7 posts tagged “stars”

Well, it's over. I meant to post a recap of who I saw on Saturday yesterday morning, but I got sidetracked; and I've been in bed feeling like rubbish all day today. Not sure whether Lollapalooza's to blame or some other source of lurgee, but I can at least see straight now.

So, Saturday. We got to Grant Park in time to see a snippet of Foals. I had no opinion on them either way, which is odd considering they're one of the many "saviours of rock n' roll" that get trotted out by the NME every year. I also caught a little snippet of The Gutter Twins, featuring the inimitable Mark Lanegan. I wasn't paying too much attention, but they sounded alright.

The first band proper for me was MGMT, whose weird Bowie meets dance sound was perfectly suited to the festival vibe. I really enjoyed them, and their guitarist's shredding all over 'Kids' was fantastic.

Josie went off to see DeVotchKa, who are like a Hispanic gypsy folk take on The Smiths, while Jess and I hung out waiting for Brand New to come on. We saw them live already, but in a terrible venue full of teenyboppers, so we were hoping they'd be better at a festival. Not so much. The highlight of their set was the dudes brawling a few metres away from me. It's a shame, because on CD, they're great.

At least frontman Jesse Lacey was as disappointed as us, at one point telling the crowd "You should all be watching Explosions In The Sky."

Somehow, there was a big gap for us, until we ended up watching Okkervil River while waiting for Broken Social Scene to come on. They weren't what I expected (the name conjured up rootsy blues, but they were more folky and upbeat). I liked them.

Then Broken Social Scene... Broken Social Scene were my second favourite band after Radiohead. For a band with such an inconsistent line-up, they manage to be consistently awesome, and played some of my favourites including '7/4 (Shoreline)' and 'Farewell To The Pressure Kids'... and they had Amy from Stars with them, awesome.

We caught the tail end of Toadies' set (apparently they were big in America, never heard of them... and gladly so), then sat patiently waiting for Rage Against The Machine. I had chosen them over Wilco as I don't know that I would get to see them again.

I was... kinda non-plussed. While musically, they were tight, it sounded exactly the same as the CDs. To me, part of the appeal of seeing a band live is seeing how they mess with their arrangements. Add to that the fact they *kept* stopping so Zach could lecture the moshpit, and it wasn't all that entertaining. A massive shame. I wish I had seen Wilco now.

Sunday was the least action packed of the three days, reflected by the fact we were able to head down so late (not helped by The Weakerthans pulling out).

As we arrived, we could hear Iron & Wine and decided against them as they would be a bit of a Debbie Downer. So, our first act of the day was the brilliant Saul Williams. The girls weren't fans, but he did put on an energetic performance.

We caught snippets of Blues Traveller and Love & Rockets, but the next band proper was The National. Having seen them in the colossal United Center supporting REM, I wanted to see if their sound fared better in a relatively smaller environment... and I am pleased to say it did. I love them.

After they left the stage, the girls went over to catch the start of Kanye West's set while I watched Nine Inch Nails. I'd seen them before and really enjoyed them, but for some reason, the magic just wasn't there this time around... I think mostly because they decided to kill the mood a short way into their set by playing some of the instrumental pieces from Ghosts I-IV... which, while great to listen to when you're chilling out, is not really much fun when you're stood in a field.

They did play an awful lot of material from The Downward Spiral, though, which sort of made up for it. Especially 'Closer'.

Overall, it really was a good weekend, marred only - really - by feeling horribly ill today.

In honor of Canada Day, show us your favorite Canadian.

Show us your favorite arts & crafts project.

LOL. http://www.arts-crafts.ca/stars/starsindex.html

This was the third time I'd seen Stars, and the second time in Chicago. I left work late and had to hurry home to change, get food and get up to the venue. We got there just in time.

I recognised the security guy. When Jim and Sinead came over for Lollapalooza, the four of us (Jim, Sinead, Jess and I) were eating breakfast in a nearby diner and some guy started talking to us about Pearl Jam and the other bands playing, he was telling us how he'd worked security at a fan gig they'd done as a warm-up. Small world.

He is the originator of "straight up, unhyphenated rock" - a phrase I'm a big fan of, mostly because straight-up rock is hyphenated.

Anyway, that was a huge digression.

