Tegan and Sara
Monday, 11-06-07
The Granada
Better than: “The Next Great American Band”
Review and Photos by Richard Gintowt
Tegan & Sara are twin sisters from Calgary (ya know, up there in Canada, eh?) who part their mullets the same way and play in a band together. They’re a bit punk, a bit folk, and a whole lotta pop. There’s nothing too deep or compelling about their music, but it’s likable enough and seems to have hit its stride with a new album called The Con (partly due, perhaps, to the contributions of Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla and The Rentals’ Matt Sharp).
Unfortunately, Tegan & Sara have awful taste in music, or at least that’s the impression they gave off by choosing Northern State as their opening act. Coming off like a third-rate Beastie Girls, the tribe of female MCs (perhaps too kind a word) unleashed groan-a-minute couplets like I’m Hester Prynne / Let me begin and introduced the apathetic crowd to lame slang words like “cha’ll” (as in “if it’s alright wit’ cha’ll”). If Northern State’s goal was to pump up the crowd, it worked – I was totally psyched when they left the stage and T&S started setting up.
The sold-out crowd was packed with lesbians, and I’m not saying that because I have some kind of lezbo gaydar or something, but simply because they were everywhere holding hands and kissing. At one point in the show, Sara made reference to unbuttoning her shirt and was greeted with a series of shrill catcalls. Both Tegan & Sara are “out” performers, but it’s not like their music addresses particularly lesbian subject matter. This phenomenon perplexes me – does a band earn an instant gay fanbase just by being gay? Given that there are so few outspokenly gay bands, it’s not unlikely.
T&S’s performance was a lot like their records: fun for a few songs, and then a bit tiresome. T&S may have developed as songwriters, but they haven’t made great strides as musicians. The three black-shirted fellows backing the girls helped a great deal, but they seemed too far removed from the limelight to really elevate the performance. Another turn-off was the duo’s rambling stage banter, highlighted by Tegan’s admission that “I’m a bitch – you wouldn’t want to date me” (well, you probably wouldn’t want to date me either, Tegan). For a couple songs off the new record (“The Con” and “Back in Your Head”), the pace picked up. The sisters do have some mighty vocal chords, and when they harmonize it’s quite a nifty thing.
Honestly, I’m probably the wrong person to pick these girls apart. They’re good at what they do (mass-appeal pop music), their hearts are certainly in the right place, and they’re light years better than Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch and whoever else is fucking up music for the rest of us. But it’s disappointing to see T&S sell out a $20 ticket at the Granada when attendance is comparably sparse for better female-fronted acts like St. Vincent and Camera Obscura.
Personal bias: My distaste for Northern State may have something to do with the fact that I never really liked the Beastie Boys, whom I equate to a rapping Gilbert Gottfried.
Random detail: Northern State wore Northern State t-shirts onstage. I’m pretty sure that’s lame.
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I like how you put in that you have a bias due to your dislike of the beastie boys. It is a patronizing way for you to attempt to convince people that is your only bias. This is the most sexist review I have ever read in my entire life. Its "nifty" the way their voices harmonies. Condescending much?
"They were everywhere holding hands and kissing" - you poor thing to be subjected to seeing something as wrong as that. You poor poor chap. All you wanted was to see a concert and you had to listen to the band interact with the crowd, and be subjected to........lesbians. do do doooon...
This isn't a fucking Hillary Duff Concert; it�s not about costume change and fireworks. They talk to the crowds about politics, and speaking out, and give funny anecdotes about themselves. You can clearly see yourself; this is not a sexual band. They do not go out dressed up attract female attention. They happen to be very liberal women, who yes, are gay. But many of those girls in the crowd are not gay. Lots of lesbians are also liberal and deep and enjoy relating to the depth and universal messages in their songs. But many more of the girls in the crowd are there for the music. To totally love a band, you do have to respect them. Tegan and Sara are outspoken, intelligent talented musicians. I heard and mp3 of theirs bought a record and fell in love with it. I like gay bands, straight bands, male, female...I enjoy music. Tegan and Sara are one of my and my sisters favorite bands. If you saw us at I concert, you would presume we and all our friends were gay, just because there were some girls nearby kissing.
