Stars Unveil Five Ghosts at the Starlight, Waterloo

Stars have allowed the unique opportunity of reviewing their show at the Starlight in Waterloo May 6th, while simultaneously reviewing their as-yet unreleased new album The Five Ghosts.

The beloved pop stars, Stars, took to the stage - Chris facing the band on keys, Pat decked out in his signature white shades (and two tufts of hair on an otherwise shaved head), Evan in his fedora, Amy and her large, bright guitar and Torq sporting a white hoodie. A floral stage persists for this tour, as it began with the last album's tour, however the roses have become white flowers (and are not nearly as plentiful). The opening track, Dead Hearts, was the favourite new song played at their Olympic gig, and was vying for that title once again, being an Amy-led duet with an instantly nostalgic chorus of "They were kids that I once knew." In fact the first handful of tracks featured Amy prominently singing, and playing her white guitar too. The album was shaping up to be a return to form, by that I mean Nightsongs/pre-Heart form. Short poppy songs over many synths that saw Cranley manning the keys much more often than slapping the bass. This opening section of the album came to a close with the new single Fixed before a shift in style with a song introduced by Torq as being about celebrity. The chorus was weird, confusing even, with not only its content and title We Don't Want Your Body, but also the fact that it sounded SO pop - in the dirty, top-40 sense of the word.

There was a slight lull in the middle, with a rather boring (live anyway) Amy-only vocals song Never Been Good with Change that seemed to drag on. This tune was followed up by The Passenger, an "oo oo ooo" refrain overtop of laser beam noises that also missed the mark as far as I was concerned.

Yet the show was resurrected by a poignant track, Torq's Last Song Ever Written. Despite the name being perfectly suited for a closing song, there was still one more plus the finale; Winter Bones a duet that finally saw Cranley leave the keys again and brought back the romantic pop feel that worked so well on their Set Yourself on Fire masterpiece.

During the intermission I reflected on the album - a more poppy and synthesized affair than we've heard from Stars in some time. A departure from the strong, album-focused, guitar songs (relatively) heard on the previous In Our Bedroom After the War. The obviously biased crowd seemed to enjoy it well enough, though my initial impression is that it will produce a handful of favourite songs rather than album-of-the-year accolades upon repeated listens.

In fact the second set, chosen by the fans via online voting, reflected much love for the more lush, romantic side, since none of the six songs played really fit the prominent style of this newest release. Between "the hits chosen by you" as Torq called them, he rambled on as he is known to do. (It could be that I was just naive when I first began going to Stars shows, but his banter used to sound poetic and profound.) However his voice is still there, and the excellent, enduring ballads of yesteryear still pack the emotion in a live setting. We were treated to a string of favourites from the previous three LPs - Your Ex-Lover is Dead, Take Me to the Riot, Elevator Love Letter, Heart, Ageless Beauty, and One More Night. It wasn't until the very last song that they hit on any of the three I voted for, giving me Calendar Girl but not Personal or their This Charming Man cover.

To satisfy that tiny leftover feeling, Torq and Chris returned to the stage and played the only Nightsongs cut of the night Tonight which needed two takes but was wonderfully laid over the sole piano and wrapped up this lovely exhibition of Stars music, new and old.