Maybe it’s a sign of the way the recession is hitting music, but I’ve never been to a gig with no support act. Not that this particularly matters when you go to watch Canadian new-wave band Metric. While tracks from their latest album, Fantasies, lack the raw emotion and energy of it’s predecessor, Live it Out, on record (or CD…or MP3 for that matter), the live versions certainly don’t.
A perfect case in point is Fantasies opening track, Help I’m Alive, second song of the night following Twilight Galaxy which saw front woman Emily Haines gradually thrusting a tambourine higher and higher as the chorus reached a crescendo.
As with her vocals, Haines presence on stage epitomises Metric’s vibe. After concentrating on the first half a dozen songs, still bounding about the stage with more energy then an infant laced with e-numbers, a ten-minute Empty (one of only three songs in the main performance not to come from Fantasies) featured a declaration of Metric’s musical manifesto and take on life. The audience responded and from then on the gig became a show with dedications to the front row on, er, Front Row and polished performances of Gimme Sympathy, Sick Muse and Dead Disco amongst others.
Quite how Haines manage to transmit so much energy bouncing around the stage, standing on speakers and playing keyboards for a whole tour may well be one of life’s unanswered questions. But it does make for a damn entertaining evening.
After a rousing sing-along with new favourite (and a damn fine album closing track) Stadium Love, an encore of a highly charged Monster Hospital and stripped down Live it Out, and the high fives with the front row it didn’t matter there was no support, it would have just detracted from a mighty fine performance.
As an interesting aside, despite the gig being in a small 300 (approx) capacity room and not being too far from the front, I came out with no ringing sensation in my ears, yet the sound quality was excellent. I’m not sure if this was down to the band or the venue but other small venues could learn from this lesson. Less was definitely more.
Venue rating 7/10: Why the hell did the ticket say the doors opening at 6 when we arrived at 7 and the doors had clearly only just opened? Oh, and the drinks seemed really expensive…but that may just be me getting old. But seriously good sound.
Bog rating: 8/10: Clean and large (for the small room). Plus the worst toilet troll in the world. Which is a good thing.
Friday, May 15, 2009
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