I have to say I was more than a little excited about seeing this Toronto five piece. Having purchased the latest album, ‘Set Yourself On Fire’, earlier in they year (yes I actually paid for it), I had fallen head over heals for them, so much so they were the only band that managed to prise my beloved Arcade Fire album away from my sytem at any given time. For those familiar with Stars fluffy indie leanings you could be forgiven for envisaging a duffel coat wearing Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian, dueting with the delicate tones of The Delgadoes Emma Pollack. In reality it’s more like Shane Macgowen and Kirstie Mccall. So ok they’re not spring chickens but like another excellent import, The National, they’ve had years to perfect their talent…..and boy they have.
 
Tonight they pander to our ignorance, for as we all big one another up for being the intellectual elite to recognise their brilliance, we are blissfully aware that they have already had two other albums out previously in their native Canada. They politely acknowledge this by playing ‘Set Yourself on Fire’ in its virtual entirety.
 
from the sublime heady shoegazing of ‘Ageless Beauty’ and the touching developing melody of ‘What I’m trying To Say’, Stars embody everything many British bands have forgotten about. The strength of a great lyric for starters, this is particularly noticeable throughout the brilliantly penned ‘Your Ex Lover Is Dead’ . A song about a couple who once dated and are re-introduced as strangers years later by a mutual friend. The chemistry between singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan is overwhelming as they tell this story through the combined emotions of indifference and certain reflective sentimentality.
 
Something that particular struck me about Stars was their genuine appreciation that people had actually turned up to this gig. Torquil’s relentless witty in-between song banter eluded to his slight frustration with certain factions of  the British media, in particular The NME, and it is criminal that a band with such originality and emotive depth should be shunned in favour of fly by night coke heads with tabloid friendly lovers, but perhaps that’s what makes them ever more special. Tonight, for a small but perfectly formed audience it was the ultimate Christmas gift and something that I personally feel very grateful to have been a part of.
 
9/10
 
James Heward