All stars

A friend said it best: the Stars concert last Feb. 16 was the perfect event for post-Valentine’s bliss and post-Valentine’s angst. Whether you were hopelessly in love or unjustly (in your mind) alone, the Canadian indie pop band offered enough material in their years of making music to cater to a wide range of listeners. The concert itself was a reunion of all kinds. From exes seeing each other again, finding out that your friends are finally a couple, to Anne Curtis dancing along with the crowd, there was no feeling of being out of place. Which is exactly what Stars is all about. The band welcomes all shapes, sizes, and feelings to their music. With a mix of musical styles as varied as the actual physical appearances of the band members, each song from Stars can go from sweet and melodic to hard drum beats and guitar riffs the next. Everyone had their own song they were hoping Stars would play, and while this writer regretted not hearing Sleep Tonight live and in all its glory, the concert didn’t fall short in giving fans the full Stars experience. Here is the completely biased list of the top three songs from Stars Live in Manila.

Hold on when you get love and let go when you give it

There’s nothing like that feeling of hearing a song you never knew existed in a concert. You didn’t expect it nor were you obviously looking forward to it but 10 seconds in and your knees were already moving to the beat. That’s what hearing Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It completely gave off. Released last year as part of Star’s “The North,” most of the people who followed Stars way back when probably have never heard of it. It’s typical for fans who pride themselves on loving the old school version of things. Still, there was no stopping this song from making all the nostalgic fanatics fall in love with its catchy chorus and dual vocals. We could’ve sworn 60 percent of the people were asking for the song title, right after all that jumping and rocking out.

Take me to the riot

Arguably the song that cemented Stars as a bona fide rock band, this was one of the songs older fans couldn’t wait to hear live. The instant you hear the bass and the drums followed by the half-whispered vocals, Take Me to the Riot preps you for that head-banging, heart-pumping chorus. It felt like it was the song lead vocalist Torquil Campbell couldn’t wait to play. After every couple of songs, he would talk to the crowd and praise them for being in a country that has gone through so much. If he wasn’t praising Filipinos, he’d be telling the crowd not to be afraid of doing what they were free to do. And when this song started playing, all that pseudo-political small talk fell into place. The crowd welcomed it with a unanimous sing-a-long. For an audience compromised of yuppies, aging hipsters, and social outcasts, we meant every word when we sang the last three words of the song.

Your ex-lover is dead

“Have you ever loved somebody so much you wanted to (expletive) kill them?” said Campbell right before they started playing the song. And for a show that, as we mentioned, felt like a reunion of past lovers, this was the anthem of the night. Everything anyone ever needed to say about anyone who broke their hearts was in Your Ex-Lover is Dead — and to have it played live, and to sing it in the presence of those past lovers, was nothing short of surreal. It’s their most therapeutic song and it’s the hit that most would say put Stars on the map. There was no way they weren’t playing this song. While we’re sad we didn’t hear the voiceover of the old man at the start that’s so much a part of this song, no one else really seemed to mind. The crowd was too busy freaking out as the song began, immediately followed by the uproar of everyone singing every word as a big F.U. to Cupid.