Facts: Tegan has a labret piercing. Sara loves the stage banter.
In a 20-song set, Canada's favorite twins delivered a sprawling performance of shining indie rock and wandering anecdotes in their sold-out show at the Pageant.
Starting off with the the triple-threat of fan-favorites “I Know I Know I Know,” “The Con,” and “Walking With A Ghost,” the Quin sisters set the pace for tight set list that evenly balanced material new and old, with fresh reinterpretations for many of the later.
Set list:
I Know I Know I Know
The Con
Walking With a Ghost
Burn Your Life Down
Like O, Like h
Take Me Anywhere
Speak Slow
I Bet It Stung
Are You Ten Years Ago
Call It Off
Where Does the Good Go
Relief Next to Me
Not Tonight
When I Get Up
Fix You Up
Nineteen
Hop a Plane
Back In Your Head
Encore:
So Jealous
Living Room
Photographer's Notes:
Going in, I basically only had one objective with this set: Get a shot of the Quinn twins in the same frame. Bonus points if the shot includes the guitar necks projecting out at twin-like degrees of similitude. Thanks to a nice pit, this was the easy part.
Tegan and Sara's very liberal camera policy was evident on the floor, with lots of cameras all around, a stark contrast from the night before. During the first few songs, flashes going off in the audience made for a very high degree of catchflash even at moderate shutter speeds of 1/200.
I shot from in front of the barricade, which, thanks to My Chemical Romance on the previous night, was generously deep. After a streak of other shows with no pit, I wouldn't have been surprised if I would have had to shoot from the crowd for this show.
Lighting:
Lighting for the first three songs was generally pretty minimal, with warm white light from the front and a mix of deep washes from the back. Blues, magentas, and reds dominated the schemes, with a good amount of haze to fill out the effects.
Exposure & Metering:
I shot mostly between f/1.8 and f/2.8 at ISO 3200, with shutter speeds ranging from 1/100 to 1/200. While I could have shot at ISO 6400 and f/2.8 with zooms, due to the mix of lighting, I knew that these images would benefit from the lower sensitivity.
Lenses & Gear:
In a change from a lot of my recent shows, I shot this show almost entirely with primes, drawing heavily on the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4.
On the full-frame Nikon D3, the 50mm is once again a “standard” lens with a fairly neutral perspective, balanced in between the wide and telephoto spectrums. I found this lens particularly useful for photographing the two sisters in the same frame.
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