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Stars graced the town of Ithaca with it’s presence yesterday and I count myself fortunate to be among those who were present. The trip down was relatively painless despite the cold and a pit stop for an impromptu bathroom break in the creepy desolation of a roadside forest. I joined the throng of cleverly coiffed individuals making their way to the Ithaca State Theatre where Kevin Devine was already onstage amidst many instruments adorned in decorative flowers. He made his way through a spirited acoustic performance, pouring his heart out into two microphones, at varying distances for effect, even though the lights were still on and and most of the audience was still talking and drinking. He made several great attempts at connecting with the crowd though, one was by throwing out Sean Hannity’s name for a laugh and coming up short. It was when the typical college doof shouted out “Freebird” that he scored. After responding; “Oh yeah, no one has ever requested that song before…” he began the first verse to joyous cheers from the audience.

Soon after, Stars took to the stage and all those college kids who had been drinking and socializing migrated to the front of the stage where Torquil Campbell, Amy Milan, and company launched into a rendition of “The Night Starts Here”. Which was followed by a powerful performance of “Take Me To The Riot”. The band paused for a moment for Torquil and Amy to connect with the audience. “This is our first show with President Obama!” exclaimed Torquil, “We’re not far from you Ithaca, up in Montreal, we share your snow and your wind” Amy said before they played a few more songs off of their last full length “Our Bedroom After the War” and some new tracks off of their “Sad Robots EP”. In between songs Torquil and Amy showed off their shimmering chemistry, reminiscent of Ana Gasteyer and Will Ferrell’s High School music teacher characters, as they roughed out a request from an earlier album that wasn’t nearly as embarrasing as Torquil thought that it was.

Flowers and petals regularly flew off the stage from various band members finding a break in their energetic songs to hurl them into the crowd. Stars were definitely having fun as they played their hits “What I’m Trying to Say”, “Bitches in Ithaca (Or Tokyo!), “Ageless Beauty” and many more. Torquil in particular sprang around the stage engrossed in some meticulous mischief whether it was creating noise on a microkorg, melodica, or trumpet.

After they finished off their set, Stars left the stage to riotous applause from the crowd of college kids. Whose cheers morphed into the Queen “We Will Rock You” beat. The band took the stage once more to encore with “My Favourite Book” which led to a caucouphenous interlude into an epic turn on their tune “Calendar Girl” which ended with Torquil bouncing around the stage screaming “I’m alive!” Everybody in the Ithaca State Theatre that night was surely reminded that they were too.