With the release of their third album Montreal band Stars are still not within spitting distance of becoming household names in Britain. The fact that they filled the venue tonight was a pleasant surprise, as much for them it seemed as for me. I’ve only ever heard them played on the radio once, though that was enough to make me order their album five minutes later. Thank you Stephen Merchant.

Before commenting on the show a quick word about what I learned of Canadian concert going mores from the group in front of me. Waving your arms in time to the music is more popular there than here, though without cigarette lighters. One of them must have had his soap confiscated at the airport and hadn’t worked out where to replace it in London. The other seemed to have prepared for the trip to England by dieting on kebabs and beer for the preceding year. These things I can live with. It was the incessant chattering, even in the quiet bits, that drove your reviewer up the walls. If you listen carefully to the video you’ll hear me bellow “can’t you at least be quiet for this one?” They just about managed it though I could see it wasn’t easy.

The band are on a world tour that will take them from Bristol to Nashville via Vienna, Tokyo and Melbourne. Not a schedule most of us would fancy.

It was a three out of five stars type of a show. A strong beginning with a great conclusion and the highlight was the version of Your ex-lover is dead. It dipped a bit in the middle with material that occasionally verged on the formless though I’m not familiar enough with the song titles to identify the duff ones.

Is this band set to dethrone Arcade Fire as Montreal’s best known popsters? On the strength of tonight probably not. But when Amy Millan sings the material works really despite sound that was a bit muddy at times. If you are looking for introspective, bitterly romantic pop songs check them out.