I’ve loved Tegan and Sara since i heard “If It Was You”. I used to listen to “Don’t Confess” on repeat and lie in bed listening to Living Room and Monday Monday Monday. I remember the first time i tried to go see them- they were still relatively unknown and they played The Rosary Room, a small restaurant venue and it was 21+. Seeing ashow this used to happen often, i wasn’t allowed in. About 2 or 3 years later, T&S announced a record store performance at Off The Record and i jumped at the opportunity. This was a few days after So Jealous was released so a lot of people haven’t heard the new songs yet. They played with a drummer and did a slew of songs off of So Jealous. I was completely blown away and thus the love affair with T&S began. I have always been a bigger fan or Sara’s songs but Tegan’s work for the Con really blows Sara’s work out of the water.

Fast forward to last night and since the first time i heard the Quin Twins, they are hugely popular, better songwriters, and on an extensive U.S. tour. I had decent seats, 4th row center Mezzanine in a relatively small art deco theatre. T&S get onstage and it is apparent that they changed up the songs to be more rock and bigger sounding than the record. The sound at the venue was less than stellar- from where i was sitting, i could barely hear the keyboards. The sound was extremely muddled.

Sara did most of the talking tonight as she got off on several tangents- the first one was about the San Diego Fires and she started talking about Ice Storms in Canada. During her banter, the crowd kept on screaming and she got really distracted and was unable to finish her story until she told the crowd that it should be like a normal conversation and that people should start screaming after she finishes. She finally concluded that Ice Storms were actually really dangerous in Canada and then said something about the dance parties in her building generated heat and that it was okay. After, she goes right into “Burn Your Life Down” which i thought was really funny considering the fire situation in town.

Before Back in your head, sara told a story about a breakup and in that relationship there was a bird that her gf owned along with a bunch of ugly furniture. The bird always attacked her and would land on her head and peck at her. She had named the bird nicholas and because it lived in a cage he was Nicholas Cage. This little intro was for Back In Your Head. A few songs later, Tegan made a comment saying that She didn’t know about Sara naming the bird after Nicholas Cage. Sara said, “That was when you were on meth”. The crowd starts laughing. At which point Tegan replied, “No i have never done meth”. Sara says, no that’s not true. Meth isn’t funny. stop laughing. She then makes this face implying that Tegan was lying.

Moving on… during one of the storytelling segments, Tegan said that a few months ago, they played Calgary at the venue where they actually graduated High School from and the theatre was completely sold out with most of their family in the audience. When they were students, there was a list of the people that were predicted to be the most successful and her and sara weren’t on that list.

The best moment in the set when Sara came out during the first song in the encore alone with her acoustic guitar. She kept on making gestures to her ear but no one understood what she was doing because they were screaming so loud for everyone else to come out. When the front row started shouting at everyone to shut up, the crowd died down a bit and she started to say that she was very nervous but she doesn’t like the way that the band sounds on the song so she banished them. She starts off playing the beginning of walking with the ghost completely unplugged and no microphone! the crowd is completely quiet as she starts to sing. Im in the Mezzanine and can hear her perfectly. As sara finishes the first verse, she tells the crowd to start singing along. There are a handful of people that know all the lyrics aside from the chorus and we are singing loudly. The crowd does the second verse and sara sings the 3rd part. The crowd finishes off the song and the crowd goes crazy was the loudest cheering since the set started. it was so amazing! ive only seen damien rice do that but it was a perfect moment in the set.

During Divided, Tegan told the story about about how she wrote this song after high school and how sara didn’t want to be in the band with her until their mom made her.

The songs they played off of “If It Was You” sounded so different. most of the songs off that record were acoustic guitar based and live, they changed up the tempo to make them less folky and more rock. I wished they would have kept the songs the same and did them solo acoustic/ electric like they did for a few of the songs they played.

The Set in the right order:
Dark Come Soon
Like O Like H
Floorplan
Nineteen
Burn Your Life Down
Hop A Plane
Speak Slow
So Jealous
Monday Monday Monday
Where Does The Good Go
Divided (tegan was so into it!)
When I Get Up
Relief Next To Me
Are You Ten Years Ago
Back In Your Head
The Con
Call It Off
——–
Walking w/ a Ghost (sara solo acoustic unplugged)
Umbrella
I Know I Know I Know (i was really surprised they played this because i wanted to hear it all night)
Living Room (i was happy they played this)

T&S are such great performers. Even though they didn’t play “Don’t Confess”, they played almost off the tracks off of the Con with a fair mix from the first 3 records. I was also expecting at least two more songs from “So Jealous”. There was a lot of fun banter and even though they had a backing band (guitarist/ keyboards, drummer, bass) the twins did most of the lead guitar playing and main keyboard parts and it reflects their talent. The only quiet moments during the set were when they were telling stories and i absolutely loved it.