Tonight I took a trip to Night and Day Cafe in Manchester to see Stars (or “Stars FROM MONTREAL”). These guys were first brought to my attention as labelmates and part time members of pretty much my absolute favourite ever Canadian super indie pop group collective, Broken Social Scene (who I’m very excited to be seeing for the 3rd time in a couple of weeks) and so I didn’t want to miss the chance to see Stars play just down the road from me.

It’s my first time at a sold out gig at Night and Day. I have been there a few times before to see local bands or friends, but these rarely generate a huge crowd, allowing you to stand (or sit) wherever you like. Unfortunately this wasn’t quite the case for Stars, and as we turned up a little later than most we ended up stood fairly far back. This isn’t normally a problem; in fact, as Helen is fairly small, it’s often a benefit, as it usually allows her a better view. And once we’d found a decent spot, this was also true of Night and Day. The problem, however, was with the sound levels when stood that far back. At points we struggled to hear what sounded like it might have been an awesome set over the noise of the crowd and people at the bar. I’ve never noticed this to be a problem at any other venues around Manchester, but I’ll be making sure I get there a little earlier next time there’s a gig at Night and Day! I do wish they charged a little less to drink there as well - £3 for a tin of Red Stripe (the same as MUCH bigger venue Academy 1) runs down the beer fund pretty quick!

But on to the band themselves. As members of BSS, they’d been on my “to listen to…” list for quite some time, but so far I’d really only got round to hearing a few tunes, which I’d liked but never really been “hooked” by. However, 6 Music recently started playing an old single of theirs, “Elevator Love Letter” quite a lot. It’s a lovely track and it pricked my ears enough to decide to spend a Wednesday evening in town having a listen.

Aside from the sound levels, they didn’t disappoint. Undeniabely pop, and none the worse for it, they’ve got 4 albums worth of great songs behind them. Their sound has changed over the years, from an electro-pop beginning to the more rocky sounds heard on their last 2 albums (due largely to the addition of vocalist Amy Millan to the band) and this makes for an interesting live set. Stand out songs were “Elevator Love Letter”, of course, and the set closer “In Our Bedroom After the War”. You can hear the latter on their album which is currently posted to their Myspace page. I recorded “Elevator Love Letter” on my phone - it’s not my best work, but feel free to take a look below!