Photo: Press

Tegan & Sara played the first of two sold-out nights at London's KOKO last night. Amidst an evening of pure joy, they took a moment to reflect on the mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando earlier this month.

49 members of the LGBT community were killed, and 53 others injured, in what was not only the deadliest mass shooting in US history, but also the deadliest incident of violence against LGBT people in US history.

But Tegan & Sara's message is a simple one: we must not be afraid, and we must not feel bad about who we are. Here's Tegan's on-stage reflections on the Orlando shooting, transcribed in full.

"There's so much loss in the world every day, but we were specifically really destroyed by what happened in Orlando. We feel that it's really important to say that we shouldn't be afraid, and we shouldn't feel bad. Feel bad about what happened, but not about yourself.

I saw a lot of people online talking about being scared, and I just thought to myself, 'This is a time in history where we can't become apathetic, we have to push forward.' This is the time to remember that we still have to be strong. Our community has to be strong, our allies have to stand with us, we have to remember that there are people that do terrible, terrible things. My instinct the day of the shooting was to pull back a little bit. For the first time in a very long time, I was with my girlfriend, and I was like, 'I don't want to hold hands'. It's a terrible feeling. It made me sick because it was the first time in my adult life that I felt scared. And I'm not afraid. It went away very quickly. I'm not afraid. I'm proud of who we are.

Maybe because of who we are, we've heard about awful, sick terrible things that happen to LGBT people all the time, and it keeps us fighting and we're intentionally out there, I hope, being role models and helping move things forward. Whether you know this or not, by supporting us - whether it's just for one album, one song, just today or the last seventeen years - you have helped to make change, you helped to queer the mainstream.

We still have to fight, we still have a lot of people who are being oppressed and hurt, so I'm going to continue to be motivated, I hope you'll continue to be present and I hope people go out and celebrate Pride every day, but especially this weekend. It's more important than ever before for us to stand together as a community.

For anyone who has felt bad, or who feels scared when any awful tragic LGBT hate crime happens - don't feel bad about yourself. Don't. There's nothing wrong with you. You're wonderful. We love you."

Tegan & Sara play a second night at London's KOKO tonight (23 June). Get tickets and more information here.

See last night's setlist below.

Call It Off
Now I'm All Messed Up
Back in Your Head
I Was a Fool
How Come You Don't Want Me
Drove Me Wild
Goodbye, Goodbye
U-Turn
Stop Desire
Living Room
100x
Nineteen
Walking With a Ghost
Boyfriend
Closer
The Con
Where Does the Good Go