Stars at The Danforth Music Hall - Concert Photos

This show marks my eighth time officially capturing a Stars show. And I’ve seen them plenty of times as a fan. They have to be one of my all-time favourite bands. Their music resonates deeply with me and I love their spirit. 

Stars shows always have a great sense of community, positivity, and growth; they are life affirming experiences that makes my soul glow. These Christmas-time shows have become a tradition. A tradition that I support wholeheartedly. It's an example of the kind of uplifting experiences that I need in my life to feel whole and right. This show delivered all those feelings, even on a cold, early winter night. 

Their set was a mix of tunes from early classics all the way to their latest release, "Christmas Anyway". Some of the highlights for me were "Reunion", an ode to Etobicoke School of the Arts with "Patterns", "Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It", "Changes", "Elevator Love Letter", "Take Me to the Riot", "Dead Hearts", "Your Ex Lover is Dead" (the lyrics "live through this and you won’t look back" hit hard tonight), the main set closer "Ageless Beauty"followed by an encore featuring "No One Is Lost" and, of course, my favourite Christmas song, "Fairytale of New York". The full setlist is here.

Lydia Persaud opened up the show with a set of beautiful songs. My photos of their set are here.

Lots of previous Stars shows are featured on one in ten words. Check out my photos of them at: The Danforth Music Hall in 2021, 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.

Take a listen to "Christmas Anyway"

Stars at The Phoenix Concert Theatre - Concert Photos

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.

"Elevator Love Letter"

"Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It"

"Your Ex-Lover is Dead"

Supercrawl 2019: Stars - Concert Photos

Stars have basically become a Canadian music institution. They've created so many of my favourite songs over the 15+ years that they've been releasing music. And I think I'm safe to say that I'm not alone in my love for this band.

I caught Stars' set at this year's Supercrawl and I'm so glad I did. It was so good for the soul to hear so many amazing songs performed with passion and conviction. They included so many of my favourite tunes including "Take Me To The Riot", "Reunion", "Ageless Beauty", "Your Ex-Lover is Dead", "Elevator Love Letter", "Dead Hearts", "Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It", "No One Is Lost", and "Calendar Girl".

If you want to, you can see more of my photos of Stars from when they played The Danforth Music Hall in 2018, and in 2016, and in 2015, plus when they played Nathan Phillips Square during the Pan Am Games and when they played Riot Fest 2014. Phew!

I also caught sets by Dilly Dally and Begonia at Supercrawl 2019. Click on the band names for my coverage of each of their awesome sets.

And here's a smattering of my favourite Stars songs:

"Take Me To The Riot"

"Reunion"

"Ageless Beauty"

"Your Ex-Lover is Dead"

"Elevator Love Letter"

"No One Is Lost"

Stars at The Danforth Music Hall - Concert Photos

Over the past fifteen years or so, Stars have gone from being a band crafting some of the most ambitious and emotionally connected indie pop tunes anywhere to being legends of the Canadian indie pop world. Their output has been consistently envelope-pushing and they’ve never rested on their laurels. So few artists ever get the chance to create a work as powerful, compelling and connected to their fans as Set Yourself on Fire has become. Some might be content to ride that wave and continue to create work in that vein for the rest of their careers. Not Stars, and probably not any true artist.

Stars showed us all just how much they’ve accomplished musically over the years with two sold-out shows at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall. The sets spanned their career from early tunes like “Elevator Love Letter” through personal favourites like "Ageless Beauty", Take Me to the Riot", "Dead Hearts", "Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It", "Trap Door", "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" (it's so glorious hearing everyone singing along), and "No One Is Lost", through to their most recent releases featuring tracks like "Alone" and "Ship to Shore".

Before the band played "Privilege" from their latest full-length release, There Is No Love In Fluorescent Light, Torq admonished the crowd by saying, "If you talk during this next song the ghost that you’re most afraid of will haunt you for the rest of your fucking life. It’s not a threat, it's science." If only that was true. Everyone standing around me near the back of the hall still yapped away.

Being a Christmastime concert, the finished out the night with their faithful yet uniquely-Stars cover of The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl's "Fairytale of New York".

I love this band, I love their music and I will forever want to continue experiencing their music, their live shows and to continue to capture their images at those shows. One thing that struck me as I watched this show was, "Was it really two whole years since I saw a Stars show?" Shocking that it was.

Check out our previous Stars coverage from The Danforth Music Hall in 2016, Wayhome 2016, The Phoenix in 2015, Nathan Phillips Square during the Pan Am Games, again at The Danforth back in 2015 and at Riot Fest in 2014.

My Brightest Diamond put on a fantastic opening set. Check out my photos here.

And enjoy a bunch of music from Stars setlist.

"Fluorescent Light"

"Elevator Love Letter"

"Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It"

"This Is the Last Time"

"Trap Door"

"Your Ex-Lover Is Dead"

"No One Is Lost"

"Fairytale of New York"

Stars at The Danforth Music Hall - Concert Pictures

I think that every time we see Montreal-Toronto band Stars, we should share the best quote from Torq for the night. For their Danforth Music Hall show on December 20, that quote would have to be, "Fucking kill fascism with love and beauty! Keep doing it for Gord!" Do it!

Stars filled The Danforth Music Hall for the first of two nights of fantastic Christmas celebration. The set was filled with favourite songs like "The Night Starts Here", "Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It", "Take Me To The Riot", "From The Night", a cover of Erasure's Christmas tune "She Won't Be Home", "Ageless Beauty", "Trap Door", "I Died So I Could Haunt You" (I love that concept), "Elevator Love Letter" (a personal favourite that goes through my head so often when I'm waiting for the elevator at the end of a long work day), "No One Is Lost" (an rousing tune of gaining strength from insecurity and doubt), and an encore that included "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" and finished with their amazing cover of "Fairytale of New York".

Stars are one of my all-time favourite bands and they prove why every time I see them perform and listen to their music. Here are a few of my favourites from this set.

"Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It"

"Take Me To The Riot"

"Soft Revolution"

"Ageless Beauty"

"I Died So I Could Haunt You"

"Elevator Love Letter"

"No One Is Lost"

"Your Ex-Lover is Dead"

"Fairytale of New York"