Metric

When I sat down at the Concert Hall, I was a little bewildered. Why were we seated amidst screaming very young twenty-somethings? Nothing against that of course, but it wasn't exactly the demographic I was expecting, given that it was 'Metric', a solid synth-pop-new-wave-indie-rock band that has been around since 1998. Come, let me give you that word again, nostalgia. Youngsters nowadays have it great when it comes to gigs in Singapore. Spoilt for choice, never mind the at-least-S$120 tickets. When we were growing up, we had nothing very much swinging by the island-state.

Trawling the setlists from Metric's summer tour, I was fairly sure it would be similar to Melbourne's a couple of nights ago. Decent enough for me. Many groovy tunes. I really like Emily Haines' vocals. Spied at least 8 guitars on standby for guitarist James Shaw to play around with, although he seemed to favor the Fender Jaguar in different sorts of pickups. I've always loved 'Dead Disco'. Thrilled to bits to hear it live. There was of course the 2012 album title song 'Youth Without Youth'. Ahhhh...this band is sooo good. I was secretly glad they didn't do that you-know-what-song from the you-know-what-movie-with glittering-vampires.

Metric is a wonderful band to watch live. Not angsty sort, rather predictable in times of musical direction and depth, and very awesome to dance to. Emily Haines is 38 years old, and by golly, she could bounce and hold that voice through 1.5 hours. The band was exuded such fun and presence on stage. The stamina needed. Wow. The final song 'Gimme Sympathy' done acoustic marked a very apt end to the night. For that teeny weeny moment, flashes of 'Broken Social Scene' strode by. Ahhhh. Happiness.