6 posts tagged “tegan and sara”

I think there are few bands that can get away with screwing up on stage without getting booed or a soiled diaper thrown at them.  More than that, there are few bands where fans actually appreciate an on-stage blunder or two (or three).  Tegan and Sara is one of them. <3

Biggest let down:
Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight

Honorable mentions:
The Almost – Southern Weather
Will Stratton – What The Night Said
Architecture in Helsinki – Places Like This

The List:

10. The Rocket Summer – Do You Feel

Bryce's music is catchier, bubblier, and more emotion-filled than ever.   

9. Klaxons – Myths of The Near Future

Not much to say here except this is the greatest dance album of 2007 with some damn impressive bass work and vocal harmonization

8. My American Heart – Hiding Inside the Horrible Weather

These guys don't get enough credit from critics.  Despite what some may call a weak and unoriginal sophomore album, Hiding Under the Horrible Weather is actually a great step-up from The Meaning in Makeup, and it was perpetually in my car's CD player this summer.  Awesome drum patterns, strong lead guitars, and, well the vocals have always been amazing.  Plus, it's nice to have a young talented band reppin' Southern California

7. Shout out Louds – Our Ill Wills

Every, single, song, on this album is amazing.  I feel like the producers could have done some more work with track arrangement, but other than that it's an amazing sophomore album.  "Impossible" sounds like the Shout out Louds got in a fight with Architecture in Helsinki, and won... and I love it!

6. Against Me! – New Wave

Probably the most out rightly politically driven album I've heard in a while.  Brash, honest, and loud.  Just an all around solid "Punk/Rock" album. 

5. Blonde Redhead – 23

If I were to ever do acid or any sort of hallucinogen, this will be the album I'd do it to.  I challenge anyone to listen to this with some big headphones in a dark room; if you don’t feel like you’re getting transported into some different dimension, let me know.  And, that, just about sums this album up for me.

4. Anberlin - Cities

Wow, I totally don't know how I forgot about this album when I made the list.  Suffice to say, when I remembered, it bumped AiH off the list, and everyone below 5, down the list.  Anyway, I'm not sure what else to say; this album just means a lot to me.

3. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

After the success of Funeral, I wasn’t sure what Arcade Fire had left up their sleeves…but, they really just took it up a notch.  I don't know how they did it, but it seems like Arcade Fire were able to fit about another twenty instruments into the mix of things.  Plus, I was a changed person after I saw them completely get a crowd of 25,000 kids to sing the melodies of "Rebellion" long after the lights went out.  Granted, Rebellion was off of Funeral, but this is my list so suck it.

2. Paramore – RIOT!

This album just reached Gold status two weeks ago.  It's also the reason the band received recognition from Dave Grohl, and the reason Hayley received and accepted the invitation to sing vocals with Jimmy Eat World, her favorite band growing up, at KROQ's Acoustic Christmas.  It's also the reason John Mayer is completely now totally infatuated with Hay--the band.  It's also the reason Paramore's nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy.  RIOT! has probably led to all the things the band has ever hoped for, and more.  Above all, RIOT! is just a damn solid piece of work that makes me so proud to have seen these small town Tennessee kids when they were still setting up their own equipment and re-wearing the same jeans and dirty baseball t-shirts.

1. Tegan and Sara – The Con

Five justifications:

5. The title track is one of my top 10 songs of all time; I was Married and Nineteen follow in the top 50, which is saying a lot
4. Chris Walla did a ridiculously amazing job producing the album -- making sure each song was mixed to perfection and that the whole album played out like a good book from start to finish.  To seal the deal, Jason McGerr laid down some amazing drum work
3. The whole album is a giant leap of lyrical and musical progression from So Jealous
2. Each track seamlessly coalesces with the next, even though the tracks were written separately and individually of one another
1. The album literally bleeds emotion

I'm going to have to start off by saying that I've gone to some killer ass shows this year... just a few include Daft Punk at the LA sports arena where kids walked out asking if they had just been abducted by aliens, Arcade Fire / LCD Soundsystem / Blonde Redhead where 20,000 kids showed up to Randall's Island, Paramore (two times? maybe three. i've lost count), Tegan and Sara three times in a row this summer...

