The number of concerts I have attended has declined rather dramatically in the past couple years, but I made it to my first show of 2006 last night: Stars in Boston.
For a band with a lot of languorous ballads (and I mean that in the most positive way), they rocked out quite a bit. The bass, in particular, featured much more prominently and was a driving force in a number of songs. That’s not to say there weren’t any quiet moments, but they were much more spaced out than on the albums.
The louder and dancier vibe was very enjoyable, but it did have its downside: partially drowning out Amy Millan’s voice. And that’s a pretty bad thing, since that’s really one of the primary things that makes Stars great. She sounded as good as ever, when her voice made it through, but she is just better suited for the quieter songs or the studio when the music can be kept a little bit in the background. When she really needed to be heard, she tried to go louder at the expense of sounding as good. On “Heart” and “Ageless Beauty,” in particular, the live versions were far inferior to the originals. Still good, but they didn’t sound nearly as magical.
One modification they made, presumably to help deal with this issue, was to have both of them sing together in places where she sings alone on the studio versions. This was usually the right call, since the blending of their voices was very good, and it made the vocals more forceful without her having to oversing. Those blended vocals were definitely among the main highlights. The combination was even better than the album versions in most cases, since it felt a little more free and natural. There were a few occasions when the dual singing ended up with him just drowning her out, but on the whole, it was quite well done.
As for Torquill Campbell, he was eerily reminiscent of Morrissey. I mean, all of the sensitive indie-rock guys clearly have a lot of Morrissey in them, but this was way more than I would have expected. This is in no way a bad thing; it was just a little strange that for the whole show I kept expecting him to break into “How Soon is Now” or something.
Highlights of the show: “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” was perfectly done, even more wrenching than usual. “He Lied About Death” (which was “dedicated to Dick Cheney for finally having the courage to shoot someone himself”) was MUCH better than the album version. Frankly, I think the original is almost unlistenable, but with the live version I think I got the idea of what they were going for. The pounding bass and more natural guitar effects did a better job of conveying frustration and anger than studio tinkering. They played a cover of “Hungry Heart” which was fantastic. I mean, one of my favorite bands covering The Boss…what more can I ask for?
Finally, the encore of “The First Five Times,” “Elevator Love Letter,” and “Calendar Girl” was just amazing. Elevator Love Letter couldn’t quite live up to my expectations, simply because I love the original SO much, but it was still very well done, and when the fading sounds of that song echoed and Millan’s voice emerged singing “If I am lost for a day try to find me / But if I don’t come back, then I won’t look behind me” it was just devastating.
On the whole, I give the show an 8/10. Very enjoyable, if not one of the best concerts I have ever been to.
The opening act was Magnet, which is a Norwegian named Even Johansen. I had never heard of him, but was pretty impressed by the show. He played a number of soft and slow songs, which reminded me of Jeff Buckley more than anything else, and a number of electronically augmented My Bloody Valentine-esque songs with quite a few layers of sound. There were really only these two types of songs, which felt a little bit repetitive, but only a little. More than anything else I was impressed with his vocal range and guitar playing ability. I was definitely intrigued enough to make an effort to find some of his songs and see how I like them. Also, he was pretty funny. And did I mention he’s from Norway? Who doesn’t like Norwegians?