Tegan and Sara in Bristol 12.08.07

“We took a course on how to make people like us,” says Sara, totally deadpan, her diminutive frame perched on an amp so the crowd towards the back of the criminally tiny Academy 2 could see her. “Lesson six is this: con-nec-ting with your people.” Supporting the release of their fifth record, “The Con”, the Canadian twins (and their band of “Sting and Paul McCartney”, according to Sara) kicked off their first proper jaunt around the UK to a crowd who made Glastonbury sing-a-longs look amateur, whilst they performed songs from their increasingly experimental repertoire with such aching charm and musical versatility that it beggars belief as to why they don’t currently have a UK label. Sometimes unfairly stereotyped as dreary singer-songwriter “lesbiancore” performers, the grinding yet elegant synthesis of “So Jealous”, science-questioning urgency of “Like O, Like H”, and the now anthemic (no thanks to the White Stripes) “Walking With A Ghost” shattered this ludicrous theory, along with the affable sisterly banter that permeated the performance; never mind taking lessons in likeability; T&S are already prodigies of their subject.