After a long week of evacuations, feelings of anxiety, boredom, and for many — fear, it was time for something a little more uplifting. Enter Gwen Stefani. She went on with her scheduled show Tuesday night (Oct 30th), putting smiles on several San Diegans with the newly priced tickets of $9.33 (courteousy of Channel 933) and donating the proceeds of the show towards San Diego Foundation’s After-the-Fires Fund 2007.

But what about the many fans who were just not feeling Gwen’s glitter parade (don’t get me wrong, I would have been there had I known about the $9.33 price and donations)? Not to feel left out, many San Diegans made their way to Spreckels Theater for another scheduled show: Tegan and Sara.

Despite the melancholy topics heard on many of their songs, the crowd was extremely enthusiastic — to the point of Tegan saying you could hardly tell San Diego went through a tragedy (and if you are wondering, the girls did donate through poster sales). The identical sisters went on to play many songs off their recent album “The Con,” a few oldie but goodies, and told stories of ice-storms v. our firestorm, a stupid pet bird named Nicolas Cage, and childhood days singing along to Phil Collins.

The highlight, for myself personally, was the encore. After applause, hoots, and hollers from the crowd, Sara emerges with her guitar and begins to play acoustically. No amps, no mikes, no nothing. It takes awhile for the crowd to shut up (Sara threatens that she will stop if the crowd ruins it), but once all is quiet, she begins to play “Walking With the Ghost” — encouraging the crowd to sing along. It’s a bumpy ride, but the crowd knows the song by heart and every person in the multi-leveled room has a smile on their face.

After “Walking With the Ghost,” Tegan and the rest of the backing band make their way on stage and performed the most covered song of 2007, “Umbrella” (yes, that same “Umbrella” recorded by Rihanna). It was loud, it was upbeat, it was kind of ironic — but it was awesome.

With all that has been going on in San Diego for the past week and a couple of days, it was nice having a great band to listen, dance, and sing along to. If I had a choice, bands and artists would be coming into San Diego everyday just to perform and cheer us up for whatever reason. Music is a great release, and Tegan and Sara certainly did a great job helping us release our anxieties and momentarily forget about the fires that put our lives on hold. Tegan and Sara did not disappoint, and for that I am happy.