer to Lady Gaga and beyond. However, last night’s performance most notably gave an excellent taste of original things to come. Included between the covers were a handful of songs representing an original repertoire that has been steadily growing for the band. For example , here’s “Waiting For The Bomb”, one of their original songs:

Waiting For The Bomb

The show itself was energetic and fun. The crowd was largely friends of band members but in the intimate Rye Bar anything more would have been claustrophobic. Clean Break made their Athens premier opening for Groove Tangent. After warming up the crowd (especially a certain dancing cowboy) Clean Break handed the stage over to Groove Tangent who played a long and diverse set. The execution of the covers is excellent–you can tell Groove Tangent is a band made up of  classically trained musicians. In fact, several of the members are currently music majors at UGA’s Hugh Hodgson School Of Music. All in all, the show was quite pleasurable as the crowd sang along to each and every song proving that the art of reproduction is indeed an art worthy of enjoyment.

Set List

1. What I Like About You (as performed by The Romantics)
2. All Star (as performed by Smash Mouth)
3. What Can I Do?*
4. Save Tonight (as performed by Eagle Eye Cherry)
5. What I Want*
6. Message In A Bottle (as performed by The Police)
7. Waiting On The World To Change (as performed by John Mayer)
8. Waiting For The Bomb*
9. Picture In My Pocket*
10. Bad Romance (as performed by Lady Gaga)
11. If I Had $1000000 (as performed by the Bare Naked Ladies)
12. Eight Days A Week (as performed by the Beatles)
13. The Middle (Jimmy Eat World)
14. Crazy For You*
15. The Happiest Days of Our Lives/Another Brick in the Wall, part 2 (as performed by Pink Floyd)
16. Power Of Love (as performed by Huey Lewis & The News)
17. Go Your Own Way (as performed by Fleetwood Mac)
18. Are You Gonna Be My Girl? (as performed by Jet)
19. On My Way (as performed by Doctor Squid)
20. Love Game (as performed by Lady Gaga)
21. Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight (as performed by Spinal Tap)

* original Groove Tangent songs

–WSP