But It's safe to say that tonight's show definitely made the top 3 list for 2007, and keeping those shows listed above in mind, I'd say that's pretty damn amazing.

Something about tonight's show just blew me out of my mind. A combination of perfectly executed stage banter, the long awaited Umbrella remix, a FIVE song encore, "When I Get Up" played with the most passion I have ever heard them play it/Tegan sing it, a ridiculously well written set-list that seemed to, almost like The Con, pan out like a story...

But, the one thing that really just made tonight the most amazing Tegan and Sara set I've witnessed was this tremendous increase in the level of intensity from when I last saw them.  Sara's always amazing, but tonight she really just killed it. Like, killed it.  I could think of excuses and say, well oh maybe the sound and the acoustics in Webster Hall gave it that extra kick, but it was seriously all Sara.  A couple of times I was taken so-aback by how much intensity and passion she was singing with that my jaw dropped--the most notable time in Like O Like H.  I remember watching her mess that one up in Long Beach, and I've heard stories of her flubbing it up a little on this tour too, so it's safe to say it hasn't been her "strongest" live song. But tonight?  She sang it beyond perfectly, and hot damn, I'm absolutely positive all of Manhattan probably heard her belt out those last few "in your gut"'s.  I mean I guess it was different watching T&S play stuff off of The Con in July because it was the first time they were playing the material live, but whether or not they're just getting/haven already gotten more comfortable with the material now or if the two of them had some moments of enlightenment that's made them these (even greater) SUPER musicians, I'm still just blown the hell away.

Extra +'s include: Northern State putting on a great opening set, someone literally chucking a bouquet of roses at an unexpecting-Tegan as she walked off the stage (even better--Tegan totally ninja-ed it out and caught it with what looked like one hand), the "silent" encore applause that Sara requested us all to partake in (no clapping or shouting after the "last" song, Call It Off, only to allow it to explode into one giant mess of screaming raucous love when they came back to re-take the stage), and um...did I mention that five song encore with Living Room capping off the night?

In a nutshell, Tegan and Sara never cease to please and if you have not seen them live yet, you really should think about giving up your first born or signing your soul away to get your hands on a ticket to one of the many sold out shows they have left to play on the tour.

PS, I'm totally in love with Ted, and I don't know if he knows that the whole crowd can still see him rocking out even when he's not directly in the light, but he's basically just the greatest guy, ever.

Long overdue + one recent review(s).  Not as comprehensive as I'd like them to be, but I don't really have the time or patience to do that right now.  So here's a list of pros and cons for all three shows. Enjoy.

Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Blonde Redhead @ Randall's Island
(+)
- Randall's Island felt like someone had pulled up-rooted the Indio Field for Coachella and plopped it down on a far off island next to Manhattan
- Blonde Redhead was amazing...in my opinion, showing up LCD Soundsystem (who were playing a homecoming show)
- LCD Soundsystem - Trials & Tribulations
- All of the Arcade Fire - the lights, the set, the special effects, the glowsticks, the instruments
- Drummer from Arcade Fire climbing at least a good one to two stories up on the side of the stage while drumming to Rebellion (and I'm pretty sure he wasn't wearing a harness)

(-)
- getting to and back from Randall's Island
- asian lady who threw a hissy fit at me and gave me the dirtiest look ever and said "uh, can you please stop pushing me" to which I, still cross-armed and very stiffly-stanced replied, "um, sorry but i'm actually not. there are 25,000 other people here who are all trying to get to the front of the stage" to which she replied "sorry, i'm a stupid whore; please forgive me" (last quote may be fabricated, but she did shut her mouth and avoid me the rest of the night)
- like Coachella, dust clouds everywhere

Stars, New Buffalo
(+)
- Mr. Campbell and his jacket
- " and his clear disregard for other peoples' personal space
- "The Big Fight" which almost brought me to tears (and let's be honest, that has only happened to me twice: transatlanticism at the wiltern round 1, and then paramore playing 'franklin' in south hackensack)
- Stars' set decorations - old paintings and both paper and fresh flowers (which they threw into the crowd); looked like a scene straight out of an old french novel (like I know what that even means)

