EIGHT ALBUMS! Can you believe Tegan and Sara are eight albums old now?? Shocking. On tonight’s evidence, the Calgarian twins popularity shows no sign of waning either, as they arrive onstage to a packed-out Metropolis soundtracked by Le Tigre’s cover of 80’s classic I’m So Excited, and launch straight into a bassed-up version of the classic Back In Your Head, from 2007’s The Con record, on a raised stage illuminated blue. 2 songs later, and the girls engage their adoring crowd for the first of a few times, and it’s in a very different way to most gigs you’ll see. Instead of a passing “hello-it’s-good-to-be-here”, the show basically stops for a couple of minutes or more each time, and the girls playfully chat with the crowd. “Merci! Je t’aime! So much je t’aime-ing up here!” Sara relates how she saw some of her favourite gigs here during a 12-year stint living in our fair city, name-dropping The Knife, The Streets, Blur, and Talib Kweli among others. The banter certainly serves to turn the cavernous Metropolis into an intimate place.
After promising a nice long set this evening, they dive into another segment of songs, Drove Me Wild and Goodbye Goodbye from 2013’s Heartthob record, with the former sounding especially good, with both girls taking lead vocals which harmonize immaculately amid a back-drop of euro-pop beats. The stage lights up orange for the next two songs cut from new album Love You To Death, the ballads Faint of Heart and then White Knuckles.
In the next chat with the crowd, Sara reminisces on the 12 years she lived here, joking about how fluent she became in French (not!). In fact, 3 of their albums were written here. Tegan then chips in how she was here for a while during the writing and recording of The Con, and dedicates the next song to “wandering around a city feeling sorry for yourself, which I did a lot of in Montreal.” I Was a Fool follows, complete with red lights and piano, and then Shock to Your System.
Tonights only offerings from 2009’s Sainthood record come next in the form of Alligator and an epic rendition of Northshore, remixed into a thumping Kraftwerk/Depeche Mode-esque new wave epic, and is another set highlight.
At the next break, the girls salute the minority of the crowd who came in fancy dress, and then go back to briefly discuss The Con record, and remark how crazy it is that it celebrates its 10-year anniversary next year. With that, they run through a stripped down segment of 4 songs from that record, which is unsurprisingly lapped up by the crowd. Everyone sings along in full voice to The Con and then Call It Off, consisting of just Sara, Tegan, and her acoustic guitar, before the band rejoin for a spooky I Was Married, with Tegan trading the acoustic for an electric guitar. A piano intro opens up Nineteen, with another squelchy new wave electro beat pounding out while light beams criss-cross the stage.
Hang On To The Night follows with a cheesy waving-hands-in-the-air moment, the cheesiness of which is promptly joked about right afterwards. Tegan acknowledges how nobody would ever do that of their own accord, but only when implored by someone on a stage! They then thank the support bands, the crowd for their support tonight and indeed over 17 years of making records, and then promise to give it everything they’ve got for the last 4 songs, BWU, U-Turn, Boyfriend and finally, Closer.
They return to the stage for a 3-song encore of 100x, Walking With a Ghost, and Stop Desire, and even bring up a Pokemon and a Penguin (crowd members in costume, not literally…) to the stage to dance with them on that last song to bring tonight’s party to a close after a fun 1 hour and 40 minutes, and 24 songs in total. A nice long set indeed, as promised, and another triumphant return to Montreal for Tegan and Sara.
Set List
Back in Your Head
I Couldn’t Be Your Friend
How Come You Don’t Want Me
Drove Me Wild
Goodbye, Goodbye
Faint of Heart
White Knuckles
I Was a Fool
Shock to Your System
Alligator
Northshore
Living Room
The Con
Call It Off
I Was Married
Nineteen
Hang on to the Night
BWU
U-Turn
Boyfriend
Closer
100x
Walking With a Ghost
Stop Desire
Review & photos – Simon Williams
Share this :
