Stars w/ Jade McNelis @ The Phoenix

The first time I saw Stars was at a small venue in Hamilton. (I'm of course talking about the band Stars. The first time I saw actual stars was in grade 3 when Barry Stevens and I both decided we were in love with Tammy who sat in row three of our class. We figured that the only logical way to decide who gets to marry her would be by means of a schoolyard brawl. He pushed me. I fell. My head hit the ground and that's when I saw the aforementioned 'stars.' Needless to say, I didn't win Tammy's heart. But if I remember correctly neither did Barry so booya! But I digress...)

As I was saying, the first time I saw Stars was a few years ago in Hamilton at a place called The Casbah, which had a capacity of only 250 or so and, if I remember correctly, it wasn't sold out. Well, here we are a few years later and they're playing four sold out shows at the 1100 capacity Phoenix. They've hit the big time, and it's totally deserved as they are nothing if not consistent.

The opening act was Montreal's Jade McNelis. Her performance was adequate enough although I don't know if this was the right venue and/or crowd for her style of music. She's your typical singer- songwriter who plays the piano, and she definitely has a beautifully haunting vibrato in her voice. At the show, the songs were a little bit too "been there, done that" for me, but upon sampling her music on her myspace page, her songs do demonstrate a certain measure of promise. It would be neat to see her at a smaller venue in a more intimate setting to see what her music is actually capable of.

By the time Stars hit the stage however, the audience was poised and ready, enthusiastically taking in every note and every sound. Torquil Campbell, more than ever before, did everything he could to prove himself to be the most endearing frontman there is, consistently thanking the audience simply for "listening to the music." Amy Millan was also in fine form, playing up her persona as the incredibly eccentric indie girl who loves to rock. The setlist was equally made for old and new fans alike, highlighting most of the songs from both this years' In Our Bedroom After The War and their previous effort Set Yourself On Fire. They included a few of their older songs as well, making for a very well rounded evening. During "Genova Heights," Torq spent the first verse singing backstage, before donning a crazy looking light bulb suit, reminiscent of the type of thing you would've seen at a Peter Gabriel concert 15 years ago. During the duets, Torq and Amy would often look at each other while singing, as if they were a lovestruck couple on their first date. And closing with the title track of their latest CD was just as gripping as I assumed it would be. Stars are one of those bands that you can always count on to put on a spellbinding show EVERY SINGLE TIME. Something that I personally found quite euphoric was the deafening sound of the audience singing their songs. I realize that this is nothing new when it comes to the live show, but I guess that it just felt surreal to me personally as I constantly reflect back to that first show in Hamilton, where several people didn't even know who they were, let alone enthusiastically singing along. It is awesome to see the amount of success that Stars have been enjoying both here, and in other parts of the world. It's definitely a confirmation of the fact that we are living in a very exciting time for music, where artists that would not have been able to get arrested in the label controlled world, are now being able to sell out larger capacity venues and have their music exposed to throngs of music lovers everywhere. Stars understand because if you've ever heard or read an interview with Torq or any of the other members, you'd know that nobody loves music more than they do. Songs for music lovers, by music lovers. Long live bands like Stars.

Photos: Stars @ The Phoenix on flickr / Jade McNelis @ The Phoenix on flickr
Myspace: Jade McNelis / Stars
Videos: The Night Starts Here by Stars on youtube / Wins bu Jade McNelis on youtube