MOG

been to a show and felt like you were the only one there? Maybe not the only person, but maybe just one of like a half dozen people? Last Thursday was my night, and it was beautiful. I've been to plenty of shows here in Indy at the Egyptian Ball Room. It's one of my favorite local venues. It's a large, open room with great acoustics. Well, it's normally a large open room. After going up a couple flights of stairs, I turned the corner to find the entire area is covered in hundreds of folding chairs; even the area where the bar and sound boards are usually setup. In disbelief, I pulled my ticket out of my pocket and could only see the word "Pit" on it where the seating info is. I could clearly see that there wasn't a pit set up. In the end, I handed my ticket to an usher, and he told me to go to the front. This didn't really tell me a lot; so, I went to the front and asked again. This time, I was guided to "the front"... and center of the stage and was told my seat was there. I couldn't believe it. After years of wondering how the hell people ever got front-row tickets, I was finally sitting there, and I couldn't have been happier.

The opening band was a duo from Brisbane, Australia called An Horse; consisting of Kate on guitar/vocals and Damon on drums/vocals. An Horse play some pretty catchy indie rock. The lyrics and guitar borderline on being a bit repetitive at times, but I really enjoyed their set. It's well worth showing up early and catching their set. The music was good, and the inter-song commentaries and stories were entertaining too. Evidently Kate is in love with Tegan's mom; not sure where that leaves Sara.

The true beauty of the night happened when Tegan and Sara took the stage. At this point, I stood up and rested against the rail to watch the show. I've never been a fan of seating at a show, but it was good to be this close without all the shoving from behind, crowd surfers kicking me in the back of the head, and rudely placed elbows. At times, the rest of the room might as well have been empty. It was almost embarrassing. As the Canadian twins poured out their brand of pop/rock, I could casually stand there and watch every nuance of the show, and they played an awesome set. Tegan and Sara are still touring The Con, and I am loving the album. As usual, the twins took turns with vocals; singing lead for the songs they wrote. They also swapped turns playing electric and acoustic guitar. It's been a few years since I saw them play. During that show, I only recall one song where keyboards were played at all. Now, well, now there are 3 keyboards on stage, and a few songs use all three. Tegan played keyboards for a few songs, and the bassist and other guitar player played the other keyboards for some songs. By the end of the night, they'd played all my favorites and many more. They'd even delivered on the entertaining, sisterly banter I was expecting to hear, and I found myself laughing quite a bit between songs. All in all, it was a great night and went almost flawlessly. During the encore, Tegan forgot the words to I Know. Evidently, this has been a problem the past two shows, and she'd wanted to skip it that night. It appears she's developed a mental block with it and, even after multiple tries, ended up having to freestyle lyrics for it; singing about how she appreciated everyone who came out (even the drunk girl they'd had thrown out earlier in the night for repeatedly giving them the finger) and how she hopes we all come see them again when they come back (yeah, even the drunk girl). I'm sure I'll be there. I can only hope for more shows like this one.

Thanks for reading.