11.17-18.2007 Stars / Miracle Fortress

Almost from their infancy, Stars has been a favourite among Canadian bands, especially within the indie community. Being associated with Broken Social Scene and the Arts & Crafts label certainly did not hurt matters either. Cut to present day and it is not surprising that they are playing 2 sold out shows at the fabulous Commodore Ballroom. One show would be an all ages affair and the evening show, 19+. In some ways this is even a homecoming show as it is their first show in Canada for quite some time and singer Torquil Campbell residing in Vancouver.

EARLY SHOW:

Miracle Fortress is a Montreal based indie rock band opened the show. Red hot from their recent 2007 Polaris Prize nomination, they played to a slightly more than half full crowd. I'll need to hear them again before I make a more sound decision on these guys and girls.

After a brief set change, Stars hit the stage to a giant applause. In comparing their previous appearences in Vancouver, this was definitely the better show. The band, and especially Torquil Campbell (he lives here), seemed to genuinely want to be there. Bouquets of flowers adorned the stage. Throughout the show flowers from said bouquet would be thrown out into the crowd. Songs were played from each of their albums and even some of their older EPs. Even the casual Stars' fan had their fill with songs such as "Your Ex-Lover is Dead", "Ageless Beauty" and "What I'm Trying to Say". Torquil even came out with a light bulb covered jacket for "The Ghost of Genova Heights". They turned out all the lights for that one. After a short break, they came out for a 4 song encore. They played around 90 min to a appreciative all agers crowd.



$20/$25

LATE:

Stars played pretty much the same setlist, and I'm running out of witty musings so I'll keep this portion short. I've decided that I only liked Miracle Fortress about half the time they were onstage.

The only thing I remember that set this show apart from the early one was that Amy crowd surfed during one of the songs. (no stage dive, at least not the hxc version)

After about a quarter of the crowd had left the building, Stars came out for a true encore. True, as in I don't think it was planned. They played their Smith's cover of "This Charming Man". I am pretty certain they did not do this for the afternoon show. In fact, I don't think they played "The Aspidistra Flies" (labeled as Umbrella) at the AA show either.



$23/$25

SECRET SHOW:

OH SHIT! I actually attended this. This was probably the worst kept secret show I've ever gotten wind of. Actually I've only heard of one other, that being a Wolf Parade one that supposedly happened at someone's house after their opening slot for the Arcade Fire in 2005. Anyways, the details were:

MySpace Secret Shows Canada Presents
STARS
Free / All Ages
Sign up to check your bulletins to find out WHERE!!!
How To Get In:
All shows are FREE. Entry is on a first-come, first-serve, so arrive early to get in line to ensure success! You don’t have to bring anything, just show up, and if we can fit you in, then you’re in! Tell Your Friends! doors 6:30

If you were like me, you'd be thinking, If I wanna see this I'll have to get there around 3 or so to guarantee entry with all the high schoolers who'll no doubt do the same thing. Well I've got better things to do, but still, this was intriguing. I was in downtown at the time anyways, so I detoured over to the Media Club around 4:30 to find a very sorry looking lineup with around 40 people (Media Club has a cap at 150). I stood in line for about a minute, when this guy comes around with wrist bands. At this point I ask him if I could leave and come back and he said sure. So I arrive at 6:30 to find that the lineup had gotten a lot longer. Long story short, when I got in, there were about 20-25 or so people who were left out in the cold without a wristband. Well not really, because I think most if not all of them were let in eventually. So I'd say that you could have gotten in even if you had arrived at doors.

The show itself was a pretty fun affair. The setlist was comprised of songs chosen at random from a brown paper bag with the words "Bag O Tunes" on it. They didn't play all the songs in the bag, just an hour's worth. Between every song, Evan Cranley and Pat Mcgee they would do a "Bag of Tunes" jam. There was a lounge version, reggae, punk, and a particularly funny mock-Emily-Haines-doing-Anthems-of-Seventeen-Year-Old-Girl version, if that makes sense. Really funny stuff. You could tell the band was having as much fun as the crowd was. At one point Torq noticed a girl shooting some video on a digi cam. He took the camera and then started to film the crowd and the band, making faces.

Setlist

Your Ex-Lover is Dead
My Favourite Book
The Aspidistra Flies
Bitches in Tokyo
Heart
Calendar Girl
Set Yourself on Fire
This Charming Man
Take Me to the Riot
Elevator Love Letter
One More Night

edit:
leftovers in the bag were:
-soft revolution.
-midnight coward.
-the ghost of genova heights
-tonight
-on peak hill

Not bad for a free show.

As I was leaving they gave out limited (to 350, which is more than capacity...twice as many... huh...) posters of the first picture. Go ebay. haha... hrmmm..

$20/$0