Stars or Sigur Ros

[Frau_Blucher]

...that's the choice I had to make tonight. I'm out in Chicago for some meetings, and there's just a shitload of activity in town. Monday was Spacemen 3, which unfortunately I was not able to make. Wednesday was Sigur Ros at the Chicago Theatre while Montreal's Stars were up north at The Vic Theatre in Lakeview. My choice was to either cough up a likely 50 bucks to see a sold out Sigure Ros show or finally see a band that I've admired a ton from a distance for many years. Ultimately the choice was easy. Probably half the Sigur Ros audience was going to be hipsters who thought they "should" be there and didn't know fuck about the band. The Vic audience was undoubtedly going to be there because they fucking love this little Canadian band.

Stars didn't disappoint. I think a lot of new wave folks would love Stars live. They're a fascinating mix of synths, heavy pads, guitars, trumpets, fabulous bass strumming and perfect drums pounding...oh, and some great medolica here and there too! They're hopeless romantics who sing an ethereal brand of dream-pop punctuated with the occassional ripping guitars. The straining, yearning vocals of Torquil Campbell play perfectly against the girlish wistfullness of Amy Millan. I took a couple of colleagues to the gig - they were blown away and thought to themselves just how much they'd been missing by simply not thinking about going out to gigs. Stars had that kind of effect tonight.

It was a thoroughly satisfying evening. The classic track from the album Set Yourself On Fire, "Your Ex-Love Is Dead" (metaphorically speaking of course), thrilled the audience as the main set-ender. The encore starter of "Calendar Girl" was like meeting an old friend. "Reunion" got the crownd pogo-ing like an old new wave track. "The Night Starts Here" from the new album featured heart-thumping bass that had the audience head-banging...in a slighty reserved fashion of course.

I think Stars are a pretty special band. I hope some of you choose to check 'em out on their subsequent dates:

Thu 09/25/08 Saint Louis, MO The Pageant

Fri 09/26/08 Lawrence, KS Granada Theatre

Sun 09/28/08 Austin, TX Zilker Park

Tue 09/30/08 Mexico City, MEX Polyforum Siqueiros

Wed 10/01/08 Los Angeles, CA The Avalon

Thu 10/02/08 Anaheim, CA House Of Blues

Fri 10/03/08 Santa Barbara, CA University Of California

Sat 10/04/08 Santa Cruz, CA Rio Theatre

Mon 10/06/08 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore

Tue 10/07/08 Eugene, OR WOW Hall

Wed 10/08/08 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom

Thu 10/09/08 Seattle, WA Showbox At The Market

Fri 10/10/08 Bellingham, WA W. Washington Univ.

Wed 10/29/08 Fredericton, NB University Of New Brunswick

Thu 10/30/08 Moncton, NB The Manhattan

Fri 10/31/08 Charlottetown, PE The Wave

Sat 11/01/08 Halifax, NS Marquee Club

Mon 11/03/08 Saint John's, NL Club One

Mon 11/24/08 Quebec City, QC Imperial Du Quebec

Tue 11/25/08 Kingston, ON Sydenham Street United Church

Wed 11/26/08 Ottawa, ON Bronson Centre

Fri 11/28/08 Montreal, QC Metropolis

Fri 12/12/08 Toronto, ON Queen Elizabeth Theatre

A few vids:

Your Ex-Lover is Dead:
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The Night Starts Here:
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Ageless Beauty:
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[ebbhead]

Didn't make it to the show last week at Terminal 5 (conflicts or laziness, not sure which), but have seen them a couple of times. I love them. Seriously love them. Well, Amy Milan specifically, but the band as a whole. They're amazing live. Torquil, by the way, was a former child actor in Canada (and adult actor, actually). Though I'm sure the Chicago show had to be full of hipsters too. They're not exactly a secret anymore... [:(]

Their cover of The Smiths' This Charming Man is one of my favorite covers ever.

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fh8zsUAgsbM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by ebbhead[/i]
<br>Their cover of The Smiths' This Charming Man is one of my favorite covers ever.
[/quote]
It's possible that [i]somebody[/i] may have yelled out "THIS CHARMING MAN!" at some point during the gig last night. [cough]

[ebbhead]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Blir[/i]
<br>[quote][i]Originally posted by ebbhead[/i]
<br>Their cover of The Smiths' This Charming Man is one of my favorite covers ever.
[/quote]
It's possible that [i]somebody[/i] may have yelled out "THIS CHARMING MAN!" at some point during the gig last night. [cough]
[/quote]

[:p]

[MARV]

[quote][i]Originally posted by ebbhead[/i]
<br>Their cover of The Smiths' This Charming Man is one of my favorite covers ever.[/quote]

Ditto. You're lucky Blir, to have seen them live. I think I would have made the same choice even though I understand Sigur Ros throw an amazing show. As true as that may be, I'm a total sucker for that "girlish wistfullness" type of vocal. So well put.