As the stage crew adjusted mic settings and rearranged amps before Stars’ set at Terminal 5 in New York on September 20, a small, dapper man dressed in a tuxedo and a porkpie hat darted in and out between the various pieces of equipment, inserting red roses at various angles by way of decoration. Humorous, surprising, and a little magical, it set the stage for what was to be a unique night.
The well-dressed decorator returned onstage in his other guise as the bassist of Stars as the five other members of the band emerged from the darkness to thunderous applause. Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan, the two lead singers and most famous members of the band, briefly acknowledged the applause before launching into "The Night Starts Here," the first track from their 2007 release In Our Bedroom After The War. Though the song merely percolated on the original recording, onstage Campbell and Millan turned it into a powerful duet and a rousing call to arms.
Stars had much to choose from in their varied catalog of four albums and four EPs, which features everything from downtempo piano ballads to fierce guitar-driven rock. The 2007 LP In Our Bedroom After the War drew lackluster reviews for the inconsistency of its tracks, but that Saturday night Campbell and Millan seemed to be acutely conscious of the groups' best tracks, playing only the strongest cuts from each album. Amy Millan successfully translated the chamber pop love song "My Favorite Book" into an energetic rock ballad, and the group performed fan favorites "Elevator Love Letter" and "Bitches in Tokyo" with similar ferventness and enthusiasm.
The members of Stars have always had a flair for the dramatic, which can be heard in the lush orchestration and theatrical storylines on their many records. Though the group had none of the usual backing strings on stage, the group's successful rock reorchestration and Campbell's riveting stage presence did not disappoint. Whether or not his repeated processions of love for New York were fueled by the bottle of champagne he repeatedly swigged from ultimately didn't matter-- his earnestness charmed the audience nonetheless. Millan lacked the extroversion of Campbell and sometimes appeared to be straining her soft voice, but her tight guitar solos effectively displayed impressive enthusiasm for her music.
Stars released a new work, the synth-heavy Sad Robot EP, only weeks before the tour, and when the group broke into one of its cuts it was clear that most of the audience hadn't heard the new record. Even so, the group successfully integrated the new tracks into the setlist without allowing the energy to flag. By the time Campbell introduced the EP and told the audience that they could "buy it or steal it from a friend," as long at they listened to it, most audience members seemed sold on the new songs.
Stars left the stage after an hour-long set during which the group endorsed Obama for president, wished Campbell's parents (who were present) a happy birthday, hurled countless red roses into the audience, and returned for a four-song encore featuring the favorites "Take Me to the Riot," "One More Night," "Calendar Girl", and "Heart". It was a lengthy encore to a lengthy show, but the audience didn't seem to mind. Stars has consistently used its songs to create alternate worlds where even the most heartwrenching moments are poetically narrated and lushly scored, and the band successfully translated this drama onstage at Terminal 5. Even though the show was a little long and occasionally overwrought, it still produced a world that the audience wanted to be a part of.
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