Oceans Won't Freeze So Loosen Your Heart

I had STARS in my eyes on Friday night. They came from Montreal and brought their friends Most Serene Republic with them. I am very glad I bought the tickets beforehand because it totally SOLD OUT. Outside Magnet people were plaintively calling out to those going inside, asking to buy their tickets. Gigs don't often sell out in Berlin..

MSR were in the middle of their set when we arrived, it was quite obvious they were not German and were in fact marvellous Canadians. There were seven of them onstage, with a girl on lead guitar who was sharing vocals with the crazy red headed frontman. He was very nice and full of energy. While in Berlin he ate some Pizza. He was very impressed by the box his pizza arrived in, he brought it onstage to show us. Sometimes they reminded me of the Postal Service, in a musical way. Oh and he was beatboxing.

When STARS came onstage everyone was incredibly happy to see them and those up the front were lucky bastards, im tall enough but i was on the tips of my toes most of the time trying to see. There was a line from a song that was something about smoking too many spliffs. I never noticed this lyric before. Maybe it was a new song. It reminded me of a story one of my flatmates, Geeta Dayal had told me, back in September when I had just arrived in Berlin. Aw. In a previous existence, Geeta used to book bands, one of them being STARS. She told me a story about Torquille. It was one of his first gigs mabye and he was so nervous she had to take him by the hand and give him a joint to smoke so he could calm down before going onstage. He was rather gregarious on Friday night so I guess he's been working on his stagefright. "This is a song about fucking and death...You like that, right? C'mon it's Berlin." It was sad that they didn't play, "What the Snowman Learned About Love". Maybe they just dont play it live, they didn't at their gig here the last time either. Towards the end of the show when they played "Calendar Girl" it was as if Torquille was trying to look each person in the audience right in the eye. Every time he sang the words "I'm alive" he searched the crowd with his eyes, pointedly looking at each person. He practically scolded us for cheering for an encore. "An hour and half of music..I mean, c'mon!". My favourite song, "Elevator Loveletter" was introduced as written by Amy on a popsicle stick. It reminded me of how i discovered them, listening to the radio late one night, i heard that song and scribbled it down on a scrap piece of paper so I wouldn't forget.

Most of the time during the gig I was standing there with tears in my eyes and my hand on my heart. It was just one of those great nights. I even got to dance and play pool with Robbie! I was at this gig with some friends who had never heard the band ever before, and they really fell in love with them. Its a testament to the kind of music that they make. It was so great to see STARS having a show all to themselves, compared to the last time when they were playing one night of Popkomm with four other bands. Amy looked like she was having lots of fun, she makes funny guitar faces. I am sad that i got distracted and didnt get to the merchandise desk in time to buy a pretty bag.