Stars visited KCA’s Bomhard Theatre on March 26th with Martin Royle (backed-up by Pash who also played their own set). I had heard a smattering of songs from each of Stars albums, but they never became a regular on my playlist. That will change.

The show was in the Bomhard Theatre which has a capacity of about 600. Tickets were $20 and the show was on a rainy, Wednesday night, so the theatre was just over half-full. Stars walked out to “The Beginning After the End” and went right into “The Night Starts Here.” I joked with my brother on the way to the show that I bet that would be their opener, but looking back at it, it just makes sense.  These are the first two tracks on their new album, In Our Bedroom After the War.  It took a while for the band to get settled into the set. The crowd, largely due to the environment, was split between those standing and those sitting, but lead singer, Torquil Campbell, quickly encouraged everyone to get to their feet. Campbell was also feeling a divide between the stage and the audience because the fans were sitting in complete darkness. After a few requests and a song or two, the lights were turned up. Campbell’s final request was for the audience to come on the stage. At one point there must have been 50 people on the stage sitting and a majority of the rest of the crowd was sitting on and standing around the tables on top of the orchestra pit. Some fans were even taking pictures with the band between songs. After this point, the band settled in and the crowd really got into the show. [KCA officials had everyone leave the stage a song or two after due to the weight on the orchestra pit.]

The crowd was very young with the average age around 17-22. This is probably due to the bands success in reaching this demographic (at least three of their songs were on the Fox TV show, The OC). Given their other options, I’m glad to see these kids at the show. I have to give a thank you to Jeff who knew every song title after only a note or two, helping build an accurate set list. Jeff wasn’t the only one though, there were a lot of people singing every lyric by heart.

Scattered around the stage and on all the instruments were dozens and dozens of roses. Throughout the show, band members would grab a handful and throw them into the crowd. This brings me to one of the most interesting parts of the show. The roses were held in a bouquets of white flowers which were not shared with the crowd. After the set, one young female fan climbed on stage and pried a handful of the white flowers attached to the keyboard and hopped back into the audience. Singer-guitarist, Amy Millan, quickly came on stage and basically called the young girl out and had the flowers returned. She later grabbed one of the remaining roses and presented it to the girl as a peace offering.

Looking back on the set, they hit all the highlights and played 17 songs, which is a hefty set which all in attendance could be happy with. I was hearing most of the songs for the first time, which was a fun experience. I’m usually introduced to artists via a friend’s ipod or music blogs, so it was nice to have the music presented for the first time, live and in person.

Martin Royal opened and was backed by Pash (both from Washington DC). His music was very animated and poetic (just look at the pictures below and you don’t even have to listen to a song to see what I mean). The last song he played was my favorite. It was titled “The Breakup” and you can listen to it on his myspace page. It has the great lines, “you can take my dignity, I will take all my CDs”….”you may have taken the best years of my life but I took the best of Bob Dylan 65 to 75, the Columbia Recordings.” His light storytelling styled music reminded me of Stephen Lynch, without the vulgarity, but still with hints of humor. He started working on his first solo album, since leaving Washington Social Club, in January of this year. The album will be titled, Good Morning, Cruel World. Keep a lookout for it.

More pics (taken by my brother Zach from We Listen For You) and set list below the break…

Set List:

1. The Night Starts Here
2. Elevator Love Letter
3. Soft Revolution
4. Widow Bird
5. One More Night
6. Bitches in Tokyo
7. Set Yourself on Fire
8. Personal
9. Going, Going, Gone
10. Take Me To The Riot
11. Midnight Coward
12. Your Ex-Lover is Dead
13. Ageless Beauty
14. In Our Bedroom After the War

Encore

1. My Favourite Book
2. What I’m Trying to Say
3. The Woods

Stars

 

Martin Royle

Pash

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