After missing them in both New York and Philadelphia last September, I was really looking forward to seeing headliners METRIC, who have made quite a name for themselves in the last year or so. Virtually unknown before the release of their second album, 2003’s Old World Underground, Where are You Now?, the past year has been a good one for Metric as they play bigger and bigger concert halls. This show was moved from the much smaller basement of the First Unitarian Church, for instance. Their excellent new record Live It Out has just gone gold in Canada, even.
And boy do they bring it live! Opening with the title track of Live It Out, the first half of the set concentrated on its highlights, like “Poster of a Girl,” the single “Monster Hospital,” “Patriarch on a Vespa” and “The Police and the Private.” The second half of the set concentrated on older material, like the amazing “Dead Disco,” with the crowd energetically singing and dancing along in unison. At several points during the show, fans climbed onstage and there was even some moshing and stage-diving. Amusingly enough, at one point someone was being passed around at the front, right near the stage, between songs when the band wasn’t even playing.
All of this is understandable, since Metric gives off an incredible amount of energy onstage. Every song seems like it’s twice as heavy and one and a half times as fast. Although the rhythm section of bassist JAMES WINSTEAD and drummer JOULES SCOTT-KEY are incredibly tight and precise, and guitarist JAMES SHAW’s propulsive work anchors the band, the real star is of course singer EMILY HAINES. Between her throat-shredding, intense vocals and simultaneous synth-playing, she has more energy than almost any frontwoman I’ve ever seen. And if I had a dime for every leg-kick (very ROBERT POLLARD-like) she did during this set, it would be enough to buy a taco from the great Mexican place not too far from the venue.
Openers ISLANDS are comprised of about two-thirds of the members of UNICORNS, another Montreal-based collective. With six identically dressed members on stage, they reminded me a lot of their fellow Montreal natives THE ARCADE FIRE, in terms of the collective mentality, the fact that they had two violinists, and the songwriting. Oddly, one of their songs sounded a lot like PRINCE’s “When You Were Mine.” While their set was enjoyable for the most part, it was also a bit dull, though I think they do have potential and were a decent opener.
We only caught about half of MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN’s set. The only thing I knew about them going in was that they have one former member of the Long Island-based post-hardcore band GLASSJAW. One thing is for sure, though. They sounded nothing like Glassjaw. Instead they had more in common with recent indie dance-punk acts like HOT HOT HEAT and the like. Although they had a lot of energy and personality and the crowd seemed to like them, they didn’t really do anything for me musically.
