Music Monday #30: Astronautalis, Tegan & Sara (28-Nov-2009)

It’s Music Monday, sort of, and let me just say that if you haven’t been at a Tegan & Sara concert in the past weeks, you’ve been missing out. We saw the concert in Cologne on November 28th, and it was fantastic. Some people have complained in forums that the crowd seemed bored and unenthusiastic, but I suppose they were simply introverted. People were cheering and happy, and I was glad that we found a nice spot on the balcony because that way there were no people pushing and shoving behind us and we had a great view of the stage. The sound was great, the light show was great and their mix of songs was also very nice. It appears they’re not aware that you can already get their new CD, Sainthood, in CD stores in Germany (or online at amazon.de), but they still played most songs from the new album, plus some old favorites like Living Room, The Con, Nineteen, I Bet It Stung, Walking With A Ghost, etc.

I felt bad for Astronautalis, who was their very enthusiastic opening act, because the audience didn’t seem to get warm with him, as we say here. It was pretty impressive how he performed with nothing but a mic and a Mac, even though it was hard to understand his lyrics most of the time. He jumped around and leaned far into the audience, scared the security personnel, and while the audience took many photos, they also seemed somewhat alienated.

Astronautalis (a.k.a. Andy Bothwell) stopped by the merchandise table later, selling his CD. He signed it, too, but contrary to the lovely Anaïs Mitchell, he didn’t ask my name or sign it to me personally. And as his autograph is already on the CD as part of the design, I now have one that has his autograph twice. But I really don’t mind.

People also bought a lot of merchandise in general, it seems. We went to buy our merch before the show, because then the merch table is mostly empty and they still have a wide variety of things. When we dropped by again after the concert, two of the T-shirts were already sold out.

We had about four hours to kill before we could hop on the train back and we spent it at a café, trying not to fall asleep, and then we migrated to a McDonald’s where we sat drinking the same cup of tea for two hours, staring blankly ahead, listening in on conversations between drunk people and wondering who all these people were that felt like having fries and a Cheeseburger at 2 in the morning.

So while as an audience we couldn’t compare with the audience of the concert in Munich this year (not last year – last year someone threw an empty bottle on the stage), I still had a great time and I feel all the stress was totally worth it. So as I said – if you haven’t seen them, you were missing out!

Now to all those who cares, here’s a mediocre recording of Arrow, as sung in Cologne on November 28th, 2009. Enjoy.

Tegan and Sara – Arrow (Cologne 28-Nov-2009) [Sendspace]
Tegan and Sara – Arrow (Cologne 28-Nov-2009) [MEGAUPLOAD]

More links (not mine):
Astronautalis – Trouble Huners (Cologne, E-Werk) [YouTube]
Tegan and Sara – The Con (Cologne, E-Werk) [YouTube]
You can also find the rest of the concert in dozingcat’s YouTube uploads.