Stars reveal their Ghosts and talk Blackhawks in Chicago

June 9, 2010, at Lincoln Hall

By Kelley Hecker
Published: June 12th, 2010 | 1:03pm

Two weeks before their new LP drops—and on the night of the ever-important game six of the Stanley Cup Finals—Montreal’s melodramatic pop darlings Stars dropped by Chicago to premiere The Five Ghosts (Vagrant) in its entirety. Tickets had sold out weeks prior, impressive considering the album has yet to leak—but you wouldn’t know it based on the enthusiastic reaction each track received.

With smoke machines that blanketed the flower-strewn stage in a thick fog, the band members—vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Torquil Campbell, vocalist-guitarist Amy Millan, keyboardist Chris Seligman, bassist-guitarist-keyboardist Evan Cranley, and drummer Pat McGee—bounded onstage and launched into the gorgeous Ghosts opener “Dead Hearts,” arguably one of their best songs ever. Campbell and Millan traded lines before turning to each other to finish the song together, repeating “They were kids that I once knew / Now they're all dead hearts to you.”

Millan, clad in all black and open-toed heels, introduced “Wasted Daylight,” about lovers squandering the day away in bed, by saying “I hope this is your summer jam” before shimmying along. It was something she got to do a lot more of on this night, as the synth-heavy Ghosts required a lot less guitar; at times, even Cranley traded in his bass for keys. (It also helps that guitarist Alan Snoddy is once again joining the band on tour.)

“We Don’t Want Your Body,” one of three tracks Stars has made available for download, kicked off with Millan and Seligman laughing as they danced in the small keyboard nook before Millan sashayed—in that goofy, endearing Amy way—to the mic to belt out the chorus, “You're tuned into my frequency / That don't mean a thing to me / ‘Cause I don't want your body / I don't want your body.” Later, she and Campbell became intertwined, his head resting on her back, as they finished the song.

The band members rocked out on “The Passenger,” while Millan played air guitar and punched the air alongside McGee’s drumming and Campbell's keyboard banging until the stand eventually toppled over. The same energy was on display in “How Much More,” as Millan pulled Campbell by his shirt collar while singing, “How much more / Am I supposed to take? / How much more / Am I supposed to break?”

Dividing the show into two acts, part one The Five Ghosts and part two older material, the band briefly left the stage to let the crowd “cleanse [their] ears” and check the score of the game. When they returned, Campbell picked up the melodica to kick off fan-favorite “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead,” which resulted in an audience sing-along. Millan got sentimental introducing 2003’s “Look Up,” noting that she has “never forgotten a show we’ve played in Chicago, and that’s the truth.”

The sole surprise of the night came when the band dedicated a true Stars oldie to the many familiar faces they saw in the bar before the show, the people who have stuck with them throughout the decade. “These are my most pretentious lyrics ever written, ladies and gentleman!” Campbell laughed about “My Radio,” from 2001’s Nightsongs (Le Grand Magistery).

During the lullaby-esque ending of “Set Yourself on Fire,” loud cheers erupted from the bar, prompting Millan to ask what happened (she had $100 riding on a Blackhawks win). And always the perfect closer, “Calendar Girl” was especially moving on this night—from the balcony, you could see two women in the crowd, their eyes closed and arms in the air, yelling the repetitive ending lines, “I'm alive.”

After a second encore of “Ageless Beauty,” Campbell saluted the crowd and the members left the stage, while a screen immediately emerged to air the hockey game. Mere minutes later, the Blackhawks' Patrick Kane scored the overtime goal, clinching the Stanley Cup. Chicago streets were flooded with people cheering, singing, hugging strangers, and lifting their own “Stanley Cup” above their heads (oversized Red Bull and beer can displays yanked from liquor stores). And Amy Millan was $100 richer.

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Check out Venus Zine’s review of The Five Ghosts in the summer 2010 issue, on stands now.

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