Tegan & Sara, Kool Haus Review

Tegan and Sara have come a long way since their days of selling adorable d.i.y inspired “I’m Tee and Essing” t-shirts at quaint venues across Canada. The days of house shows and being an opening act are over: the girls have arrived, and they are damned well deserving of it.

T&S are coming off a massive North American tour (which the lovely Sara Quin has been kind enough to blog about for us) in support of their latest release, Sainthood. Although they’ve been working in music for over ten years, it’s taken them a long time to reach the top, and you can tell they have no intention of stepping down.

They’ve sold out two shows in Toronto over the last few nights, first playing an emotionally-charged intimate evening at Massey Hall, and last night packing the Kool Haus until it was ready to burst. Gentleman Reg opened, but was (sadly) barely noticed by the hoards of screaming girls waiting for Tegan and Sara to come out. This shit was like being at a Beatles concert.

Looking out from my safety net of the press pit, I couldn’t believe how many people were there. I had to almost check myself, remembering that the last time I saw Tegan and Sara in Detroit they were playing to half a venue of dedicated fans who stood quietly enjoying tracks off their first few albums. That could not have been more unlike what I saw last night.

Their new album is a step in the right direction: their sound is smoother, stronger and rocks harder than ever. After briefly entertaining work with Tiesto this past summer, Tegan and Sara have stopped knocking on the door to your heart: they’ve kicked it in.

When they finally took the stage the roaring began, you could see on the Quin’s faces that they knew they had finally made it. Playing tracks like “Arrow” and “Hell” off their latest record was expected, but they also dove deep into their old tracks, playing “Living Room”, “Walking With A Ghost” and “So Jealous”.

If you’ve never seen them before, you need to. Their performance was heartbreaking: I’ve never seen a band be as thankful for their audience as they were last night. You knew that they’ve come a long way, and that they couldn’t have done it without the love and support of their fans.

Anyone who ever said they couldn’t do it: get ready to get so jealous.