This past Sunday the indie pop band STARS played a packed show at The Republic in New Orleans. The opening act, Geographer, was a surprising last minute addition to the night; a three piece from San Francisco comprised of a vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist, a bassist, who often played an electric cello, and a drummer. Their music was perceptively arranged and they were, at very least, an appropriate opening act for the main attraction.
After a relatively long wait, the Canadian band STARS took the stage, throwing the pedals of red and white roses, to open with “He Dreams He’s Awake” from their latest full length, The Five Ghosts. The energy of the crowd reached a high at the very beginning that was maintained throughout the entire performance. While it never seemed to bother other fans, I felt as though the band did a poor job of diversifying their set at times; the majority of the first half was comprised mostly of only new material. Therefore I had to wait almost to the very end to get a taste of the STARS I loved during my seventeen-year-old high school days.
One of the nights highlights came with a medley of The Smiths “Half a Person,” flowing into “Take Me to the Riot” from STARS 2007 effort, In Our Bedroom After the War. The band closed with one of my all time personal favorites “One More Night;” a slower tune from their breakout album Set Yourself on Fire. It was obvious though that they were having just as much fun as the crowd when came back out for an encore that was four songs long.
Though the performance was over all very strong, I felt at times as if the band members were more like showmen (as opposed to musicians), relying on their clever behavior and bubble machines for success. And while this bothered me, along with the dynamic of their set list, none of it ever seemed to bother other fans in the crowd. Everyone had an unusually exciting Sunday night, including the band; if you missed them this time around, don’t worry. They’ll be back.
** As we mentioned in our Bonobo review, The Republic has definitely changed directions lately and has been hosting a plethora of great music. Be sure to check out their upcoming schedule at www.republicnola.com!
For more pictures from the show,
check out Joshua's Flickr.
No comments:
Post a Comment