The Both: Aimee Mann and Ted Leo at Team Up Union Transfer

Aimee Mann and Ted Leo clearly enjoy each other's company.  Onstage, she ribs him about his nerdy proclivities for  memorizing Hobbit trivia and Paul Stanley stage banter, and he teases her right back.

It's not hard to see why these two musicians recently joined forces to write and record as The Both. At Saturday Night's show at Union Transfer, it was also clear how two fairly different sensibilities can add up to something electrifying.

I've long admired Mann's solo work, and, before that, her work with uber-Eighties band 'Til Tuesday, but I wasn't prepared for how well her acerbic folkie sensibility would meld with Leo's punk/indie rocker style.

Ted Leo on guitar

His voice is resounding and earthy where hers is ethereal and poetic.  And his guitar solos lent welcome heat to each song.  

Aimee Mann on bass

Saturday night's show included every song on The Both.  It also featured solo material from both and a Thin Lizzie cover tossed in for good measure. 

To this exile from the Eighties, the night's highlight was its penultimate number, a killer version of the 'Til Tuesday hit, "Voices Carry."

Matt Mayhall on drums

A bonus: Union Transfer is one of our favorite Philly venues, and an after-hours food truck called Mobile Awesome glowed enticingly at the curb as concertgoers wandered off into the night.  I'm not much of a hot dog fan (that would be an understatement), but Mobile Awesome's oak-smoked kimchi dog was a revelation--as tasty and searing as a Ted Leo guitar solo.