The last show I saw at The Bluebird was Yeasayer and I barely had enough room to move. This was not the case at the Stars show Wednesday night.
"This is the smallest Stars crowd in maybe five years," lead singer Torquil Campbell said.
Despite the crowd being small, they were enthusiastic, especially when the band played songs off of Set Yourself on Fire and In Our Bedroom After the War. I am not very familiar with their latest album, The Five Ghosts and the crowd didn't seem to be either.
Despite being small, the crowd was very respectful. It was difficult at times to hear the vocals over the heavy drumming and bass, but Torquil, and singer and guitarist, Amy Millan still belted it out. Amy has an absolutely stunning voice. She sings with such grace and compassion that I was thankful during the times when you could hear her. Besides having a wonderful voice, she also had a great stage presence. When not busy at the microphone, she danced around the stage and played the tambourine. Bassist Evan Cranley also seemed to be in a pretty funny mood. He kept grabbing on to the rafters and doing pull ups.
For a while Stars continued to play songs that I wasn't ever in love with, but the concert instantaneously became more magical for me when they finally did. "Midnight Coward", "Take Me to the Riot", and "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" made up for the feeling of distance from the band that I had at the beginning of the show.
All three songs were substantially more epic than on their albums, which is always great. At times, Torquil seemed so into the music that he looked like he was going to cry. It was a bit strange at times, but I chalked it up to him being incredibly passionate. Towards the end of the show, he reiterated a mantra he voiced early, "Remember your ghosts, for Stars." I wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about but my best guess was that he meant the ghosts of your past; the bad memories that make you who you are. This statement was hyper-sentimental, but that was how the entire show felt.
After the band left and returned to the stage for an encore, Torquil thanked the audience for being, "small, but mighty" and talked about how much he appreciated them for coming together to share art. They encored with "Ageless Beauty", "Reunion", and "The Ghost of Genova Heights".
Words by Katie
Pictures by Aubrey Dunnuck
