In 2004, a band from Montréal released what would end up being one of my favourite albums*. Now, 20 years later, Stars are on tour celebrating the anniversary of their seminal record, Set Yourself on Fire, and last night they returned to Vogue Theatre in Vancouver for a sold out show.

Opening for the west coast leg of their tour was an old friend of the band, Kevin Drew. The Broken Social Scene singer came out alone with his acoustic guitar, grateful to be there before starting off with the old KC Accidental instrumental “Residential Love Song”.

A couple songs in, he was joined by fellow BSS-er, David French on sax to accompany him on “Can't Find My Heart”, before launching into “World Sick” as Drew’s voice soared through the room. He chatted between songs, talking about his history with Stars as well as his admiration for Gord Downie, spurred by the recent documentary, even dedicating “Party Oven” off his recent album Aging to Gord’s kids. He switched from guitar to keys with “Sweetest Kill” before squeezing in one more song, “Good Sex” as French jamming along.
Drew is always a captivating performer, whether with a full band or solo, and he had the whole sold out room in a hush during his all-too-short set.

It wasn’t long after that before Torquil Campbell, Amy Millan, Evan Cranley, Chris Seligman, Patrick McGee, and Chris McCarron hit the stage — joined by French on sax and a violinist (who I missed the name of) — and the familiar introduction rang out: When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.

Though, the show got off to a bit of an auspicious start; mere moments into “Your Ex-Lover is Dead”, Torq stopped cold because he spotted someone near the front in trouble. After passing out some water, and making sure they were okay, the song restarted and kicked off the show with the huge singalong to the perennial favourite, chills going through the room -- and not for the last time.

Celebrating Set Yourself on Fire, Stars went through the entire album track by track, from love & sex to war & death; the gorgeous voice of Milan on “Ageless Beauty” and the playful “First Five Times” to the bitter “One More Night” and the absolutely stirring “He Lied About Death”, the stage lit blood red as the song built to a chaotic finish, Pat going bonkers on drums. Torquil stalked the front of the stage for the anthemic “Soft Revolution”, before the last song of the album (but not the last song of the night, “cos we’re fucking professionals” they joked) as they stepped off mic and Amy conducted the entire theatre to a beautiful singalong of “Calendar Girl”

Honestly, I would have been satisfied if they had ended there, but they promised a few more “bangers”, going into the raw emotion of “Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It” and the incredibly danceable “We Don’t Want Your Body”. After teasing they would be back in just a few months time, the band belted out ever-relevant “Take Me to the Riot” followed by another singalong to an old favourite, “Elevator Love Letter” capping off the main set.

But the lights stayed dimmed and they were soon back with the haunting “Dead Hearts” and “The Passenger” dedicated to Torquil’s daughter, niece, and nephew in the crowd, and finally ending the nearly-two-hour set with “From the Night”.

During his opening slot, Kevin Drew talked up his long-time friendship with Stars, saying he had never met a more passionate band. And this night was a perfect example. Even without the tangible proof of Torq stopping the show to make sure someone was okay, you could feel the love pouring off the stage. Love each and every member has for each other, for their music, and espeially for the fans. And a love that the sold out room very much reciprocated.

Stars setlist
Your Ex-Lover is Dead
Set Yourself on Fire
Ageless Beauty
Reunion
The Big Fight
What I’m Trying to Say
One More Night
Sleep Tonight
The First Five Times
He Lied About Death
Celebration Guns
Soft Revolution
Calendar Girl
Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It
We Don’t Want Your Body
Capelton Hill
Take Me to the Riot
Elevator Love Letter
(encore)
Dead Hearts
The Passenger
From the Night

Kevin Drew setlist
Residential Love Song
You in Your Were
Can't Find My Heart
World Sick
Party Oven
Sweetest Kill
Good Sex

In 2015, Dan Mangan began a house concert network for artists on his label, Madic Records. In the three years since, that has evolved into Side Door, co-founded by Laura Simpson, meant to connect artists & show hosts for a "direct-to-audience gigging economy".
They’ve put on hundreds of shows across the country and into the States, with the latest being an intimate, acoustic night with one of the founders of Broken Social Scene, Kevin Drew. And joining Kevin was Andrea Lo, Katrina Jones, and Adam Nanji from Belle Game as his backing band. This all came together for about 75 people at The China Cloud in Vancouver.

Kevin Drew started off chatting and joking with the crowd, setting a loose tone for the night as he started with "Broke Me Up" off his first solo album, then went back to a Broken Social gem, "Ibi Dreams Of Pavement (A Better Day)", as he deftly wove through his musical history, captivating every single person in the room. Definitely a pleasant surprise, as I wasn’t sure if he would just be playing from his solo albums or not.

After a few more songs, including b-side "All My Friends Are Magazines", Drew let Belle Game take centre stage. They recounted their first meeting before going into "Spirit", a song Kevin provided backup vocals for. I've still never seen belle Game perform where I haven't been absolutely blown away by the power of Andrea's voice, and that was especially true in this smaller setting, as they played a couple more songs while Drew took a brief break from the stage.
Kevin then returned, giving Andrea, Adam, and Katrina a short break, as he did an incredible acoustic rendition of one of my favourite songs, "It’s All Gonna Break" which was not only the highlight of the night, but the year so far.

As the set wound to an end, he jumped on the piano side-stage to play "Good Sex", joking about how it was pretty much a re-write of "Lover’s Spit", which of course followed. At that point he poked a bit of fun at friend, sometimes-BSS member, and Stars singer Torquil Campbell... who hollered back from the crowd. Drew called him up and they bantered for a few minutes before launching into an impromptu song Torquil wrote (but never recorded) after the passing of his father.

They ended the night with Drew talking about Gord Downie, and his experience co-writing songs off the Secret Path project, before he and Campbell sang "Here, Here and Here" for the perfect ending to a beautiful night.

Some of these songs I had only ever seen in venues ten times the size with three times as many people on stage, so seeing them in this setting was almost unreal. It wasn’t a "show" or a "concert" or a "gig", it was a group of friends gathering to share their love of music.

setlist
Broke Me Up [KD]
Ibi Dreams Of Pavement (A Better Day) [BSS]
All My Friends Are Magazines [BSS]
Safety Bricks [KD]
Spirit [BG]
I Want Nothing [BG]
Oh I [BG]
It’s All Gonna Break [BSS]
Good Sex [KD]
Lover’s Spit [BSS]
A Song for Torquil’s Father [TC]
Here, Here and Here [Gord Downie cover]