Optimism, positivity, love and faith in humanity were some of the themes on display as Stars played a fantastic set of favourites and deep cuts for a full-house crowd at The Phoenix Concert Theatre last night.
For many, it was the first time back seeing live music since the start of the pandemic. It's so good to see a huge crowd gathered to partake in the joy of live music again after so long. This was an event that did my soul so much good and made my heart swell.
Stars sounded wonderful as always and they put on a great show full of love, energy, passion and strength. The holiday-themed stage decorations brought a festive flavour to the event.
While I'm never great at keeping track of setlists, we got a strong start with "In Our Bedroom After the War" and "The Theory of Relativity". Later on, as the band introduced their new song "Pretenders", they treated us to a cover of The Pretenders' "2,000 Miles", one of my all-time favourite songs, and then they played their song "Pretenders". I can't wait for a recorded version because this new song is an instant five-star favourite.
"A Song is a Weapon" came along before we dove into deep cuts, another new song and the classic "Elevator Love Letter". That song will always be an uplifting highlight. "Bitches in Tokyo" and "Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It" came on a little later and "Hold On..." brought waves of euphoria with it. "Trap Door" and "Calendar Girl" were dancing and sing-along highlights. When Torq introduced "Your Ex-Lover is Dead", someone exclaimed "Fucking right!". I love it!
The show closed out with Stars' cover of The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl's "Fairytale of New York" and we went off into the night, uplifted and filled with hope. Thank you, Stars, and Happy, Happy Birthday, Amy!
Charlotte Cornfield did a great job of warming up the crowd for Stars. My photos of her set are here.
I may have taken photos of Stars more than any other band. Check out my photos of them at: Supercrawl 2019, The Danforth Music Hall in 2018, in 2016, and in 2015, when they played Nathan Phillips Square during the Pan Am Games and when they played Riot Fest 2014.
"Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It"
"Your Ex-Lover is Dead"