Image by Carlye Wisel
Con-adian Frenzy
Sibling rivalries, malfunctioning lights, and a rowdy audience only enhance Tegan and Sara’s sold-out show
By Carlye Wisel
Published: August 14th, 2007 | 9:12am
August 7, 2007, in Chicago — Duality is expected at a Tegan and Sara concert – after all, they’re identical twins. Unpredictable, though, was the two-in-one performance they put on, the lights that continuously turned on and off, and a bantering duel between the duo. For musicians whose widespread reputation revolves around their sexual orientation and the fact that they once shared a womb, their live performance proved there’s a lot more to them than a similar face.
Standing in front of a backdrop of sketched black and white tree trunks in Chicago’s Lakeshore Theatre, Tegan and Sara, complementarily dressed in all black and slightly similar asymmetrical haircuts, performed a two-show set, as opposed to a two-set show. The first segment, which felt like a listening party, consisted of the Canadian sisters performing The Con, (Vapor) backwards in sequence, beginning with the newly released album’s last song, whereas the second half was more concert-like, featuring older material from various albums.
The heckle-friendly audience was rowdy from the start – “I don’t know if it’s the acoustics in here, but you’re already ranking as the best crowd,” one of the twins remarked after “Call It Off.” Despite the song requests, comment rebuttals and a fan that stood up to thank the duo for “playing such an intimate venue” in a toast-like fashion (and repeated the phrase through shouts the entire night), it was the bantering onstage that aggravated Tegan.
Telling drawn-out stories of preferring baseball lingo to baseball games and not understanding the “ponies and little people” – known as derby horses and jockeys to us Yanks – Sara was entertainingly chatty, and once Tegan took the speaking reigns, Sara was bothered that the hilarious stories she was bursting with weren’t being heard. “Now instead of me telling funny stories, we’re talking about talking,” she complained, jokingly adding, “[I’m] kinda upset, kinda want to be in my own band – Tegan can open for me!” The banter-ridden sibling rivalry continued, and once Sara began to meticulously explain every single detail of why she’s scared of sudden darkness, (which inevitably led into another tale of how she’s ready at any time for Armageddon), Tegan became visibly irritated, while the audience stayed amused.
Confusion was another emotion that blatantly wore itself on her face, as broken lights consistently flipped between complete darkness and bright stage lighting during a few songs, prompting Tegan to ad-lib “What the fuck is going on?” while singing “Nineteen.” “Clearly, there’s a situation with the lights, and [the person in charge] is not just smoking weed…let’s just remain calm and sensitive,” the twins mused to the crowd.
Sound issues also plagued parts of the show, with instrumentals drowning out the girls’ voices at times and pounding bass reverberations that literally wound up being painful, even if other songs were flawless. A high-pitched, mismatched duet on “Soil Soil” and heartfelt twangs during the chorus of “Back In Your Head” were first-half highlights, and their engaging, whiny voices shone during the call-responses in “Like O, Like H,” with Tegan’s harsh, repetitive “S.O.S.” cries ringing throughout the overly humid theatre.
After taking a year and a half off to work on The Con, an album containing distinctively different song concepts and darker instrumental overtones dissimilar from their previously poppy, guitar-driven work, the duo decided to return to touring by playing smaller shows at more – ahem – intimate venues. For the first half, the audience remained in their seats, but for the second segment, consisting mostly of crowd favorites off of So Jealous and If It Was You (Vapor), they stood up at the twins’ prompt, and the aisles quickly filled in with fans desperate to get near the stage. Between “You Wouldn’t Like Me,” “Where Did The Good Go,” and “Monday, Monday, Monday,” it became apparent that the back-up guitarist and bassist didn’t add much sound-wise, even though the drummer did.
Tegan ended the show with a New Kids on the Block anecdote, confessing that she was so excited to attend the show as a child, she cried the entire time and giddily snuggled in her NKOTB sleeping bag when she returned home. “I’m not thinking that’s the way you feel about us,” she joked, adding that, “Maybe New Kids on the Block didn’t know how lucky they were, but we totally do. Even though we’re not New Kids on the Block, and there’s not 28,000 of you, it still feels good.”
And, after hearing their entire album in sequence along with humorous banter and old-time favorites, the audience probably wished they could have curled up in their Tegan and Sara sleeping bags after this show, too.
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