Yea sure they have lesbian fans. But I've been to tones of concerts. Does it make me a lesbian? There are guys there too, although due to fucking assholes like you, guys are a bit shy to be seen at this 'chick bands', even if they have "three black-shirted fellows backing" them. You know what? Tegan and Sara wrote most tones of guitar and keyboard parts and played them on the record. But live they obviously only have two hands each. I've decided to write you a list of people I think are better than you, and not just that, but musicians (men even, Mr.Man) who love the music of Tegan and Sara.
neil young
ryan adams
against me
the reason
AFI
matt sharpe
death cab
Butch Walker
Cancer Bats
Northern State
funeral for a friend
Hannah Montana
Keane
Jacks Mannequin
Butch vig
Nine Black Alps
the white stripes
the killers
Anthony Kiedis
Ben Lee
Missy Higgins
ALANIS MORISSETTE
Matt Good
Death Cab for Cutie
Angels & Airwaves
Tom Delonge
Cyndi Lauper
New Found Glory
Lindsay Lohan
Backseat Goodbye
Bruce Springsteen
That is lot of bands. But obviously Richard, your opinion (that their songs get boring after a listen) is way more vaild than any of the wonderful things these famous Tegan and Sara fans could say. You are a wonderful reviewer and have a great ear for music, the 33 bands I named who love the music of Tegan and Sara do not know anything about good taste in music. I think everybody should stop listening to Tegan and Sara, because, stall the ball, Mr.Richard Gintowt does not think that they are really worth the time, and even if you do become a fan, you will have to endure seeing 'them' (lesibans) everywherem because they have a big gay fanbase. Also they have an all girl opening act, straight girls, but still all girls, not even any black shirted men to help out the opening act!! Nightmare. Wait who the fuck is Richard Gintowt?
I see from your review of Northern State that you don't just have a problem with lesbians, but with all women bands. Are you just pissed off because you see three women more successful than you...a man?
Climb back into your box, have it sealed up, and get it posted back to the 1900's you sexist prick.
feel free to email me back at louisemcc@gmail.com I hope all the dreadful feedback you got from this article has broaded your narrow little mind Mr.Man.
The true fans love the celebrated stage banter, and have been loving it for ears and years.
And why not wear your own merch? Who decided this was "lame"? You? You seem unsure. You don't seem to be the expert on what is or what is not hip. If you've come far enough to even HAVE your own merch, why not wear it?
Just another guy feeling threatened by a couple of talented, intelligent girls who have made it in their own right, on their own terms and actually know how to play. And what's the deal with the 'out' in quotes? They're OUT. Period. There's no euphemism for that word and there's no joke there -- frankly, I find it really patronizing that you would do that. Like they're TaTu or some shit and they're just doing it for attention. My ass. Maybe that's what you were expecting and that's why you didn't like the show: you were expecting them to be banging on tambourines and shit while guys did the actual playing for them because, y'know, they're chicks and chicks don't know how to play. I also really think it's repugnant that you would talk about the guys in the band 'helping them out' - that, right there, tells me all I need to know about you. Tegan and Sara don't need help. They started out with acoustics. They got the band to help flesh out the sound during live performances - not 'help', because they don't know what they're doing. They've been performing for almost ten years - they don't need 'help'.
And, really, St. Vincent - her work is brilliant, BUT it's very experimental and the songwriting is very much on par with T&S' work. Plus, even though I love Annie, I think her stage presence could use some work - staring blankly out into the audience is hardly a proper way to connect with them. And that was another thing: Tegan and Sara's talking has become a cornerstone of their live gigs. Everybody knows that. It's only tiresome if you're expecting them to suddenly drop their instruments, rip their clothes off and start making out on stage.
You really *aren't* the person to be reviewing these two. If you don't think there's anything deep or compelling about this music, then either you have no soul or you're just not listening.
french whore? you gotta be kidding me. But if your twisted enough to refer to yourself with this moniker than its understandable how you could constru this review as 'somewhat positive' and those comments as man-hate.
This is the lamest 'concert' review that I've read in a while. Not to mention the stupid tag "girls loving girls" please is this his lame-ass attempt to be hip or tolerant? Because there's a les or two in attendence, he dismisses the whole concert as 'girls loving girls'?
Painfully enough, the squeaky-voiced Northern State rapper quoted actually spells her stage name "Hesta Prynn."
Also, to elaborate on the sentence "Sara made reference to unbuttoning her shirt and was greeted with a series of shrill catcalls," here's what happened: Sara started a rambling story about being punched by a burly woman at a Lez Zeppelin (yep, lesbian LedZep cover band) concert. Her attacker, she continued, returned and attempted to forcibly unbotton -- she clarified 'unsnap,' as she was wearing a snap-up top -- her shirt. Here, oddly, is where the shrill catcalls occurred. Nonplussed, Sara said "why were you cheering? That was assault! Is this a lawless city?" That awkward exchange, combined with the encore incident Anonymous cites above, make it likely that Lawrence won't rank high on Sara's "I heart these cities" list.
Chill, Lucky Girl. I thought the review was rather generous, considering it sounds like Richard isn't probably a fan of their music. Nearly a half of the review is somewhat positive, wouldn't you say? Drop the man-hate and read the review once more...
this review might have mentioned the most bizarre aspect of the evening: http://www.lawrence.com/blogs/...
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