Concert Review: Tegan and Sara in Columbus, Ohio

Tegan and Sara played a sold out show at the Lifestyle Communities Indoor Stage on Saturday. The crowd was lined up around the corner of the building two hours before the doors opened. The consensus seemed to be that it was worth the wait.

Doors opened at 7:00, and the line went in pretty rapidly. Diana took the stage at 8:00 and performed an enthusiastic (if musically so-so) set. Lead singer Carmen Elle interacted very well with the audience, despite the fact that she, of all people, sensed that the audience was hungry for the main act.

Tegan and Sara finally began their set around 9:00, opening with "Back In Your Head," an instant crowd-pleaser, though I thought it fell a little flat, particularly compared to the last time I heard them live, back in 2008.

They continued with "Walking with a Ghost," followed by "I Was a Fool," "I'm Not Your Hero," and "I Couldn't Be Your Friend," all of which sounded much better than the older songs, presumably because the Heartthrob sound was the one the musical setup was designed for. They then returned to older songs with "Arrow" and "The Con," the newer sound now warming up to the older songs.

After "The Con," they broke to speak to the audience about the letters fans have been writing the band through a mailbox they've been leaving at the merch table. Tegan became emotional when she began to talk about it, and Sara completed the story about finding out how important Tegan and Sara are to their fans,. They then launched into my favorite track from Heartthrob, "Love They Say," which was gorgeous with the added emotion of the spoken preface, and "Goodbye, Goodbye."

Next up were the songs "Where Does the Good Go?," "Burn Your Life Down," and "Living Room," and then another new track, "How Come You Don't Want Me?"

Tegan then broke to tell two stories, about a misunderstanding at the bar the previous night, and about a kind and emotional man she'd met in Hawaii. From there, Tegan and Sara performed an incredibly emotional version of "Call It Off," before moving into "Nineteen," "Shock To Your System," and "Drove Me Wild."

Ted Gowans then moved to synthesizer for the remixed version of "Alligator." Afterwards, Sara introduced the band, and they finished off the set with "Now I'm All Messed Up" and "Closer," warning the audience ahead of time that "we almost always do an encore!"

Tegan Quinn

The ravenous crowd did not wait long for the encore, which included a medley of older songs ("My Number," "Monday Monday Monday," "You Wouldn't Like Me," "We Didn't Do It," "Superstar," "Speak Slow," "Hop a Plane," "Sentimental Tune," "On Directing," and "I Know I Know I Know") and a performance of "Feel it in My Bones," a song they originally collaborated on with Tiësto.

All-in-all, it was a decent show. I don't think they were at their musical peak, but the audience was pleased and it was a good show, just not perfect. I still recommend checking out one of their shows, because it's a great experience.