(-)
- The girl from New Buffalo is very talented, but if she wants her career to take off she needs a real drummer and some energy on stage; she failed to announce her name until either the second to last, or last song. Also, I swear "New Buffalo" and maybe one more sentence were the only words she muttered throughout her whole thirty minute set

The Academy is, Armor for Sleep, The Rocket Summer
(+) 
- New Rocket summer stuff sounds amazing live
- Bryce never ceases to have an incredible stage presence; he could have put on the crappiest set, but I would have enjoyed every second of it if he still played with his intensity
- Even though the Rocket Summer is essentially Bryce's band, his band mates, especially lead guitar, all play with as much passion as he does.  Its like they really are a family, and not just musicians for hire
- TAI played a good amount of old songs, which was great because I really only like about maybe half of what's on Santi
- Beckett actually talked a lot to the crowd, something I've never seen him do in the past four or five times I've seen them play

(-)
- Armor for Sleep crowd not as great as I thought it would be; I guess the 14 year olds just weren't having any of it
- 16 year old girls who had evidently gotten some dude-bro to buy them some cans of budweiser before TAI's set
- same girls trying to push their way to the front to get in William Beckett's pants; one even yelled "I just want to touch him"
- same girls talking very loudly about how "all the girls in the front are ugly fat bitches" and don't deserve to be up by the barricade
- me not getting the huevos to punch both girls in the face

Alrite, that just about briefly sums those three shows up. Peace and love.

Perhaps some in-depth reviews of Paramore and Tegan & Sara to come in November. Hollerrrr

But, I can't really wait.

So, I'd just like to say that the video for "The Con" turned out really amazing.

Check it out here -> http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=1241933&vid=181947

Throughout the whole duration of it, I just felt very uncomfortable, like someone was sitting on my chest and I couldn't really breathe properly.  I mean, I may have a bias because the title track really is one of my favorites off the album, but I think the director did a really great job of capturing the emotion of the song -- the pain, the discomfort, the confusion, the heartache, that feeling of sort of being alone? Who knows, Tegan probably has a totally different view of the song, but that's just how I see it and how I feel it. 

Speaking of Canadians, not that we're labeling now or anything...but

yes, the Arcade Fire show was amazing
and yes, I am so stoked to see Stars play the Town Hall tomorrow

PS: what's this I hear about Ryan Seacrest asking Rihanna if she made out with Josh Farro after the TRL taping?

PPS: what the hell is Ryan Seacrest doing talking about Josh Farro? I hope that Paramore doesn't just turn into some new reason for Perez Hilton to start drawing his stupid ugly 3rd grade skeet doodles.

The past three days have been long as balls, but wow was each hour spent sitting in awkward uncomfortable positions on the hard concrete floor or sidewalk worth it.

July 24th
My memory's kind of a little fuzzy for this date, because all I can remember was that the whole population of South Africa seemed to be inside Amoeba for the T&S in-store, and that another three hundred people were wrapped around the sidewalk trying to (at no avail) get themselves in.  The band started with Dark Come Soon and continued to play an impressively long set covering some of the strongest tracks on The Con (nineteen, one of my favorites next to the title track, was amazing live and 'Back In Your Head' was neat not just cause' it's such an upbeat song but because Hunter Burgan made a cameo with the shaker) and also some of the old(er) stuff including but not limited to: Monday Monday Monday, Walking With a Ghost, Speak Slow, and Underwater which is really fricken' amazing live.  Just one of the highlights (trust me, there were many) included "When I Get Up" which, for a 'ballad', is pretty damn captivating live--something about the way the acoustic guitar lines come in by themselves to start the song and how the acoustic parts remain strong and prominent throughout the track even amongst the beautiful keyboard overlay--it just always gives me chills.

