Big Star never sold many records when it mattered, but five decades later its songs are packing a room at the Fillmore. The Big Star Quintet, a five-piece revival act built around the band's catalog, is set to perform at 8 p.m. on Nov. 7 at the historic venue at 1805 Geary Blvd. in San Francisco.
The group is anchored by Jody Stephens, the Memphis band's drummer and, as the San Francisco Chronicle reports, the only surviving member of Big Star's original lineup. Joining him are R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills, the Posies' Jon Auer, Wilco multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone and dB's founder Chris Stamey — a lineup assembled, per the Chronicle, specifically to bring Big Star's music back to the stage without an orchestra behind it. The five musicians trade off on lead and harmony vocals throughout the set and switch instruments as songs require, according to the same report.
Big Star formed in Memphis in 1971 around Stephens, Alex Chilton, Chris Bell and Andy Hummel, the Chronicle notes. Chilton had already sung lead on the Box Tops' 1967 hit “The Letter” before the band came together. Despite critical acclaim, Big Star's albums initially sold poorly, and the band was together for barely three years before splitting apart — all three of Stephens' bandmates have since died, the Chronicle reports.
From a Tribute Project to a Touring Band
The Quintet didn't start out as a standing band. It grew out of the Big Star Third project, a larger ensemble that had staged Big Star's final album with a rotating cast of musicians that included Mills, Sansone, Auer and Stamey, according to First Avenue. The venue's account describes how it eventually came time to pare that larger production down to a five-piece rock band, timed to the 50th anniversary of Big Star's debut album, #1 Record.
The pared-down group first gathered at R.E.M.'s rehearsal space in November 2022 to work through the material as a five-piece, per the same account. Sources differ on exactly when Big Star's run began: First Avenue dates the #1 Record debut to 1971 and says the band disbanded in late 1974, while Classic Rock History also places the album's release in 1971 to 1975 window but dates the debut itself to 1972, and GRAMMY.com cites 1971 to 1974 as the band's active years. Since forming, the Quintet has toured both the United States and Europe and has expanded its repertoire to cover Big Star's first two albums, according to the Big Ears Festival.
A Catalog That Outgrew Its Sales Numbers
Big Star followed #1 Record, which included “The Ballad of El Goodo,” “Thirteen” and “In the Street,” with 1974's Radio City, featuring “September Gurls,” “Back of a Car” and “O, My Soul.” The band broke up in late 1974, not long after recording a third album, Third/Sister Lovers, which was released after the split. Stephens is known to sing “Thirteen,” “Blue Moon” and “Way Out West” in the Quintet's live sets.
The band's commercial failure in its own era has given way to outsized influence. FLOOD Magazine reports that Big Star's lasting influence has far outstripped the number of records it initially sold, with acts including R.E.M., the Replacements, the Bangles, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco, the dB's, Matthew Sweet and the Posies counted among the artists who have cited the band. The Replacements turned that admiration into song with “Alex Chilton” in 1987, and Counting Crows covered “The Ballad of El Goodo” on their 2013 covers album, Underwater Sunshine, according to GRAMMY.com.
A Hall of Fame Nod Decades Later
That influence earned formal recognition in May 2025, when #1 Record was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. The Recording Academy cited the album's impact on generations of artists and its role in developing power pop and alternative rock, as detailed by The Commercial Appeal. The Quintet's live sets draw from #1 Record, Radio City and other Big Star recordings.
For San Francisco fans, the Fillmore date offers a rare chance to hear that catalog performed live by a band that includes the sole surviving member of the original group. Tickets for the Nov. 7 show are priced at $68.50, according to the Chronicle.
