Metric at the Enmore 12.12.13 - Live Review

It'd been such a long time between drinks since we last saw Canadian indie rock band Metric in Australia, they last played here with Splendour in the Grass and sideshows about a year and a half ago, it was good to see the alternate-indie crew back in the flesh despite a less than impressive crowd turn out.

Support from locals Sydney up and comers Spirit Valley and Glass Towers while well received, had to work hard to interest the crowd who were filling into the venue very, very slowly.

By the time headline act Metric took to the stage, a tad early we must mention, the usually illustrious Enmore Theatre was only half full/half empty (depending on how you look at it).

Not intimidating Metric at the slightest, they launched straight into their set with newish song Nothing But Time. While it was a bit disappoint to see Metric, quite a renowned international band, play to a less than capacity audience they still drew in devoted with a sound that was much better suited towards a headline show rather than a festival spot.

An impressive lighting set up also helped out the show greatly, with Metric themselves effortlessly switching between their indie alternate rock, sythpop, as well as a few surprise acoustic renditions.

A show that was wasting no time getting right into the thick of it with recent hit Youth Without Youth lead single off their most recent album Synthetica. Lead singer Emily Haines, known for her amazing stage presence, didn’t hesitate or miss an opportunity to amongst the crowd.

And at one instance, it was as if she was running laps between the left and right sides of the stage getting the crowd to put their hands up and clap along; and all the while singing her lungs out. And the audience was more than happy to give it right back to her, singing, clapping, and dancing along to Haines’s stage antics. The energy Haines was emitting was easily doubled by the crowd’s involvement.

No more so than when the band dropped Help I’m Alive, one of their biggest hits as of late, mid-set. It was moments like these during their set that Metric really shined, with the crowd catching all their cues and singalong with the band word for word.

And not only this Haines took the opportunity to speak/rant on with crowd not once, not twice, but about around four times in total. Which wasn’t too bad the first time coming off the back of an entire crowd sing-along with their hit Help I’m Alive, but wared thin the third time around.

Although it did slow things down a little, which was perfect for Haines to name-dropping Sydney in a quieter rendition of Love is Place.

Overall it was a pretty solid gig, and quite a rare moment to see a band of this calibre play in what became somewhat of an intimate gig. Finishing up with a five-song encore, and diving into her fourth speech of the night Haines dedicated the last song of the night, an acoustic rendition of Gimme Sympathy to the late, great Lou Reed.

Review by Roger Ma

Photos by Geneva Valek more here

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