TEGAN AND SARA @ STUBBS (SHOW REVIEW)

Tegan and Sara at Stubbs – Show Review

In the six months since Tegan and Sara’s last show in Austin, little has changed. The Canadian sister-duo are still a songwriting powerhouse, they still push boundaries creatively, and they are still behind what is, arguably, the best album of 2013. Tegan and Sara performed at SXSW in March while simultaneously releasing their 5th studio album, Heartthrob, and their popular momentum has been snowballing since. While the majority of each set during their SXSW performances were filled with older songs, their Friday night performance at Stubb’s was packed full of Heartthrob hits.

Friday night began with power pop/Americana group, What’s Eating Gilbert, who sounded like the band from That Thing You Do, which isn’t a bad thing, but they failed to get the crowd’s attention. The mixed crowd of new and old fans were all eagerly anticipating the main attraction, two pint-sized twins who may have come from the most musically talented zygote ever to exist.

Tegan and Sara hurriedly came onstage, strapped into their instruments, and kicked off the set with “I’m Not Your Hero,” which is one of many songs off Heartthrob they would play in their set. While Heartthrob is a bit more electronic and fast paced than most other T&S albums, it still retains the incredible songwriting that is ubiquitous in each of their songs.

Fans of T&S’s previous albums were not to be disappointed either, as they played older hits like “Walking With A Ghost,” “The Con,” and “Back In Your Head” which put the crowd into a nostalgic frenzy.

Although each of their songs are filled with emotion and drama, Tegan and Sara play their sets in an officious manner with an aloof professionalism that leaves their crowd interaction dry and a bit forced The few times that Tegan tried speaking to the crowd, she sounded like she was reading off a script, speaking rushed with an uninterested tone.

Thankfully people pay to see Tegan and Sara play music, not give public speeches, and their live performance was not lacking in any way. Songs like “Now I’m All Messed Up,” “I Couldn’t Be Your Friend,” and “I Was A Fool” were all show stoppers. The zenith of the show arrived with the hit single “Alligator,” off their album Sainthood, which is a perfect medium between the older acoustic style and more recent electronic direction.

The set would end with their mega-hit “Closer,” which was fortified with an impressive light show to leave their fans on the highest note possible. In “Closer” the chorus proclaims, ‘I want you close/I won’t treat you like you’re typical.” In many ways Tegan and Sara are taking a risk by embracing electronic elements, hence alienating some of their fanbase, but then again, Tegan and Sara’s fans have never been your typical, one-dimensional fans either. -Lee Ackerley –