July 25th
My memory of this night is NOT fuzzy at all.  Wilson and I got to long beach around 4..4:30...pretty-fricken'-early-oclock...to try to avoid the death that happened at Amoeba, and to our surprise there were only about 10 people waiting outside so we got our wristbands and just sat on the sidewalk.  [fast-forward]  By the time it was 8oclock and mostly everyone with a wristband was inside, Wilson and I had some PHAT spots in second, practically first row, which is saying a lot because Fingerprints is this tiny little shack of love (if you can imagine this...20 fingerprints could probably sit comfortably in Amoeba's space).  The set (which was completely acoustic + a xylophone) was even more incredible than it was at Amoeba's solely because it was just so much more intimate.  At one point this little girl (9 years old, maybe?) caught Tegan's attention and asked if they would play Speak Slow, which they did, with back-up vocals by Lina (the girl).  It was basically the most precious thing I've ever seen live, next to when some guy proposed to his girlfriend at an Acceptance show.  Anyway, Lina starting singing during another song, which I now forget (bummer), but anyway I guess it was throwing Sara off or something cause' she just laughed and let Lina sing back-up vocals instead, and that was just pure. The last highlight of the set was when they played Like O Like H and Sara just kept forgetting the lyrics, maybe three times, and they had to keep starting over or coming in from the chorus..and I guess some ass-holes or execs would call it unprofessional, but I thought it just humanized them even more, and I wouldn't have had the song played any other way.

July 26th
In a nutshell, the malibu performing arts centre is basically the coolest (seated) venue I have ever been to. It has this really contemporary-clean-cut architecture and it sits on this mountain just a few steps away from the gorgeous malibu shoreline.  To be honest, Tegan and Sara could have played the worst set in the world, and I would have walked out completely content with my experience at the arts centre.  BUT, we don't even have to think hypothetically because they completely owned up the stage, again.  They played the con in I believe it's entirety, but backwards (starting with Call It Off and ending with I Was Married).  It's possible that they skipped one or two tracks, but it sure as hell felt like all of the con, and hot damn was it amazing.  Like O Like H played with the whole band is so powerful; I felt like my body was going to explode when the bass kicked in.  Anyway, after they finished playing stuff from The Con, they played old(er) stuff, a fair blend of what was played at Amoeba and Fingerprints, with the addition of Not Tonight which almost made me shat my pants because it's one of my favorite songs, period.  Anyway it was just a ridiculous set and If I could, I'd re-live it over and over again.  After the show ended, my friend Steve who works at WB got us into the backstage area which to me, was really effing awkward, cause' i'm just so shy especially when I know I don't really belong somewhere...like that awkwardness you'd feel at a party where you only kind of sort of know one person there who only sort of knows the host?  But all awkwardness aside, both Tegan and Sara recognized my friend Wilson and I from the in-stores and we got to chat it up for a little bit, and that was just pretty swell.  I hope the day never comes where the two of them realize they are hotter shit than Billy Corgan and then start acting in the same pompous callous stand-offish way everyone describes him to have when he meets his fans.

Anyway, this has been the longest post ever but it's been the three most amazing nights of my summer all due to some talented musicians and their story-telling and music playing.  I can't wait to see them again in NYC when they play Webster Hall.

I'd also like to close by saying that these three nights combined have really sealed the deal with my aspirations of working in the music industry when I'm older.  Before, it was just one of those dreams that I thought would be an optimal situation to be in, but now I'm going to work my ass of to make that dream absolutely come true.  I can't imagine a life without guitar riffs, the pounding of bass, complicated and simple drum patterns alike, interwoven keyboard and synthesizer parts, the flashing and swirling of red, green, yellow, orange lights...--I can't imagine my life without music.

K, done.

PS: since i'm WAY too lazy to write something insightful about The Con that hasn't already been said, I do suggest that if you have not purchased the album yet, to buy the deluxe version with the DVD because it just gives you a greater appreciation for what went into the whole record writing process for the band, and what a genius Chris Walla is as a producer, and how amazing and creative Jason McGerr is as a drummer.  Plus, there's a really funny bonus video of Tegan explaining Ptosis, and that really should be enough reinforcement for you to dish the extra few dollars.

K, for real, that's it.