Photo courtesy Emily Wilson Photography But I did the Photoshopping! – There used to be a big no parking sign above them on the right.
Went and saw the Stars last night at Bowery Ballroom.
I was a little hesitant going in because their album, while very good, doesn’t scream out great-live-show material. Well, that turned out to be totally false. They were terrific live. Very high energy, tight technically, two guitars and a sax that didn’t step on each other’s toes (which is so rare), but the real key was the bass and drumming — kept everything moving swiftly. I’m going to listen to their album at twice the volume I used to.
I couldn’t quite place how I was feeling about the singer’s on-stage persona, I was chalking it up to a French-Canadian thing — the band is mostly from Montreal — but when I was Googling them this morning it became clear. The lead singer (with the red scarf) is an actor, with an IMDB page complete with Sex and the City appearance. He was acting like an indie rock band singer. Go see them when you can, antics aside, the show is must-see.