Tegan and Sara at the Worcester Palladium - 10/4/08

WORCESTER, MA — OCTOBER 4, 2008 Although the Palladium was filled with a crowd that consisted of mostly underage teens (all of whom were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Tegan and Sara), I have to say, when opening acts, Girl in a Coma and City and Colour took the stage, the audience was surprisingly accepting and enthusiastic. A lot of times those young crowds tend to get a bit impatient with opening acts while waiting for the headliner to take the stage, but I was both pleased with the positive response.

Girl in a Coma took the stage right on time at 7pm, performing several tracks off their debut album, Both Before I’m Gone. About a half hour later, City and Colour came on. Being a big fan of City and Colour’s frontman, Dallas Green, I was surprised to find that he was performing solo. This turned out to be a bit disappointing, as the mellow sounds of several of the tracks from Bring Me Your Love (including the self-titled single, which I love) were a bit drowned out by the loudness of the giant theater. Nevertheless, the crowd embraced both openers with open arms and wild cheer before the Canadian twins took the stage at 8:30pm.

Tegan and Sara are known for their on-stage humorous banter, playfully exchanging jokes and teasing each other in between songs. At one point, they actually started mocking the security team, claiming they’re not very good at their job because of former experiences where fans have managed to climb on stage, which Sara admitted was “terrifying.” They also stressed the importance of registering to vote while jokingly encouraging everyone in the audience to vote for Obama. But aside from the comic routines, they managed to put on a wildly upbeat performance that included lots of instrument mix-ups, and even brought Dallas Green back on stage with them to perform “The First”.

Another highlight of the evening was their acoustic rock spin of Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” which was surprisingly very good. Sara also announced that they had a moment of “magic” at their Philadelphia show a few days prior, and were going to attempt to replicate that moment. She proceeded to unplug her acoustic guitar so that it was barely heard, and the audience sang the first verse of “Walking with a Ghost” before the entire band kicked in halfway through the song.

Their set included some older tracks off of If It Was You and So Jealous, such as “Living Room,” and “I Bet it Stung,” and also some new tracks off The Con such as “Nineteen” and “Burn You Life Down.” They performed one of my favorites, “The Con,” right before launching into the encore, which included “Relief Next to Me” and ended with the bubbly track that I had been anxiously waiting for all evening, “Back in your Head.”

The indie-duo proved once again that not only do they know how to add some humor to the evening, but they also know how to rock. I hadn’t become a fan of them until recently, but after last night’s performance, I’d definitely recommend seeing them live.

(As published in Jamsbio Magazine: magazine.jamsbio.com/2008/10/07/tegan-saras-live-twin-attack/)