Twin sisters Tegan and Sara came to Warehouse Live on Saturday with musical acts Steel Train and Holly Miranda. | Courtesy of Tegan and Sara
Halfway through their exhaustive 90-minute set Saturday, Tegan Quin from Canadian indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara remarked that she was out of breath to the point of needing an oxygen mask to continue.
She wasn’t the only one.
The raucous, sold-out crowd at Warehouse Live had their collective breaths taken away, too, thanks to a frenetic performance that touched on favorites across their 10-year career and six studio albums. From start to finish, Tegan and Sara’s infectious melodies had the mostly female crowd in the palm of their hands.
Identical twin sisters with a dedicated lesbian fan base, Tegan and Sara’s lyrics of relationships, heartbreak and jealousy have gradually transcended age and sexual orientation.
This was fully on-display throughout the show, particularly on songs from their critically acclaimed album Sainthood. More mature both lyrically and melodically, the duo played nearly the whole album, including the brilliant single “Hell.”
Tegan and Sara dipped heavily into two previous albums as well: 2007’s The Con and 2004’s So Jealous. The group’s catchy brand of power-pop translated to a crisp live show nearly identical to their studio recordings, and ballads like “Where Does the Good Go” and “Walking With a Ghost” kept the packed crowd singing along to every chorus.
The sisters were preceded by two groups whose surprising performances nearly upstaged the main act.
The first was New Jersey indie-rockers Steel Train. Their sole fault was that they were only given 30-minutes to perform their catchy, adrenaline-filled anthems like “Firecracker” and “I Feel Weird,” set a positive tone for the entire night. Like The Arcade Fire or Phoenix on steroids, Steel Train would surprise no one by headlining their own tour in five years.
Next was Holly Miranda, a relatively unknown but unquestionably talented musician who sounded equal parts Fiona Apple and Broken Social Scene. A petite girl carrying a big, soulful voice, Miranda excited the crowd by dedicating a song to everyone, “who should all have the right to get married,” with Steel Train singing acapella as her backup.
But it was Tegan and Sara who still came away with the most memorable performance of the night, capped with an intimate, stripped-down acoustic encore.
The group skillfully kept the energetic and raucous crowd engaged throughout, with Tegan humbly thanking the fans for their support. After an hour and a half of fans rocking out and singing-along, the thanks was surely mutual.
“When we first started, there were points when it was just Sara and I and our tour manager riding around in a Greyhound from show to show,” Tegan said. “You’re a reminder of why we do what we do.”
