Tegan and Sara @ The Tower Theater

Tegan and Sara
@ The Tower Theater
February 16, 2010

Just in time to grace this month’s cover, Tegan and Sara have returned to the City of Sisterly Affection for their biggest Philly show yet. The touring history of the twins from our neighbor to the North spans an impressive variety of 215 venues from the dives (The Fire), to the avant-garde (International House), to the majors (World Café Live, TLA, Electric Factory), but the Tower Theater has proven to be their largest local endeavor thus far.

The indie pop duo filled the historic theater with a gathering of devotees taking a cue from their own fashion sense, donning flannel shirts and black and white striped sweaters, who they deemed possibly the loudest crowd they can remember. The Quins themselves were decked out in black, looking and sounding sleekly androgynous. Sara could’ve passed for a founding member of Placebo. And their aesthetic, more epically dynamic than ever, filled with newfound layers of synthesizers, proved that the act was more than prepared for venues of this size.

Their set began with half a dozen songs from their latest release, Sainthood. Some of the heaviest songs the band has produced yet, including opener “The Ocean” and lead single “Hell,” established them as having a sound large enough to satisfy 3,000+ people at once. Despite the barrage of newer songs that set the tone for the night, the band’s setlist, which featured close to 30 songs, also featured a more impressive display of their back catalogue than most of their peers would be willing to put forth.

There was the melancholy introspection of The Con (“Soil Soil,” “Nineteen,” "Back in Your Head"), the poignant power pop of So Jealous (“Where Does the Good Go,” “Speak Slow,” “Walking With a Ghost”), and the slightly schizophrenic sentiments of devotion found on If It Was You (“Monday, Monday, Monday” and “Living Room”). Highlights of the evening included “Northshore,” the duo’s most sonically intense tune to date, and a stripped down, band-free, acoustic rendition of “Call if Off,” one of their most emotionally intense.

Of course; in the tradition of Morrissey, Bob Dylan, and all the rest of recent history’s greatest storytellers; many of the night’s most memorable moments came in the form of stage banter. Early in the evening Tegan (the more talkative and extroverted of the twins), reflecting on the constant cheers from the thousands of admirers, proclaimed “It just makes me feel like a Jonas brother… but a lesbian one.” Later, she commented on the same sentiment: “I feel like I’m in some sort of weird, drug-induced state.” But, appealing to the crowd hailing from Philadelphia and New Jersey, her comment that resonated most significantly was in regards to her sister's passion for karaoke, especially when it comes to the music of the one and only Bon Jovi: “When she does it, she really gives it... she is Bon Jovi.” – Izzy Cihak