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STARS – LIVE @ THE CROFOOT – MARCH 29 2008
I saw Stars in Detroit back in 2005 at Saint Andrew's Hall - and I'm SOOOO happy to say - the performance at the Crofoot on Saturday was heads and tails above and beyond the that performance. It was my first time at the Crofoot and I was pleasantly surprised. Kind of a Saint Andrew's Hall vibe - a wee bit smaller - but all shiny and new. Amazing sound. Cheap beer. And a sweet band.
How can you go wrong?
Martin Royal and the band Pash opened up. It wasn't bad. They didn't take themselves too seriously - which is always refreshing. When a band can get up - and belt out lyrics like: "You can take my dignity, I will take all my CDs….you may have taken the best years of my life but I took the best of Bob Dylan 65 to 75, the Columbia Recordings" - and sound like they MEAN it...hey...that says something. It was a truly entertaining set.
Stars came out around 10pm or so - very dramatic - mood lighting - the twinkly blips and bleeps of "The Beginning After the End" filling the room and of course - they merged directly into "The Night Starts Here" - not my favourite track off the new record by a long shot, but - I guess as a show opener - appropriate.
It's always a bummer when a band opens a show with a song you're not the most thrilled about hearing - but the good news: They made up for it 150 percent with the set that followed. It was just a bang-bang-bang of kick-ass album tracks - including Elevator Love Letter - the show stopping Soft Revolution (which had enough energy to be a blow-the-roof-off-closer, but was only song 3!!) and the beautiful Window Bird.
Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan who share lead vocals on nearly every song (in a very Jesus and Mary Chain/Hope Sandoval "Sometimes Always"-kind of way) played off each other perfectly, as usual - but I really felt Amy stole the show last night. Her voice was flawless - and her guitar playing was pretty fierce all night long. A mighty force in the band.
At one point - Torq did a little acapella version of Phil Collin's "One More Night" - which merged into (yup - you guessed it) "One More Night" - which lifted a pretty hefty response from the audience. Bitches in Tokyo set the room on FIRE and made me wish for a moment it was an Amy Millan solo show - her solo record - Honey From the Tombs was easily one of the BEST of 2006. It was great to hear the song with the kind of ending it deserved. On the album - they do the horrific "fade out" on this song, which really irks me. I think fading out a song is a practice that needs to be banned! It's a great way to ruin a high energy song...but - live - it got the riff-heavy, extendo-jam session ending it deserved, so it really came alive.
The stage was decorated with about 6 big bouquets of flowers, which the band kept grabbing handfuls of and throwing out to the crowd - (Prince Purple Rain tour, anyone?).
Halfway through - Torq asked the audience how many people were from Detroit - and smiled at the loud and enthusiastic explosion of "woo-hooo's!" and said: "Well...this next one is a Detroit song.." - at which point the band burst into their current hit - Take Me to the Riot.
Amy Millan then asked how many people drove in from Canada...and again - nearly an equal amount of cheers.
"I knew it!" She said, beaming - tossing a handful of roses out to the crowd. "How nice is this...Canada and the U.S...Unified in one room...".
Torq then said this was the biggest crowd EVER in Michigan - and said the last few times they'd played Detroit - there were only 15 people in the room.
I raised an eyebrow at this one, because I remember QUITE clearly in 2005 - Saint Andrew's being wall-to-wall packed - but - the Crofoot crowd was FAR more into it this time around.
Of course - I also remember seeing Amy Millan's incredible solo set at the Magic Bag and there being only 12 people.
Regardless - they were impressed with the audience and how INTO the vibe of the night everyone was.
The band was very "jammish" - which gave a little shot of adrenaline and a waaaaaay more energized live translation from what you hear on their albums - the energy didn't drop once during their hour and a half performance.
They did a great mix of songs from all three of their popular albums - and the new songs fit in perfectly and were just as much a highlight to the evening as the old favourites.
I've been a fan of this band for about 5 years now - and each time I see them - I'm always amazed at how much they have grown as performers and sound manipulators. They've got a REALLY cool thing going on - and this show was EASILIY the best I've seen them yet. I'm CRAZY excited to see the good things this band is going to throw at is in the future.
PS - Amy Millan...if you're reading - another solo album wouldn't hurt either!!!

Here's the set list - and please forgive me - this is probably out of order, and I could be missing a song or two..I think for the most part this is the general order of the night, maybe a few are flip-flopped...I have to say - it really was a perfect mix which made for a truly beautiful evening, Stars-style.

The Beginning After the End (intro)

The Night Starts Here
Elevator Love Letter
Soft Revolution
Window Bird
Torq's "One More Night" a la Phil Collins...
One More Night (Your Ex Lover Remains Dead)
Take Me To The Riot
Bitches in Tokyo
Set Yourself on Fire
Personal
Midnight Coward
Your Ex-Lover is Dead
Ageless Beauty
In Our Bedroom After the War

Encore:
My Favourite Book (i think...? i was actually in the bathroom for this one - too many Red Stripes dammit!!!!! sorry!!)
Calendar Girl
The Woods

– Dan MacDonald