Metric (Great American Music Hall, 28 October 2004)

Beer Rating: 2 Beers

Last halloween 2003 was the first time I saw Metric at Bottom of the Hill at the urging of my friend Elaine. So, my friends and I met up at a nearly empty venue and they played their hearts out, entertaining the crowd like crazy. That was also the first time I absolutely fell head over heels for Emily Haines. Not exactly in a maniacal, sexual sense, but solely in a "she's crazy and awesome!" sense. I mean, who wouldn't go head over heels for someone who does leg kicks and is not afraid to head bang as if this was a Danzig show? My friends and I also snuck into their dressing room, hung out with them, drank all their beers, and took a group photo with them.

After that date, I saw them three more times. Once at Slim's where Emily and I once again met and I proclaimed to her that I would "love to have her koodies." Another at Great American this year. Then her solo gig at Cafe Du Nord which was weird but cool at the same time. And now this show.

For the first time I have ever seen Metric, Emily was wearing something other than her altered "Staff" t-shirt, skirt, and mid-high boots ensemble. This time, she was wearing this altered vest with a star on the heart, with a much shorter skirt, and the same mid-high boots. After I saw her, I knew this was going to be a different show.

The band came on at around 11pm. People say that the opening bands were atrocious, so I was glad to show up so late in the evening. They started off with "Old World Underground," which is the typical song they start with. James, Jules, and Josh were in top form as always. The only hitch was James was having problems with his bass in the beginning of the song, prior to Emily taking the stage, so they had to prolong the intro a bit to accomodate the technical glitch.

Metric pretty much played their entire debut album, with some new songs mixed in there, of which three I heard before and another that I haven't. The newest song featured Emily singing a very slow song, ala her "Static Anonimity" style songs, but then proceeded to rock out hard towards the end. During this song, James had another technical glitch and urged Jules to stop drumming. Nonetheless, they continued, and the song went alright.

As is customary in their shows, they do an extended version of Dead Disco. This time, this version reached a mind bogling 25 minutes, with Emily voicing her opinion on the election, the fact that there have been more than 100,000 deaths in Iraq since the U.S. invaded it (she had the number Sharpied on her arm), that James and Jules are now Oakland residents while Josh and her continue to be dual U.S. and Canadian citizens, and she crowd surfed for a little bit, jumping from the second highest speaker - stage right (where I was). I wanted to catch her, but I thought better and just admired her jumping from there.

A fantastic show! Emily Haines is definitely one of the best lead singers in a live show. You never know what to expect, other than a fantastic show. Metric is definitely one of those bands I love to see - regardless of how many times I have seen them prior and regardless of the setlist being the same the previous times I have seen them. No regrets.