Tegan and Sara at Spreckles Theatre
(Tegan Quin - normally this would be the marquee shot, but I somehow forgot to take a photo...)
Good night for a show. I definitely needed a break from testosterone tonight and there was only one place to be.....at Spreckels for the Tegan and Sara show. Especially since I had a great seat - 12th row center orchestra. Cha-ching.
I got there right as Northern State hit the stage. They were, um, interesting. Not in a bad way. I guess you could best describe them as the Beastie Chicks. (And actually they pointed out that some of their songs were produced by none other than the Kid Ad Rock.)
So set list first. Yes, here’s the photo of the set list that their sound guy was nice enough to give me after the show. Translated into complete song titles below....
Tegan and Sara
Spreckels Theatre
10/30/07
Dark Come Soon
Like O, Like H
Floor Plan
Nineteen
Burn Your Life Down
Hop A Plane
Speak Slow
So Jealous
Monday Monday Monday
Where Does the Good Go
Divided
When I Get Up
Relief Next to Me
Are You Ten Years Ago
Back in Your Head
The Con
Call It Off
Encore:
Walking with a Ghost
Umbrella (Rhianna cover)
I Know I Know I Know
Living Room
So then. They start off with some Tegan songs from the latest album. I was stoked to get “Nineteen” early on. After “Nineteen”, Sara took the opportunity to ramble about fires and ice storms and what not. (All the while, Tegan is looking at her with a look only a sister could give her sister. Some serious eye rolling going on.) Sara was definitely the more talkative one and took as many opportunities as possible to tell us stuff like she named her bird after Nicholas Cage, that she loved Phil Collins as a kid, and remembers seeing him on Oprah and a lot of other stuff that escapes me right now. (I was taking notes for the set list so I couldn’t be bothered with notes for the banter.) Then we got a smattering of Sara songs. As the set progressed, they alternated their songs so you never knew who was gonna sing next. Some standouts of the set were the back to back of “Speak Slow” and “So Jealous” and another great back to back of “Are You Ten Years Ago” and “Back In Your Head”.
For the encore, Sara came out by herself and told us that she could only play this song acoustic and that we needed to be quiet so she could do the song. How amazing was a totally unplugged Sara strumming on her acoustic with no mike and singing “Walking With A Ghost”? Um, it was fucking amazing. She let us sing along for some parts and that was super cool. After “Ghost”, Tegan and the rest of the band came out to join Sara. They finished the encore with their uber hip cover of Rhianna’s “Umbrella” and then two fan faves - “I Know I Know I Know” and a super oldie “Living Room”. Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday, for sure.
P.S. There are a couple of lo-fi versions of their cover of “Umbrella” floating around the interweb. Definitely worth tracking down.
Tegan and Sara - Umbrella
