Stellastarr*

Support for the evening came from The Sounds from Northern Sweden. They claim: "We are all about the 100% attack. We never want to give the audience room to think. That can happen afterwards," says bassist Johan Bengtsson. "This is all about dancing and having a good time. We are a major chord band!" he proclaims unapologetically.

I claim: "The Sounds are rubbish and each and every song sounds similar to 'I'm a Barbie Doll..." says Tom "...in a Barbie world'". However, there was one dirty old man in the front row who was enjoying it and probably jizzed in his pants when the blonde lead singer gave him a wink.

Enough of that. Here is the (short) Stellastarr* set:
Lost in Time
No Weather
Million Miles
Damn This Foolish Heart
The Diver
Jenny
In the Walls
Sweet Troubled Soul
On My Own
Somewhere Across Forever
My Coco

Past support acts for Stellastarr* include the Killers and The Subways. Both of these bands seemed to have surpassed Stellastarr* in the popularity stakes and I really can't undertand why. The gig was pretty short and sweet with no encore. I think it's quite tough to do an encore when you have to clamber past the audience to get to and from the stage. There wasn't really another peak to reach after My Coco though.

New songs and old songs mixed very well and hopefully the release of the new album in the UK next year will raise the profile of the band over here. They deserve so much more credit. It's verging on a criminal offence that so few people are aware of them.

Shawn Christensen, the lead singer, now looks very comfortable up on stage and has a deceptively good presence, especially during On My Own when he prowled the tiny stage with confidence. His voice took a bit of a battering though. Maybe not a good sign for future longer tours or it could just be the fact that the Metro was the smokiest place since Wallace and Gromit's factory went up in flames.

I don't think that it would be right to write a review about Stellastarr* without mentioning how drop dead gorgeous Amanda Tannen is. Even if they were a rubbish band (which they're certainly not!) it would be a pleasure to stand and watch her singing her harmonies and playing her bass. She could quite easily find herself on the cover of Maxim! It's maybe a plaudit to the strength of Stellastarrs' music that all of the men in the room didn't spend the evening gawping at Tannen.

Awesome gig. Bring on the new album and a bigger tour with a longer set next year!!

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.