Tegan and Sara. Photo by Andrew Dowd. More on Flickr
Steel Train. Photo by Andrew Dowd. More on Flickr
After dating the likes of Scarlett Johansson and Alia Shawkat (perhaps better known as Maeby Fünke), it’s hard to imagine being excited about much else in life, but when lead singer Jack Antonoff and his band Steel Train took the stage at the Pageant, their energy was almost overwhelming.While some opening acts struggle to draw the attention of the first few fans to arrive, Steel Train seemed to be conducting their energy straight from the audience and harnessing every bit of it in their performance. By the end of their set, which was punctuated by a short five-man a cappella stint, the packed house was rocking along to the genre-blending music of the New Jersey quintet.
When Tegan and Sara took the stage a few minutes later, the hundreds of seats that lined the standing-room floor were quickly vacated as a wave of familiarity swept across the audience and everyone took to their feet. The sisters quickly developed a rapport by telling stories aboot (apparently that’s Canadian for “about”) their bowling expedition the night before and expressing their dismay at the City Museum’s blatant disregard of safety.
As they progressed through their surprisingly expansive catalogue, it was sometimes hard to believe that the twins had done this hundreds of times in the past. Everything seemed so novel and exciting to them that it was impossible not to feel a connection to the ever-youthful indie rockers. Jumping between their six studio albums, including their most recent Sainthood, the Canadian duo proved that haven’t lost a step in their decade-long run and that hits about heartbreak and healing continue streaming out of them with no signs of slowing down.
