Stars at the Trocadero - Show Review

Stars brought their unique blend of indie pop all the way from their native Montreal to the lovely Trocadero theater in Philadelphia on October 24th, and Evil Homer was there with his pitchfork.
Stars released their fourth full length album, entitled In Our Bedroom After The War, on September 25th of this year. It's a good listen, blending vocal harmonies of Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan, over always unpredictable changes in tempo and speed. The album flows between the dark feel of "Personal," to the epic and powerful closing track, which is the title track. Anywho, on to the show.

After a somewhat forgettable opening performance by New Buffalo, I made my way to the main fllor to get a good spot. The stage was decorated with bouquets of flowers seemingly everywhere, and artwork in gallery frames that remained lit throughout the show. The house was near capacity with a crowd quite diverse in style and age. After the cursory wait, Stars took the stage. Campell's and Millan's presence on stage quickly focused the crowd on their interaction, starting with Take Me To The Riot. The band was in sync, making transition smoothly. Overall sound quality was good, but both lead vocals were a bit buried in the mix, making it quite difficult to totally enjoy, and near impossible to understand what Campbell said between songs. Throughout the show, various flowers were tossed to the crowd, making for a great visual of the crowd as a garden.

The highlight of the show for me included Reunion, chronicling being reintroduced to an ex-lover. Amy Millan really grabs the crowd, with her smooth and silky vocal skills. The song caries a lot of emotional lyrics, and the live version didn't leave you feeling let down. My other favorite was Bedroom. The song builds so slowly from just keys and vocals that by the time Stars have reached the climax, with Campbell repeating "After the war," and the band full out rockin', that you don't realize you've been loudly signing along. Bedroom ended the main set in style, and solidly put the show into the category of rockin'. I give it seven Homers.

Set List:

Take Me to the Riot
Set Yourself on Fire
Elevator Love Letter
Genova Heights
Bitches in Tokyo
One More Night
Personal
Look Up
Soft Revy
Midnight Coward
Window Bird
You're Ex-Lover is Dead
Reunion
What I'm Trying to Say
Sleep Tonight
Ageless
In Our Bedroom After the War


Song that I don't know and wasn't on the setlist
My Favourite Book
Celebration Guns
Calendar Girl

P.S. RATM tonight. Holla.

P.P.S. Thanx to Katherine for jogging my memory that they did close with Calendar Girl. They didn't include the encore on the setlist, and I'm a crack baby.

She's got a cool blog. You should read it.