Stars shine brightly at Trocadero set

By Erin Brodbeck
Collegian Editor
October 31, 2007

The Trocadero got all international Oct. 24 when Canadian indie rockers Stars performed with opener New Buffalo, who hails from down under, aka Australia. The crowd seemed to be filled with hardcore and casual fans alike; all were low-key, pleasant and enjoying an evening of dreamy, friendly tunes.

New Buffalo consists of cutie-pie Sally Seltmann and her piano. She recently released her second album Somewhere, Anywhere on Stars’ label, Arts and Crafts (true story: she wrote Fiest’s recent single “1, 2, 3, 4”).

Seltmann sat at her keyboard dressed in a green dress, black tights and white boots until she stopped halfway through the first song.

“The modulation is off on this keyboard, can’t you tell?” she asked the crowd. The music wasn’t offending my ears, but I’m no sound expert. She then picked up an acoustic guitar instead and treated the crowd to folksy songs occasionally backed by pre-recorded supporting vocals. They were all short and simple numbers that might have been on the bland side if her voice wasn’t so light and charming.

Somewhere, Anywhere features instruments ranging from accordion to clarinet, so the songs didn’t really translate as well to her simple guitar and keyboard set up, but Seltmann really committed to putting on a good show. Particularly enjoyable was “Cheer Me Up Thank You,” in which Seltmann strummed her guitar while harmonizing with herself on a backup recording. The audience was particularly chatty where I was sitting in the balcony, which got in the way of taking in the show, but overall New Buffalo was a great opening act experience.

After a short wait, Stars took the stage, entering to “The Beginning After the End,” the bass-heavy instrumental album-opener off the band’s latest, In Our Bedroom After the War, released at the end of September. Stars opened with “Bitches in Toyko,” the new album’s first single and possibly the band’s hardest rock song, with the rest of the material being mostly anthemic, intricate pop in the tradition of fellow Canadians Arcade Fire and Frog Eyes.

The stage was covered with bouquets of flowers, the band occasionally tossed bunches of them out to the audience. I’d never seen pictures of the members of Stars before, and they were a lot less scenester than I’d expected. I’d always pictured vocalist Amy Millan as a tiny bleached blonde, but I was greeted with a brunette who shimmied around the stage in skinny jeans and a metallic shirt while playing her white electric guitar.

Vocalist Torquil Campbell, also a member of Candian indie super band Broken Social Scene, donned a jacket that lit up as he sang in a falsetto during the funky-sounding “The Ghost of Genova Heights.” Drummer Pat McGee was slightly confusing in his white fedora, shades and some sort of gold bling around his neck.

The majority of the songs Stars played were off In Our Bedroom, but they occasionally worked in audience favorites “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” and “Set Yourself On Fire.” During “Your Ex-Lover is Dead,” the audience sang along in unison with the refrain “Live through this and you won’t look back.”

Before playing “Take Me to the Riot,” an intense rock anthem, Campbell declared that he was dedicating the number to Philly pop duo Hall and Oates. Seeing as none of Stars’ songs sound even remotely Hall and Oates-ish, I’m not really sure why he was so excited about it, but he got a cheer from the crowd regardless.

Stars closed with “In Our Bedroom After the War,” a slow-building, romantic epic that also closes the album. The members then came back for a three-song encore that included, ironically, “The Night Starts Here,” a dance-y Millan-lead song that stuck in my head the rest of the night.

Millan and Campbell had great presence on the stage, and the set sounded solid. But as enthusiastic as Stars were, the show wasn’t anything life-changing. On the other hand, the band’s cheerful energy was a welcome boost to what would have been an ordinary Wednesday night.

brodbecke1@lasalle.edu