Leigh and I got to this show tres late, about three songs into Stars' set. When we got inside, Leigh ran into someone she knew, and I took off towards the front. Stars are a duo from Brooklyn, and for this show they featured another singer, bassist, and saxophonist. I was impressed, eventhough they were a bit too similar to the Magnetic Fields. The highpoint of the set for me was a completely reworked version of "This Charming Man" (the Smiths, of course), which featured a very jazzy saxophone solo. A good band, eventhough at times they reminded me of other performers.

A short time later, the Magnetic Fields made to the stage, with Stephen wearing a Baltimore Orioles cap (civic pride?) and he did a solo "Book of Love" before playing an older one, "Love Goes Home to Paris in the Spring" (one of my all time faves). Leigh also caught up with me at this point. As with my usual luck at shows, I ended up being stuck next to smokers and a small group of rowdy drunk men shouting "You are the messiah" at Stephen Merritt. Yeah. This was an incredible and very understated show. There was not much energy (except for a rousing "Washington D.C.", when Claudia took the guitar) and Stephen seemed pretty low key and even annoyed at times, especially at the guys next to me. A lot of material from Love Songs was played, including "Papa Was a Rodeo", "the Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side", "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits", among others. Mr. Merritt may not be a messiah, but he is definitely a gifted songwriter who is able to tame all the intricacies of love (or attempt to) with his music.