Thursday, October 04, 2007

Stars / Lily Fraser Monday 1st October 2007 Barfly Birmingham

What better way to start the working week eh? Yes, I do work. I don't just sit here crafting these words day in day out. You couldn't tell could you? Opener Lily Fraser, stripped back to just a guitarist and the lovely Lily herself (they normally have all sorts of other folk playing with them) has one of those distinctive voices that, at times, recalls a bit of Bjork, a touch of Beth (Gibbons of Portishead fame) and little Kate (Bush...of Bush fame)...but different to all three. Ranging from gentle tracks like Too Scared to Miss to rock out ball busters like Alive she was an absolute treat from start to finish and seemed to win over pretty much the whole crowd. No mean feat on a Monday evening. As this was just a double bill tonight Stars had a good hour and a half to play with and, by jupiter (that's a planet isn't it...not a star...hmm), they played a stellar set (what, you expect me not to put lots of star puns in here...it's my blog...). Watching them I kept thinking of Deacon Blue...which isn't a bad thing. The Blue had a fine line in dramatic pop with a slightly dark edge (listen to Dignity...it's a heartbreaker) and Stars have that same feel. I've seldom seen such a genuine band. They really, really seemed pleased that we'd all turned up. With tracks as great as The Night Starts Here and Ageless Beauty (both of which are even better live than in recorded form) I was bloody pleased that they turned up too. Just a beautiful, beautiful night of music.


PS: If you're quick you can listen to the whole of their new album In Our Bedroom After The War at their My Space thingy page stuff.

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