The show started at about 9:00. Nice Nice from Portland, OR played what I’d call electro-clash funk. The two-piece exercised creative collaboration to produce a surprisingly big and complicated set. Imagine Jan Hammer live, in a small club. Honestly, this is what a lot of their songs instantly reminded me of. Quick, violent, controlled percussion, and synth. About 20 minutes into it, though, it became apparent that a lot of the music was very similar. For a 30 minute-ish set, this was not a problem. Had the Miami Sound Machine themed dance party gone on for much longer, I would have probably drunk more. The set was welcome, and fit nicely with the headliner TA.

Jonas Reinhardt (featuring Phil Manley of TA) was up next. Very much a brother to TA, although a little more Synth focused. Ample musical muscle, but a little more textured and lighthearted. JR played for a little over 30 minutes, and produced an enjoyable set.

TA came on and played for about an hour. Highlights included Futureworld’s “City in Flames”- during which TA drummer Sebastian was trying to say something to the audience, but was being drowned out by Phil’s loud ass guitar. I was the one who mouthed the words “we can’t hear you” to Seb. Also included in the set from 2000’s Red Line was "I Want It All", which I consider to be the start of the new “vocal” era of the TA career. The set list was mainly a preview of Thing, which had not been released officially yet, and was for sale after the set. Thing’s song lineup consists of mostly single oriented tracks, which is unusual for a TA album. I think this made the set seem even shorter. I could honestly watch TA play for about 2 hours. The band is so good. I think they can easily scare people away with some of the more experimental tracks, but the rock hits usually bring people away from the bar.

TA’s been around for about 15 years, so the band can read each other well. This is exhibited live, and I think the guys are somewhat humble about their success. I don’t think they’ve gotten too big (or had much mainstream success), but they have had some impressive commercial ventures, Not to mention an impressive catalog. TA is easily a band that features a list of impressive artistic endeavors that is worthy of all the drooling I’m doing. I think the guys in TA are great, and honestly can say that their music is some of the most creative and well engineered arrangements I’ve encountered, especially considering artistic climate of the last decade.

After the set, I picked up my advance copy of Thing. I really wanted to pick up a limited copy of What Day is it Tonight double live album+dvd, but I had to save my cash for the cab home. Oh no! It’s gone now. I have the next best thing- having seen them debut Thing live for the first time!