TORONTO - It has become something of a tradition in recent years and hopefully stays at the same venue for years to come.

Montreal/Toronto rock band Stars opened its pre-Christmas three-night Toronto stand at the rarely used Queen Elizabeth Theatre Thursday night before a near capacity crowd.

But while the band, touring behind 2007's In Our Bedroom After The War and a recent Sad Robots EP, delighted and dazzled for more than 100 minutes, singer Torquil Campbell realized the small seated locale with great sightlines and excellent acoustics was the perfect choice for this year's run.

"This is a beautiful theatre isn't it?" Campbell said prior to the foot-stomping Midnight Coward roughly halfway through the show.

Campbell, along with co-vocalist/guitarist Amy Millan, were often the, er, stars on the floral-friendly stage, tossing roses and petals into the audience during the appropriate opener The Night Starts Here.

Rooted in lush, thoughtful and grandiose arrangements, Stars had the closely packed crowd in the front clapping along to Take Me To The Riot while Soft Revolution from 2004's Set Yourself On Fire was a punchy, horn-tinted affair.

Dedicating the gear-shifting Window Bird to "the Toronto skyline in the wintertime," Millan sparred with the roses on her microphone stand while keyboardist Chris Seligman fleshed out the somewhat odd but alluring number.

Millan also even made conjugating French verbs sound appealing during the short Sad Robot which opening the four-song encore. And who else could get away with playing a flute briefly as if it was the coolest thing to do?

Yet what makes the now seven-piece band work so well is the interplay between the two singers. While Campbell donned a Michael Jackson-like register for the light and funky The Ghost Of Genova Heights which was fuelled by Evan Cranley's bass line, Millan dove headlong into the gorgeous romp entitled Bitches In Tokyo which shone from start to finish.

While not forgetting older material such as Violent from their 2001 EP The Comeback or Elevator Love Letter and What The Snowman Learned About Love from 2003's Heart, Stars nailed much of the newer tunes, particularly A Thread Cut With A Carving Knife off the latest EP. Starting off slow but quite steady, the group built the dreamy yet bittersweet track into a gorgeous Cure-ish conclusion.

Perhaps the only knock against them might have been not including Reunion somewhere in the 21-song set, one of the better known songs which fell by the wayside on this evening. A few shouts for Personal also went unanswered.

Nonetheless, it was quickly forgotten when Stars came out with the up-tempo but tight What I'm Trying To Say and the solid Your Ex-Lover Is Dead which wrapped up the main portion.

As roadies quickly constructed drummer Pat McGee's smaller kit, Campbell told the crowd to have a seat for a few minutes as more music was on the way. They didn't disappoint as Set Yourself On Fire and Calendar Girl kept the momentum high.

After Campbell thanked the fans for coming out, Stars closed things off with One More Night, capping off a show which, in the end, was a very good one.