For reasons I couldn't make out, their original support couldn't make it, so the opener was an English guy who told us his name was Jim and that he was 36. He mentioned his band having an album out, and on Googling the album name, it seems he is the front man of a band called The Zincs.

His music was OK - it was him singing in a baritone over intricate, fingerpicked acoustic. On some songs, he was accompanied by a drum machine. I guess when I had previously seen My Latest Novel and The Elected supporting Stars, I was mostly just underwhelmed... and Andrew Bird, a similar solo support I saw with Bright Eyes, blew him away.

Then Stars came on, featuring a very young, very thin new guitarist. They played the following, which is as good as accurate as far as I can tell...

From Nightsongs
'Tonight'

- this was the closing song, played as an apology for messing up 'Calendar Girl' and 'Heart'. *swoon*

From Heart
'Elevator Love Letter'
'Heart'
'Look Up'

From Set Yourself On Fire
'Your Ex-Lover Is Dead'
'Set Yourself On Fire'
'Ageless Beauty'
'Reunion'
'What I'm Trying To Say'
'One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead)'
'Soft Revolution'
'Calendar Girl'

From In Our Bedroom After The War
'The Beginning After The End'
'The Night Starts Here'
'Take Me To The Riot'
'My Favourite Book'
'Midnight Coward'
'The Ghost Of Genova Heights'
'Personal'
'In Our Bedroom After The War'

Torq was very chatty throughout the show, while Amy just seemed to get progressively tipsy and Evan was content to just throw shapes (and bunches of flowers). His stage attire reminded Jess of Run DMC, with his little pork pie hat. Drummer Pat has toned down the crazy attire and was content to thrash the crap out of his drumkit, twirl his sticks a lot and smile.

It's really hard to describe a Stars show. There are no costumes or light shows or gimmicks, the adorable Canucks just play and sing their hearts out, making you swoon and dance and bounce happily.

Of the shows I've gone to in the past month, this was my favourite. The venue was perfect for the band - neither too big, nor too small, with decent sound for their music. The music itself obviously played a big part of it - Torq and Amy's vocals have been crystal clear and perfect on all three occasions I've seen them, while the arrangements and choice of songs changes enough to keep it interesting without them missing out my favourites.

Show us which album tops your best of 2007 list so far.

It's a three way tie so far:

The Crane Wife by The Decemberists apparently came out last year - as did Mercury-nominated Irishman Fionn Regan's album, The End Of History; and In Rainbows by Radiohead isn't out yet. Closely following behind these are Nux Vomica by The Veils, Under The Blacklight by Rilo Kiley, 23 by Blonde Redhead and An End Has A Start by Editors.

Here is a list of everything released this year that I have on my iPod, which in theory is everything released this year that I own but it may be incomplete:

Pocket Symphony by Air
Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
Favourite Worst Nightmare by Arctic Monkeys
Fur And Gold by Bats For Lashes
Volta by Bjork
23 by Blonde Redhead
Cassadaga by Bright Eyes
On Letting Go by Circa Survive
Some Loud Thunder by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
An End Has A Start by Editors
The Best Of - The First Ten Years by Elvis Costello
The Reminder by Feist
Our Love To Admire by Interpol
Further North by Johnathan Rice
Spirit If... by Kevin Drew
Because Of The Times by Kings Of Leon
Singularity by Mae
Heresy And The Hotel Choir by Maritime
We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse
Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails
Planet Earth by Prince
My Brother's Blood Machine by The Prize Fighter Inferno
Under The Blacklight by Rilo Kiley
Young Modern by Silverchair
Zeitgeist by Smashing Pumpkins
In Our Bedroom After The War by Stars
Beauty & Crime by Suzanne Vega
Nux Vomica by The Veils
Sky Blue Sky by Wilco

Audio: Share what you're listening to right now.

Today, I bought the new albums by two different Canadian acts.

In Our Bedroom After The War by Stars

Spirit If... by Kevin Drew

TBTF stands for Too Beautiful To F**k, so beware the rude words.

After seeing Rilo Kiley last Saturday, Jess and I have a busy few weeks ahead for gigs. We are (* hopefully) seeing...

* 24 September: Fionn Regan @ Lakeshore Theatre

27 September: Beastie Boys @ Riviera Theatre

16 October: Jonah Matranga @ Schuba's

19 October: Bright Eyes @ Chicago Theatre

20 October: Brand New @ Congress Theatre

2 November: Stars @ Vic Theatre