Back in 1995 when Canadian duo Tegan & Sara got their start they were quite dangerous to the main stream gay, twins and oh my! Canadian? That was still the case when they broke out into radio play with 2007’s “So Jealous”. Fast forward to 2016 and they pretty much sell out the Historic State to a crowd as varied in age as they were in style. I guess their music going from folksy to indie to synth pop on their latest album “Love You to Death” is not the only thing that evolved.
Starting the night was British singer Shura. First impression? That was some of the loudest, deepest bass notes I have heard in the State Theatre! “Indecision” has some very interesting beats in it’s live version, “Touch” was greeted with loud cheers from the audience and her music connects quickly with the audience. She ended her set with an actual outro before the closing notes. Shura has just released her first full album “Nothing’s Real” and is definitely worth a closer look.
After a bit of delay Tegan & Sara took to the stage and kicked off their set with 3 well known older songs, basically saying “Hi!” to fans of their past work. “Back in Your Head” was modernized and synthy. They apologized for being late (technical issues) and promised to play their whole set list but they might have to cut back a bit on the chatter due to a hard deadline at the venue. Well, we still got plenty of personality from their set.
From there they took a turn towards their new album that has taken them pretty deep into the electro/synth pop realm. Fitting that their stage setup was the twins behind small synth consoles except for their short acoustic rendition of 2 songs. Their lights were great, fitting the larger venue. Their current single “Boyfriend” was mixed with Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl”. I spend my evening with a pink Boyfriend tour sticker on my shirt but no girls were kissed on my part. Overall Tegan & Sara delivered a great pop show and managed to keep in touch with fans of their earlier work.
Set List: Back in Your Head / I Couldn’t Be Your Friend / How Come You Don’t Want Me / Stop Desire / White Knuckles / That Girl / Faint of Heart / I Was a Fool / Goodbye, Goodbye / Shock to Your System / Alligator / Northshore / Walking With a Ghost / The Con (Acoustic) / Call It Off (Acoustic) / I Was Married / BWU / U-Turn / Hang on to the Night / Boyfriend (I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry mix) / Closer Encore: 100x / Nineteen / Living Room
